Dow Chemical 2009 Annual Report Download - page 22

The Dow Chemical Company
20
Addressing Climate Change
u
GOAL: Reduce our greenhouse gas intensity 2.5% per year
Since 1990, we have reduced our total Kyoto and non-
Kyoto greenhouse gas emissions by more than 35 percent
and exceeded the targets set by the Kyoto Protocol. In
2009, we continued to make significant improvements
to minimize our footprint and improve the quality of the
environment. For example, we:
•฀฀Began฀conversion฀of฀North฀American฀facilities฀that฀
manufacture STYROFOAM™ Brand Insulation to our
new zero ozone-depleting foaming agent technology.
When conversion is complete in spring 2010, it will cut
our greenhouse gas impact for that region in half.
•฀฀Started฀up฀a฀pilot฀plant฀based฀on฀advanced-amine฀
technology, jointly developed by Alstom and Dow,
to capture CO2 emissions from the flue gas of a coal-
fired boiler in the Dow-owned South Charleston,
West Virginia, plant.
•฀฀Announced฀plans฀to฀build฀a฀pilot-scale,฀algae-based฀
biorefinery at our Freeport, Texas, site that will
convert CO2 into ethanol, which then could be
used for transportation fuel or as a sustainable
chemical feedstock.
Dow also is a member of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a
group of businesses and leading environmental organizations
that are calling on the federal government to enact national
legislation to require significant reductions of greenhouse
gas emissions.
Energy Efficiency and Conservation
u
GOAL: Reduce our energy intensity 25%
Responsible operations are at the core of our sustainability
commitment. Through new technology implementation
and process improvements, we are constantly improving
our energy use. Since 1994, Dow has saved more than
$9 billion due to improved energy intensity performance.
In addition to improving the energy efficiency of our own
facilities, we are focused on helping customers improve
theirs. Our insulation products, such as STYROFOAM™
Brand Insulation, contribute to more energy-efficient
buildings and help avert hundreds of millions of metric
tons of CO2 emissions every year. A third-party-validated
life cycle assessment found that the avoided emissions from
the use of Dow insulation products are about six times
greater than our Company’s total annual emissions.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
(millon metric tons of CO2-equivalent,
Kyoto and non-Kyoto)
47
49
46
43
41
070605 08 09
Direct and Indirect Absolute
GHG Emissions from Operations
Avoided Emissions Attributable
to Dow Insulation in Service
t 
These avoided emissions are equivalent
to removing from the road: 10% of the
autos in the U.S., 50% of the autos in
Germany or 75% of the autos in Japan.
99 00 0301 02
Energy Efficiency Cumulative Savings
9594
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
9896 97 04 05 08 09
06 07
$9.2 billion saved to date
$ billions
Energy Intensity
(BTUs per pound of production)
5,666
5,547
5,363
5,412
5,584
4,250
0605 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15