3M has long been committed to addressing challenges and opportunities presented by energy conservation and the company has recently been recognized for those ongoing efforts. “In September – the company explains – the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, recognized 3M as a leader in energy management. 3M qualified for the national award by establishing an energy management system certified to ISO 50001 – the global energy management standard. The DOE pointed out that 3M was this year’s highest-performing U.S. entry and because of 3M’s ‘dedicated energy management efforts’ the company has ‘lowered operational costs, reduced its carbon footprint, increased energy supply reliability, and strengthened the company’s brand image’. The DOE also highlighted 3M’s ‘history of superior contributions to achieving sustainability goals’ pointing out that the company established a Corporate Energy Management Department in 1973 that has been since setting and attaining sustainability targets”.
Besides, 3M LATAM qualified for a 2022 Energy Management Insight Award from the Clean Energy Ministerial for ISO 50001 certifications in LATAM region, also in September. The company wrote a case study to share its insights and benefits its energy management system.
In addition, Andrew Hejnar, 3M energy manager, recently won NASA’s Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER)/RETScreen Recognition of Excellence in the category of Facility Owners and Operators for his achievement in utilizing solar and meteorological data sets from NASA’s POWER project in numerous facilities in the U.S., Canada and globally.
Finally, in the last spring the U.S. Department of Energy presented 3M with a Better Buildings Better Plants’ Better Practice Award for the company’s Manual 81 Energy Design Requirements & Guidelines. 3M received the award during the DOE’s Better Buildings, Better Plants Summit, an event that recognizes partners for implementing innovative energy-saving practices.
For the future, 3M plans to invest $1 billion over the next 20 years to accelerate its environmental goals, including new commitments to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, reduce water use 25% by 2030, enhance the quality of water returned to the environment after use in manufacturing, and reduce use of virgin fossil-based plastic by 125 million pounds (nearly 56,700 metric tons) by 2025.
