Wind turbine blade manufacturer LM Wind Power plans to be carbon neutral by 2018, with the fist step on the path to carbon neutrality being sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewable energy sources, mainly wind, from 2017 onward.
Two other main components of LM Wind Power’s carbon neutral program, which will be named ‘CleanLM’, are reductions in the company’s carbon emissions through operational efficiencies, and offsetting the company’s remaining emissions through carbon credits and building low carbon sustainable development through the delivery of clean and renewable energy for communities in developing countries.
The company says that the ambition to become carbon neutral in 2018 is a core component of a wider program that includes implementing life cycle thinking in the design of future generations of wind turbine blades, an active focus on chemical substitution in manufacturing and end of life disposal.
LM Wind Power has produced more than 185,000 blades since the company began blade operations in 1978. This corresponds to approximately 77 GW of installed wind power capacity which each year effectively replaces approximately 147 million tons of CO2. This corresponds to the annual CO2 emissions from electricity used in 20 million average homes in the US.