Monday 28 July 2014

Bentley pulls up to carbon cutting standard

Luxury carmaker Bentley has bagged the triple standard for cutting carbon, water and energy waste at its Crewe headquarters in Cheshire.

Between 2011 and 2013 the company reduced its CO2 by 16% relative to the number of cars manufactured, while it sluiced water use down by 35.7%.

As for waste, it had an absolute reduction in the amount produced. Put simply it was audited in multiple areas of waste reduction across the site and all functions to give an ‘absolute’ or ‘overall’ waste reduction rating rather than a few specific measures.

It defined this as a 23.2% reduction in waste per vehicle.

The environmental efforts audited by certification company Carbon Trust came despite the 339,000m³ factory producing a record 10,120 cars in 2013.

Bentley has mounted more than 20,000 solar panels on roofs across the factory, lowering CO2 generation by more than 2,500 tonnes per year and at the same time pumping 286,200 kWh back to the national grid.

Last month 20% of the company’s electrical requirements were generated by solar energy.

Michael Straughan, Bentley’s member of the board for manufacturing said: “There has been manufacturing here for nearly 80 years and customers admire the character and unique history of the site which we continue to respect.

"However, we have managed to also create an increasingly environmentally-friendly, modern manufacturing environment and will continue to target future reductions.”