Hand in Hand With the Environment
December 24, 2020
As a regionally based company, the Zimmer Group has a special responsibility for environmental protection in the region. The sparing use of resources and entrepreneurial action in harmony with nature are important elements of its corporate philosophy. The 40th anniversary in 2020 was the occasion for the medium-sized company to convert its production to a sustainable CO2-neutral system.
The quantities of electricity and natural gas required for production are from now on CO2-neutral. One million kilowatt hours of green electricity are generated annually from the Süwag hydroelectric power station in Willstätt, 15 kilometres away. The Zimmer Group generates about the same amount of CO2-neutral electricity itself. Several photovoltaic systems are already installed on the company roofs in Freistett. At the turn of the year another photovoltaic system will be put into operation on the newly built production hall. “Consuming electricity where it is generated in an environmentally friendly manner directly on site is an essential component of our environmental strategy,” emphasises Managing Director Günther Zimmer. “The Zimmer Group is thus becoming another piece of greener and more regional. All in all, these measures will save a total of 5,595 tonnes of CO2 per year, which corresponds to about 14 fully fueled jumbo jets. The climate-neutral ecogas saves a further 295 t CO2.
The Zimmer Group is also taking the next step in the area of electric mobility to minimise CO2 emissions. At both company sites in Freistett, a total of 16 charging points will be set up at the car parks to charge the electric vehicles during working hours. This is because the vehicle fleet is now also being successively converted to electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.
Michael Fischer is the Zimmer Group’s environmental and energy management officer and is committed to the continuous optimisation of environmental protection services within the group. The auditing according to ISO 50001 underlines the successful measures. “More than 100 current measuring points were installed for consumption monitoring and analysis. This enabled us to identify many more potential savings and to derive measures from them,” explains Michael Fischer. For example, the use of heat pumps for air conditioning the buildings and cooling the machines, the optimisation of the compressed air network and the switch to LED lighting.
Looking to the future, the Zimmer Group also wants to sensitize its employees of tomorrow to the topic of “environmental protection and energy”. For this reason, five trainees were qualified by the Southern Upper Rhine Energy Chamber of Commerce and Industry and advised by Michael Fischer. As part of the “Energy Scout” project, they looked for new ways to save energy and found them in the compressed air guns that the company needs for production, among other things. The necessary nozzles are now being developed in-house, so that the compressed air guns now consume considerably less energy. The Zimmer Group therefore not only places great emphasis on SUSTAINABILITY, but also on the promotion of new growth.
