Novartis Energy Excellence Awards 2008
Honoring exceptional contributions
For the fifth consecutive year, Novartis associates have demonstrated that important initiatives on energy efficiency and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction are being prepared and realized in all divisions and global regions of Novartis.
All 46 projects submitted to the 2008 Novartis Energy Excellence Awards (EEA) were very valuable proposals with a high potential for cost reduction, energy savings and emission reduction. In just one year, the projects have led to cost savings of USD 17 million, which represents 5% of our group's total energy costs.
Rewarding best practice
The projects underwent a thorough review by the EEA Judge Panel, a group of six experts from academic, nongovernmental and business organizations, as well as three Novartis specialists. Winners were selected after a detailed evaluation process. Key criteria included supporting business growth objectives while reducing CO2 emissions, minimizing energy costs and utilizing renewable energy sources.
In 2008, the EEA Judge Panel has honored those four projects with the highest project quality and value for Novartis.
Sandoz Kundl - Continued optimization of the penicillin and cephalosporin processes
The Sandoz Division in Kundl, Austria, is the group's largest manufacturing site worldwide. Its innovative approach to using synthetic media and optimizing the carbon source utilization - which was implemented for penicillin two years ago - has now been extended to cephalosporin, the second key strain of fermentation products. Optimization of both penicillin and cephalosporin processes have led to additional major savings, mainly with regards to aeration, but also agitation. The project showed a payback of about one year on an investment of USD 3.3 m. Meanwhile, electricity savings and respective Scope 2 GHG emissions were reduced by 26%, amounting to 9% of absolute annual savings for the entire Kundl facility.
Novartis Pharma Wehr - Maximizing the use of renewable energy
By using the locally available wood chips as the major fuel source, the production facility of Novartis Pharma in Wehr, Germany, managed to switch the site's energy consumption to primarily renewable sources, thus helping to increase the use of renewable energy from biomass by 50% for the entire Novartis group. In addition to ensuring more stable energy prices in the future, this change has contributed to reducing the site's annual Scope 1 GHG emissions by about two third. This represents circa 0.8% of all Scope 1 GHG emissions at Novartis.
CIVA VISION Indonesia - Energy efficiency to minimize energy consumption
A comprehensive energy efficiency project at the Consumer Health Division (CIBA VISION) in Batam, Indonesia, comprises a variety of elements to minimize its energy consumption. These include boiler use, compressed air, chilling and lighting, production synchronization and employee behavior. The project has an excellent payback on investment within a few months. The savings achieved amount to five percent of on-site and 11 percent of purchased energy use for the entire facility.
Novartis HQ Basel - Becoming energy efficient through employee education
At Novartis headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, a comprehensive approach to managing energy and climate is being implemented as a model for other sites to follow. The program focuses on energy management and incorporates extensive training and awareness-building activities to change the behavior of associates. Two Site Energy Committees operating on both technical and management levels are overseeing the program and ensuring targets are met. For instance, energy efficiency targets have been assigned to individual buildings and agreed with the local authorities for new buildings. In addition, Novartis applies a proactive policy for capital investment associated with energy conservation. Energy efficiency and renewable energy challenges have become mandatory elements of the capital appropriation procedures for all major projects worldwide.