Power Success Story: Nike
100% green power and an 18% cut in CO2 emissions
In 2006, Nike opened a 9 megawatt (MW) wind park to power its Customer Service Centre in Belgium. One of the largest corporate on-site wind power projects in Europe, it has helped the Centre reduce its carbon footprint by 18%.
Nike at a glance
Nike is a leading designer, marketer and distributor of sports equipment, including trainers, clothing and accessories.
| Employees: | 30,200 (2007) |
|---|---|
| Carbon footprint: | 1.43 million tonnes CO2e (FY 2005) |
| Revenue: | US$16.3 billion (2007) |
The challenge
13% cut in CO2
Nike’s target was to reduce CO2 emissions by 13% by 2005 from 1998 levels. This was no easy task – especially as the Customer Service Centre was set to grow by 6% over the same period. Nike also aims to make all its offices, shops, factories and business travel climate-neutral by 2011.
The solution
On-site wind power
The Laakdal Customer Service Centre (CSC) has taken steps to reduce its environmental impact. They’ve installed solar thermal water heaters on warehouse roofs and switched to energy efficient lighting. To further reduce its emissions, they wanted to make the Centre self-sufficient, using wind turbines to produce all its power.
Expert advice
To make sure it could be done, they teamed up with Arcadis, an environmental engineering and consulting firm. Arcadis recommended building six 1.5MW wind power turbines on the perimeter of the site – enough to power the whole Centre.
Community involvement
The on-site wind power project is one of the largest in Europe. But this brought its own problems. For a start, the local residents were worried that it would be noisy and unattractive. So Nike arranged visits to wind farms nearby. This helped the locals see for themselves how quietly modern wind turbines operate and the visual impact wasn’t as bad as they’d imagined.
Eco-friendly design
The upfront cost of building a wind park and the challenges of making the design itself sustainable were just two of the issues Nike had to deal with. To address them, Nike worked with Seeba, a construction company and independent power producer. Seeba proposed lattice tower designs, which use 60% less steel, can reduce blade noise and can be easily recycled.
Leasing land
To save Nike the capital expense and operating costs, Nike partnered with Seeba to finance, build, operate and maintain the wind park. Nike also leases the land on which the turbines are located to Seeba and the lease payments help make the green power purchase agreement at least cost neutral to conventional power contracts.
The result
100% green energy and an 18% cut in emissions
In June 2006, Nike’s 9MW wind park was up and running. It now generates 22 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year – enough to power 8,000 households. Nike CSC is one of the first corporate sites in Europe to be 100% powered by green electricity. By 2005, it had cut its CO2 emissions by 18% against the original 13% target.
Lessons learnt
By planning the project with experts Arcadis and Seeba, Nike managed any risks before they came up.
By involving the local community early in the feasibility phase, Nike helped answer their concerns – and built support for the project.
Green power doesn’t need to cost more than conventional power. The Nike CSC is now self-sufficient, using 100% green power, and costs no more than a conventional electricity supplier.
