Kyocera announced that its Hokkaido Kitami Plant has received Japan’s 2017 Environment Minister’s Award for Global Warming Prevention Activity.
This is the eighth consecutive year that Kyocera has received the award, the company said. Kyocera won the award in the “implementation of countermeasures / dissemination” category.
The rooftop and ground-mounted solar power systems at Kyocera’s Hokkaido Kitami Plant provide a combined 640 kilowatts of generating capacity. The systems generate approximately 787,154 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year.
The Plant is promoting energy efficiency through the implementation of new equipment such as modular chillers and LED lights, as well as reusing the exhaust heat from its production equipment such as furnaces or cooling chillers for building/office heating.
In addition, the plant installed heat-exchange equipment to recover the waste heat from hot water used to clean products. As a result of these conservation activities, the plant has achieved annual energy reductions of about 710 tons of CO2 emission, Kyocera said.
Moreover, employees receive ongoing environmental instruction, including how to conserve energy during high-consumption summer and winter months, and how to segregate waste.
Kyocera is also engaged in community-based environmental activities, which include “Eco-Lessons” for school children.