February 12, 2024
The manufacturing team for Thermo King in Galway, Ireland is leading the way toward Trane Technologies’ carbon neutral operations, innovating for the future, reducing environmental impact and contributing to a net-zero future.
We’re leading by example through responsible operations, reimagining our systems and taking action to have a restorative impact on the environment.
Project At-a-Glance:
The opportunity: Accelerate the path toward operational sustainability at Thermo King Galway through a multi-faceted carbon reduction strategy across the manufacturing plant, significantly reducing Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions and moving Trane Technologies closer to its 2030 Sustainability Commitment of carbon neutral operations.
The solutions: Replacing diesel fuel with HVO biodiesel; adopting reusable dollies and crates to further enhance zero waste to landfill commitment; innovating a state-of-the-art carbon-neutral Advancer production line; enhancing roof insulation; and installing 2,000 photovoltaic panels for renewable energy.
Sustainability outcomes: All metrics are based on prior year (2022) comparisons unless otherwise stated.
VINCENT: We're close to the coast of Ireland. There's a lot of natural beauty, you see it going to and from work and we'd like to keep it that way. Nice and green, nice and clean.
MICHAEL: I think about sustainability in its broadest sense. We have to look at the three legs of it: environmental, social, and economic. Zero waste to landfill, Led lighting, renewable electricity from the grid, all of that stuff is important, not just for Thermo King Galway, but from a customer perspective as well. And socially in terms of looking after our people - what we’re doing for the community in which we operate.
DAVID: We're very proud of the fact that from 2015, which is eight years now, we are zero waste to landfill. So, we pride ourselves in the segregation of waste on site and we send it to our suppliers and they recycle, reuse, or incinerate.
We were using diesel for years in our assembly lines. So we identified an opportunity to replace that diesel with hydrotreated vegetable oil. We bought a 50,000 liter tank and it's piped into the factory. Converting from diesel to HVO has resulted in a 97% reduction in CO2 emissions.
One of the biggest contributors to carbon emissions is refrigerants. We use about 10,000 tons of refrigerant each month. We've successfully reduced our refrigerant losses by 60%.
MICHAEL: We were chosen, thankfully, by our corporate leaders to be one of the pilot sites for the Future Factory initiative. We picked the advancer line as the pilot line. So that’s the next step in the electrification of our product range.
DAVID: The Advancer line is ISO 14064 certified. We've successfully attained that standard for the rest of the Galway plant in June this year.
VINCENT: We have an old building here in Galway, and the roof insulation is very poor. We've got a single top skin. We decided to replace that skin with an insulated panel, which means less leakage, less heat loss, and less energy required to heat the plant.
Across the entire factory roof and other buildings on site, we're fitting photovoltaic panels. We estimate that we can generate about 1 million watts of energy every year. Over the year, we expect to generate about 40% of our needs.
MIKE: There is a primary school, a junior school, which is just 300 yards from the back gate of Thermal King. We got a letter from the school asking us if we would support in a small way.
So we got involved with that and we supported and sponsored the building of a sensory room.
For people in the ASD space, it’s very important to have a sensory room. A really small investment financially from a Thermo King perspective, but a huge investment from the school's perspective.
VINCENT: Thermo King Galway has been here a long time. There's generations of family gone through this plant behind me and we're all proud to work here.
MIKE: We're on a good flight path in terms of sustainability. We were on it for quite some time. We're accelerating it now. So it’s exciting times.
Over nine years ago, our Thermo King manufacturing facility in Galway, Ireland became the first Trane Technologies site to achieve zero waste-to-landfill status. In the years since, the team has continued to innovate how we manufacture solutions for the cold chain while leading the way in sustainable operations.
In 2020, motivated by Trane Technologies’ 2030 Gigaton Challenge to reduce customers’ carbon emissions from use of products, Thermo King unveiled a new state-of-the-art Advancer A-series, a revolutionary approach to refrigerated transport that helps reduce the impact of the cold chain.
At the same time, the Galway team simultaneously revolutionized the production line on which the new Advancer A-series would be built, incorporating innovative technologies and practices like automation, reusable packaging, robotics, renewable energy sources and electrification into the manufacturing process. In 2021, the Advancer line became the first assembly line in the sector to be certified carbon neutral.
“The Advancer line is the future of the factory,” says Michael Stratford, Thermo King Operations Leader for Ireland. “It’s also the start of our electrical architecture and electrical journey in our operations.”
Prioritizing sustainability in operations means Galway’s cross-functional teams are constantly monitoring and assessing energy efficiency, water, refrigerant and waste, as well as looking for new reduction strategies. Previous measures have included LED lighting, rainwater harvesting and adding greenfield areas and EV charging.
And in recent years, the company has accelerated its path to further reduce carbon emissions associated with operations, leading the way with bigger, groundbreaking projects.
“We're on a good flight path in terms of sustainability. We were on it for quite some time. We're accelerating it now.”
Michael Stratford
Thermo King Operations Leader for Ireland
Working with the design, procurement and waste-monitoring teams on site, the facility now prioritizes the use of returnable, stackable crates and the development of parts and dollies that no longer require single-use plastic. This strategy enhances Galway’s zero waste to landfill commitment by also significantly reducing the annual mass of recyclable materials. Since 2018, the site’s production of recyclable waste has been reduced by 60% - another big step in advancing the sites operating zero waste to landfill achievement.
Onsite generators now produce oxygen and nitrogen for soldering and brazing for production units, saving nearly $37K annually in gas transportation costs. Replacing the use of propane with bio propane for these processes has delivered over 90% carbon emissions reduction.
And one of the most impactful projects to date has been the installation of a 50,000-liter tank storing Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). By replacing the diesel used on production lines with HVO, the site has successfully reduced Scope 1 fossil fuel carbon emissions across three manufacturing lines by 99%. HVO carbon is categorized as biogenic and identified as a renewable fuel with a carbon neutral designation.
Additional investments are taking another big step in reducing the site’s carbon footprint.
With a 50-year-old single skin roof, the 170,000 sq ft factory building was losing heat, resulting in higher energy demands. The team saw an opportunity to reduce wasted heat while also shifting to a renewable energy source, replacing the roof’s thin top-skin with an insulated panel and also installing over 2,000 photovoltaic solar panels. Once fully installed, the solar panels will produce approximately 1,000,000 kWh of green electricity and improve the site’s resiliency for energy supply. While the site has purchased and used electricity generated 100 percent from renewable sources since 2020, the addition of the photovoltaic (PV) system will reduce the quantity of renewable electricity purchased. The PV system will also save the site over €300k in annual energy and maintenance costs.
“Opportunities to improve are still out there,” says David Honan, Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Leader EMEA and Galway EHS Site Leader. One such priority is refrigerant. The Galway facility uses approximately 10,000 kilograms of refrigerant each month to charge into finished goods manufactured for customers. To significantly reduce Scope 1 emissions associated with refrigerant leaks, the site installed world class refrigerant storage, charging and monitoring equipment and shifted to a new refrigerant with a lower Global Warming Potential (GWP).
The Galway team also recognizes that sustainability means looking after the long-term well-being of people, both internally and in the surrounding community.
When a local school was looking for help to create a dedicated space for Autistic Spectrum Disorder students, the team invested in the building of a sensory room. And volunteers that make up the local Purple Team for the site, actively work with area students, supporting science fairs, robotics competitions, and partnerships that encourage young kids to pursue STEM careers.
“We're on a good flight path in terms of sustainability,” affirms Michael Stratford. “We were on it for quite some time. We're accelerating it now.”
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