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Topics on this page:
Sustainable energy generation
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Reducing energy consumption
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Switching to alternatives
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Energy policy
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Generating and using energy efficiently -
our contribution to climate protection |
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Climatic change is confronting economy and society with major challenges on a global scale - and they can only be mastered if all the regions and parties involved play their part. The global thirst for energy is increasing dramatically. Fossil energy sources are becoming increasingly scarce. Greenhouse gas emissions are rising sharply. This poses a number of questions: How can we secure energy supplies given this situation? How can we guarantee competitive prices? How can we ensure sustainable climate protection?
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Emissions of "greenhouse gases" by private households, traffic and industry can be reduced by the efficient use of fossil fuels. Precisely in this area, BASF has important solutions to offer. Efficient energy production and reduced energy consumption not only contribute substantially to climate protection, they are also in BASF's economic interest. Overall, by 2008 we [therefore] plan to invest about 30 percent of our research expenditures in
- manufacturing processes that permit us and our customers to save energy and raw materials
- projects that specifically aim to conserve resources.
- and finally, new technologies for tomorrow's materials and energy sources
Today, energy requirements still account for between 5 and in certain cases up to 60 percent of the manufacturing costs of a product. At the same time, the consistent use of modern power plant technology for the generation of electricity and steam and the intelligent optimization of our Verbund structures meant that our costs for fuels and externally purchased electricity and steam are as low as possible. In 2007, 33 million MWh of fossil and residual fuels was used worldwide to generate electricity and steam in our central power plants. Total electricity requirements amounted to 15 million MWhel.
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Sustainable energy generation
We are improving the efficiency in our use of energy by switching our Verbund sites to the most efficient power plant technology available, cogeneration. The new combined heat and power plant in Ludwigshafen, for example, reaches a net fuel utilization of 90 per cent - no other power plant technology achieves a higher electricity yield. Compared with coal-fired power plants of similar output, we therefore reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by almost 40 per cent - the equivalent of more than 500,000 metric tons per year. BASF currently has 13 of these plants around the world.
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Reducing energy consumption
At our major production sites around the world we operate the Verbund concept which links production and energy streams together in an intelligent manner. We also develop innovative solutions and products that also help our customers save energy. For example, the use of our thermal insulation products in housing construction reduces annual heating oil consumption from 27 to 7 litres per square meter of living area. If all of the approximately 24 million houses and apartments in Germany in need of refurbishment were fitted with this efficient thermal insulation, up to 84 million metric tons of carbon dioxide less per year would enter the atmosphere.
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Switching to alternatives
We are already replacing fossil with renewable raw materials wherever economically viable. With our chemistry, we are also making a contribution to improving the utilization of biomass as a raw material. And the development of renewable energies is also being driven forward by BASF products such as photovoltaics for the manufacture of solar modules, in catalysis and electrochemistry in fuel cells or in the fermen-tation of biomass.
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Energy policy
BASF favors an energy policy that meets the demands of both economic and environmental policy. Our objective must be to guarantee long-term energy supplies and a high level of supply security at competitive prices, while taking adequate account of environmental protection. In order to use limited fossil resources carefully, it is important to generate and utilize energy efficiently, making unreserved and optimal use of all technologies available. Renewable sources of energy that are economically realistic will become increasingly important. Subsidies at the expense of energy prices must be avoided.
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