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Energy Diversity
Chemical manufacturing is an energy-intensive business. The cost of energy is a fundamental factor in the profitability of chemical companies, and the industry has historically been driven to find new and less expensive sources of energy to meet its needs. But today, the challenge of producing or acquiring affordable energy for our production facilities has become particularly daunting. This is especially true in light of our desire to utilize the "cleanest" possible energy resources from an environmental perspective.
In the current business climate, the high cost of energy and potential shortages of energy supply – coupled with the environmental impact of energy production and consumption – make development of a sustainable energy plan a business imperative. Aggressive, proactive energy conservation and development actions are called for as part of that plan.
Our recent history suggests that we will meet the challenge. Between 1990 and 1994, we reduced our energy use by 20 percent. We are currently on pace to meet our goal of reducing the amount of energy we use per pound of product by two percent per year from 1995 to 2005 – in 2003 alone, we had a 2.9 percent improvement. You will find examples of several recent energy conservation successes in this report.
We are also actively investigating new energy resources that reduce our dependence on limited, uncertain, or unsustainable sources of supply.
- In March 2003, Dow joined The World Resources Institute's Green Power Market Development Group. The alliance creates new markets for renewable energy.
- Since 1994, nine new cogeneration facilities supplying power to Dow sites have saved over 23 trillion BTU's (6,700 gigawatts) of energy annually. Additional new facilities are expected to increase the savings to almost 47 trillion BTU's (13,200 gigawatts) per year by the end of 2005.
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