Powering a Path to a Net Zero World
Published November 2022
Leviton has made a global commitment to continue to reduce their environmental impact and become leaders in environmental stewardship. A big part of this commitment is to empower all customers to be more sustainable, as well. Leviton’s program, called CN2030, focuses on our goal to have all our business operations carbon neutral (CN) by 2030. This is part of a big audacious goal timeline to have all operations be verified as net-zero by 2050.
“Net zero” refers to the balance between the amount of greenhouse gas produced and the amount removed from the atmosphere. Currently the only greenhouse gas for which negative emissions are feasible at scale is carbon dioxide. If negative emissions and positive emissions are balanced, global warming should stabilize. And, that’s the world’s goal, too. |
|
Leviton’s CN2030 Program
“Every day, Leviton manufactures products that help our customers create more sustainable buildings, factories, and homes, and we are proud to formalize our company’s sustainability commitment through our CN2030 program,” said Daryoush Larizadeh, Leviton president and chief executive officer. The CN2030 program is based on the company’s commitment to reduce its environmental impact in six focused areas. These are segmented and classified as carbon, energy, waste, recycling, water and innovation. To date, in each area Leviton has already made giant steps towards their goal. |
|
Carbon Reduction
Leviton has been implementing programs to reduce their carbon footprint for over 10 years. The UK manufacturing facility has been totally carbon neutral since 2011, making it the first in the structured cabling industry. Since then, Leviton has reduced carbon emissions by an additional 47% and currently uses 100% renewable energy. Just this year our Bothell, Washington, factory began using 90% of renewable energy. Products that contribute to reducing carbon include our internal light panel replacement program using luminaires and LED bulbs versus fluorescent lighting as these consume 55% less energy. In addition, aging motors in the factories have been replaced with high-efficiency motors.
Energy Savings
In 2017, Leviton acquired four LED lighting companies to further promote LED lighting technology both in our own buildings, as well as driving global energy savings. Leviton has hundreds of “Energy Star” listed configurations. Daylight harvesting through photocell technology, along with sensors and smart dimming, provide further savings of energy consumption and improved productivity, such as reducing glare on screen. Our lighting controls business unit has demonstrated up to 40% energy savings through smart lighting. |
|
Waste Management
At Leviton, we strive to reduce waste through logistics and packaging. This includes shipment efficiency by sharing and reusing pallets and combining shipments from our factories. In packaging we created bulk packs to minimize onsite waste. A major contributor to unnecessary waste was separate polybags for small components, such as network jacks. Through bulk packs, we have eliminated more than two million single-use polybags within our factory which also results in reduced waste at our distribution locations and jobsites.
Water Consumption
Leviton has multiple systems in place throughout our facilities in place to protect water supply. First and foremost is the onsite water treatment systems, which thoroughly clean manufacturing water before it is released. Through a closed loop water cooling system, we have proven an 89% reduction in water usage. In addition, installing drain filters catch debris before used water is released outside of the facilities and enter local water systems. Last year the wastewater management system in our New Holland, PA, factory which manufacturers copper cabling, prevented 1.2 million gallons of potentially contaminated water from being released to local streams and rivers. In Chihuahua, Mexico, we even implemented additional water savings methods that reduces wastewater by 50%. In fact, it’s notable that in our Glenrothes, Scotland, factory, employees use more water for coffee and tea than for manufacturing. Our goal that by 2028 is our water consumption used in manufacturing is reduced by 20% over 2021 usage.
Innovation Initiatives
Innovation in our packaging solutions, combined with expertise from our packing partners has resulted in sustainable cartons that are 100% recyclable by using 80-100% of recycled material. We continue to work towards reducing and hopefully eliminating plastics used in packaging. Our engineering team is constantly looking at innovations to reduce package waste, as well as continue their goal to reduce energy, which all adds up to reducing the carbon footprint. |
|
Leviton has been making great strides in implementing systems and products that drastically reduce waste and energy and other natural resources and we are focused to continue to expand those efforts. Plans to deploy solar by next year will contribute to ongoing energy reduction and net-zero goals by making those locations completely energy self-sufficient.
We have set an internal “midpoint” goal that by 2025 our facilities in Canada and our global Network Solutions operations will be third-party verified to be totally carbon neutral. “With the launch of CN2030, we already have in place great momentum to build on for the next eight years. I look forward to what we will achieve through implementing CN2030, and we will share our progress with our customers and the industry as we move forward,” states Ross Goldman.
To read more about Leviton’s commitment to the environment, please visit us at Leviton.com/sustainability |
|
| Leviton Mfg. Company Inc. |
201 North Service Rd.
Melville, NY 11747
|
|
|
