Energy Supply Solutions

• Air Products’ larger hydrogen plants function as “cogeneration” facilities. In addition to producing hydrogen, steam is often produced and exported to a nearby user. The energy efficiency of these hydrogen plants is over 85% of what is theoretically achievable, exceeding the 60% efficiency level typical of modern natural gas-fired combined cycle turbine power plants.
  
  
• A cogeneration unit was also installed to provide energy, heating and cooling at the Air Products Hersham, UK European headquarters. This innovative approach for providing energy to an office complex reduced CO₂ emissions by 2700 metric tonnes per year. 

Energy Demand Solutions

• Air Products and Chemicals’ efficiency engineers constantly monitor the performance of their major energy-intensive operations. In 2002, those engineers completed numerous global energy efficiency projects resulting in an estimated 26 MW of power savings; this is equivalent to the power consumed by 18,500 average homes annually and equivalent to avoiding 174,000 tons of CO₂ emissions.
  
  
• Air Products works closely with its energy suppliers to make the most efficient use of their generation facilities to help them minimize their greenhouse (GHG) emissions. Air Products matches its energy needs to that of the energy supplier by shutting down production at times of peak demand and increasing production at other times. Such efforts contribute to "demand loading," a practice in which energy suppliers try to optimize the generational efficiency of a power plant by ensuring that it runs as close as possible to the point of maximum efficiency.
  
  
• Air Products is working with the DOE’s Vision 21 Program [1] and other business partners on the development of Ion Transport Membrane (ITM) Oxygen technology. Many emerging energy-production technologies, environmental cleanup technologies and industrial processes would benefit from using oxygen in place of air. 
  
  

• Air Products and Chemicals and its partners were selected by the DOE Industries of the Future (IOF) Best Practices Program to demonstrate the potential for using CO₂ to manufacture polyurethane. In addition to using less energy, the new process will be cleaner, significantly reduce the environmental impact of making the foam, and reduce the net release of CO₂.

To view the energy solutions of all BELC members, visit What's Being Done in the Business Community [2] section of this site.