Upgrades At Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LaVergne Plant Reduce Energy Costs, Net RebateUpgrades significantly reduce carbon footprint
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (May 7, 2013) — Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (Bridgestone Americas), together with Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Nashville Electric Service (NES), today announced that TVA has presented the company’s LaVergne tire manufacturing plant with a rebate under TVA’s and NES’ EnergyRight Solutions for Industry program to help manufacturers implement energy efficiency and demand-reduction improvements. The rebate, totaling more than $350,000, was presented to Bridgestone Americas in March.
The LaVergne plant improvements are the result of an overall plant lighting upgrade that began in 2010 to reduce energy costs and improve the quality of lighting. Nearly 3,900 old, high-intensity lighting fixtures were replaced with new, energy efficient fixtures that typically consume half of the electricity while producing comparable amounts of light. The upgrades have reduced the plant’s power consumption by more than 3.8 million kilowatt-hours, enough energy to supply nearly 240 homes in the NES service area for a year.
"Identifying ways we can reduce our impact on the environment is ingrained in our culture as part of our “One Team, One Planet” environmental commitment, and that is clearly evident in our manufacturing facilities,” said Muneer Chowdhury, TBR Facilities Manager, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. “This rebate will be added to the Bridgestone Americas Environmental and Energy Strategic Fund, to be re-invested in more conservation projects, further improving our efficiency and environmental performance.”
TVA’s EnergyRight Solutions for Industry offers a broad portfolio of new and innovative energy efficiency initiatives to industrial customers. The agency provides customized technical assistance to industrial users of power to devise plant-wide, holistic approaches to energy savings. Through 2012, TVA’s energy efficiency programs achieved a nearly 1,772 gigawatt-hour overall reduction in energy.
“Energy efficiency helps keep rates low, reduces costs associated with meeting consumer demand, conserves natural resources and produces zero emissions,” said Bob Balzar, TVA’s vice president for Energy Efficiency and Demand Response. “We thank Bridgestone and NES for their leadership and support of energy efficiency in Tennessee.”
The LaVergne lighting upgrades will help the facility meet Bridgestone’s Global goal to reduce the CO2 footprint of the entire company and its products by 35 percent from 2005-2020. The lighting upgrades are projected to reduce CO2 emission by 4,845 metric tons annually. Additional benefits of the upgrades include reduced mercury in the newer lighting, and an anticipated reduction in LaVergne’s annual power bill of nearly $190,000.
For additional information about Bridgestone Americas’ “One Team, One Planet” environmental activities, or Bridgestone’s environmental mission “To help ensure a healthy environment for current and future generations” with a focus on the company’s three major objectives: Being in harmony with nature, valuing natural resources and reducing CO2 emissions, visit OneTeamOnePlanet.com.
Additional information about Bridgestone Americas, including current featured releases, can be found at www.BridgestoneAmericasMedia.com.
About Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations:
Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is a business unit of Bridgestone Americas, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. Reporting into the BATO business unit are the company's Latin American tire operations; the U.S. and Canadian consumer and commercial tire businesses; and Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, which operates the largest network of company-owned automotive service providers in the world. BATO develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires. The commercial tire division is focused on retail, wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying tires to passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off road, motorcycle, agricultural and retread markets.
Nashville, Tenn.-based Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations (BATO) is a business unit of Bridgestone Americas, Inc., whose parent company, Bridgestone Corporation, is the world's largest tire and rubber company. Reporting into the BATO business unit are the company's Latin American tire operations; the U.S. and Canadian consumer and commercial tire businesses; and Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, which operates the largest network of company-owned automotive service providers in the world. BATO develops, manufactures and markets Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires. The commercial tire division is focused on retail, wholesale and original equipment markets, supplying tires to passenger, light truck, commercial vehicle, off road, motorcycle, agricultural and retread markets.
About Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power distributors serving 9 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation.
About Nashville Electric Service
Nashville Electric Service is one of the 12 largest public electric utilities in the nation, distributing energy to more than 360,000 customers in Middle Tennessee. For more information about NES, visit www.nespower.com.