Other technologies


Environmental benefits of BeyondZero

3rd Quarter 2012 Other technologies

SKF‘s BeyondZero portfolio enables customers to reduce their environmental impact. The environmental improvements provided by solutions within this portfolio are validated through a life cycle assessment methodology developed by SKF sustainability engineers. Results will be reviewed yearly by KPMG.

“The SKF BeyondZero portfolio is a major step for SKF in our development of solutions with reduced environmental impact for our customers. SKF products, solutions and services from our five technology platforms are already improving performance for our customers and enabling them to be more efficient,” says Tom Johnstone, SKF president and CEO. “The launch of these special solutions shows how additional energy savings can be achieved and measured in specific applications. The BeyondZero portfolio fully complements and supports the existing range SKF offers.”

SKF’s customers in all segments and industries are increasingly driven to reduce the environmental impact of their products, services and processes. The SKF BeyondZero portfolio enables them to improve their own environmental performance. SKF estimates the BeyondZero portfolio represented $356m (SEK 2,5b) of sales in 2011. The goal is to reach $1,4b (SEK 10b) by 2016.

Products currently included in the SKF BeyondZero portfolio are:

Automotive market

The SKF Bus Door Actuator can reduce energy consumption by 80-90%. City buses using SKF actuators for operating the doors instead of pneumatic actuators could save 1,9 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.

The SKF Low Weight Hub Bearing Unit saves 0,25 g of CO2 per km in a light commercial vehicle with four SKF low weight hub bearing units. When based on an annual mileage of 14 500 km, the saving is 3,6 kg of CO2 per year. Put another way, if one million cars used this solution the yearly reduction of CO2 would be 3600 tons.

The SKF Rotor Positioning Bearing is an integral component of Stop-Start systems for micro-hybrid vehicles. In dense urban traffic, Stop-Start can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 15%. Based on an annual mileage of 14 500 km, this solution saves 75 kg of CO2 per year.

The SKF Low Friction Engine Seal reduces friction by up to 55%. When installed in a gasoline fuelled engine it provides a CO2 saving of over 1 g per kilometre. Based on an annual mileage of 14 500 km, this equates to a reduction of 14,5 kg of CO2 per year. If one million cars were equipped with the SKF solution, the reduction would be 14 500 tonnes of CO2 per year.

The SKF StopGo for two-wheelers reduces CO2 emissions by 5 g per km. With an annual mileage of 7875 km, this equates to a reduction of 36 kg of CO2 per year. If one million motorcycles were equipped with the SKF solution the reduction would be 36 000 tons of CO2 per year.

Industrial market

The SKF ConRo for the steel industry saves an estimated 1,5 tons of CO2 per roll line per year. In a normal sized continuous steel casting machine with 400 roll lines, this translates to an annual CO2 reduction of about 600 tons.

The SKF Energy Monitoring Service, Pump Systems, recently helped an SKF customer in the pulp and paper industry to achieve a reduction of its annual electricity demand by 2000 MW, which equates to more than 1500 tons of CO2 per year.

SKF CASM electric cylinders helped Indian Textiles to reduce energy use by one printing machine by an estimated 7 MWh per year. This reduction translates into a CO2 savings of 5,3 tons per year for only one machine.

The SKF Solar Linear Actuator, CASD-60, contributes to the reduction of CO2 emissions by increasing the energy production from one rigid solar panel by 5,8 MWh/year. This equates to a reduction per solution of 4,4 tons CO2 per year. On average, a 15% increase in power generation can be anticipated in comparison to rigid PV solar panel systems.

The SKF E2 Deep Groove Ball Bearing could avoid 290 000 tons of CO2 emissions if all new 1-50 HP motors were equipped with SKF E2 DGBB bearings instead of the standard SKF design. Electric motor-driven systems consume more than 40% of global electricity production according to the International Energy Agency.

The SKF Nautilus bearing for the wind energy segment contributes to a 3 MW wind turbine operating in a typical on-shore installation being able to produce 9 GWh of renewable energy per year, displacing around 6700 tons of CO2.

For more information contact Samantha Joubert, SKF South Africa, +27 (0)11 821 3500, [email protected], www.skf.co.za



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