Atlanta – The Coca-Cola Company announced on April 3 that it has agreed to test fuel cells powered by environmentally friendly biogas to power its Odwalla juice packaging plant in Dinuba, California.
The Company has signed on as a Foundation Partner with Bloom Energy, a California-based firm that manufactures fuel cells that can generate electricity from a variety of energy sources, including natural gas.
The core technology, called Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC), was originally developed for NASA. It is one of the most efficient devices available for converting hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas, into electricity.
Five Bloom Energy Server fuel cells will be installed late this year at the Dinuba plant. The fuel cells, which will run on re-directed biogas, are expected to provide 30% of the plant’s power needs while reducing its carbon footprint by an estimated 35%.
“This new fuel cell technology has great promise and represents an important step for Coca-Cola in continuing to grow our business without growing the carbon footprint,” said Brian Kelley, President and General Manager, Coca-Cola North America Still Beverages and Supply Chain. “The Coca-Cola Company has committed to hold its overall worldwide manufacturing carbon emissions flat through 2015 from its 2004 level. We intend to do this while actually reducing emissions in the U.S. and other developed markets, improving energy efficiency and using cleaner forms of energy, like these fuel cells.”
Other steps the Coca-Cola System has taken or plans to take to reduce its carbon footprint include:
- Reducing energy use in facilities through the installation of energy efficient lighting, motion-sensors on lighting in warehouses, direct-fired water heating, optimization of boilers and compressors, and the installation of energy management systems.
- In the U.S., improving the energy efficiency of new vending and cooling equipment by 40 to 50 percent from 2000 levels by the end of 2007. Making all new cooler and vending equipment 100% HFC-free by 2015.
- Installing an intelligent energy management system (EMS-55) in new and existing coolers and vending machines to reduce energy use by up to 35 percent without compromising drink temperature.
- Improving the efficiency of our vehicle fleet. Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest Coca-Cola bottler, operates one of the largest hybrid electric vehicle fleets in the world – 336 delivery vehicles throughout the United States and Canada. CCE’s trucks use about 30 percent less fuel and produce about 30 percent fewer emissions than standard trucks. And the Coca-Cola North America sales fleet has converted more than 600 vehicles to hybrid sedans, resulting in a CO2 emissions reduction of over 4 million pounds.
