Toyota Celebrates a Decade of Energy Excellence

ERLANGER, Ky., April 24, 2014 /3BL Media/ – What do the cities of Dallas, Texas and Oakland, Calif. have in common? A lot, according to Toyota’s engineers, despite the two cities being separated by nearly 1,700 miles with different demographics and industries.

Either city could be powered for an entire year based on the amount of energy not used by Toyota’s 14 North American manufacturing plants during the past decade. For engineers, that’s equal to nearly 11 billion kilowatt hours of energy. And for non-engineers, that’s enough to power nearly 400,000 average U.S. households for an entire year.  

Toyota’s 41,000 team members’ continuous efforts to reduce energy use have resulted in Toyota’s 10th consecutive ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. EPA for continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency.  

Ten consecutive ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Awards are the most by any automaker and Toyota’s accomplishments will be recognized in Washington, D.C., on April 29.  

During the 10-year period, total energy use has been reduced by 22 percent per vehicle produced and total CO2 emissions has been reduced by 19 percent per vehicle produced. Total cost savings during the decade is nearly $500 million dollars.  

“Through continuous improvement, good collaboration and sharing best practices, we continue to stay highly motivated to identify ways to minimize our impact to the environment,” says Robin Haugen, general manager of Toyota’s plant and environmental engineering group. “Our team members demonstrate that when good ideas are shared, great things can happen, and we are grateful to receive our tenth consecutive ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.”

In addition to the award, Toyota has been recognized for its commitment to energy reduction activities by several agencies and organizations including:  

• The U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings, Better Plant Program, a national leadership initiative focused on industrial energy efficiency to reduce energy intensity by 25 percent over ten years. In 2012, Toyota further improved its energy intensity by nearly 10 percent, bringing its cumulative improvement to 27 percent (against a 2008 baseline). 
• Earning five U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Automotive Assembly Plant Awards. The five plants receiving the award are in the top 25 percent of all North American plants in energy efficiency.  
• Earning six U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge For Industry Awards. This is awarded to non-vehicle assembly plants that achieve a ten percent improvement in energy performance.  

Examples of energy reduction activities across Toyota’s 14 manufacturing plants include:  

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America

Erlanger, Kentucky; Ann Arbor and Saline, Michigan

• Installed energy efficient lighting throughout its three locations.

Bodine Aluminum

Jackson, Tennessee

• Installed motion sensors tied to fluorescent lighting to reduce energy use in unoccupied areas of the plant.
• Installed new measurement systems to track and monitor use of process equipment.
• Earned its second U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry Award* for reducing energy use by nearly 14 percent (per unit produced) in one year.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Alabama

Huntsville

• As one of two Sustainable Plants in North America, the plant has implemented two unique projects: collection of rainwater used to irrigate the plant’s grounds and using end-of-life hybrid vehicle batteries to power operations and provide back-up power during emergencies.
• Earned its second U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry Award* for reducing energy use by 14 percent (per unit produced) in one year.  

Toyota Motor Manufacturing de Baja California

Tijuana, Mexico

• Installed a 27 kilowatt photovoltaic solar module on its new carport canopy that will reduce carbon emissions by more than 28 tons each year.  

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada

Cambridge and Woodstock, Ontario

• Began replacing lighting with energy efficient LEDs to reduce energy use and manpower associated with changing old lamps.
• Introduced a water re-use project reducing water consumption by 5 million gallons annually.
• Installed new machining that reduced electric use by 825,000 kilowatts per year, equal to 31 average households.  

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Indiana

Princeton

• Initiated air flow reductions for the paint oven that reduced energy use and improved efficiency.
• West Plant, which assembles the Highlander, Highlander hybrid and the Sequoia, earned an U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry Award* for being in the top 25 percent of most efficient assembly plants in the country.  

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky

Georgetown

• Earned two U.S. EPA Plant Awards for being in the top 25 percent for energy efficiency (Plant 1 and Plant 2 each received this award).
• Plastics shops and Powertrain plant both earned a U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry Award* for reducing energy use by 16 percent and 13 percent, respectively (per unit produced).  

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi

Blue Springs

• As one of two Sustainable Plants in North America, the plant identified additional energy and water conservation efforts and installed a 50 kilowatt solar panel array, the fourth largest in the state.
• Installed new measurement systems to track and monitor use of process equipment.
• Earned a U.S. EPA Plant Award for being in the top 25 percent most efficient vehicle assembly plants during its first full year of vehicle production.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas

San Antonio

• Earned an EPA Plant Award for being in the top 25 percent most efficient vehicle assembly plants.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia

Buffalo

• Installed new measurement meters to collect data throughout the plant to track compressed air usage, resulting in reduced energy use.

*The U.S. EPA’s ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry is a tool designed to help energy managers and industrial sites improve energy performance and set goals. Industrial sites participate by committing to the pre-established goal of reducing energy intensity by ten percent within five years or less.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 40,000 people (more than 32,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S.) sold more than 2.5 million cars and trucks (more than 2.2 million in the U.S.) in 2013 – and about 80 percent of  all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.  

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com. 

Contact: Victor Vanov 859.801.2592