Boehringer Ingelheim

Improving health and quality of life has been at the heart of Boehringer Ingelheim’s work from its humble beginnings 128 years ago in Ingelheim, Germany to the global enterprise it is today. As one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, Boehringer Ingelheim operates globally with 145 affiliates and more than 44,000 employees. Since 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing medications for human and veterinary medicine.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s U.S. headquarters is located in Ridgefield, CT and is one of the area’s top employers. As part of its core mission to improve health and quality of life, the company is staunchly committed to minimizing its environmental impact. For many years, Boehringer Ingelheim has recognized the many benefits of energy efficiency investments and has completed a number of projects to reduce energy consumption at its 300 acre Connecticut campus. From 2010-2012, the company implemented a persistent strategy for energy efficiency at its 265,000 square foot Administrative Office Building (AOB), utilizing the Connecticut Energy Efficiency Fund’s RetroCommissioning program. The project included changes to the energy management system’s programming for both space heating/cooling and water heating. Specific measures included:

• reprogramming for various air handling units to optimize operation of supply and return fans when unoccupied

• optimizing the HVAC system (including start and stop times based on the occupancy schedule)

• resetting the temperature set point to eliminate sub-cooling and consequential re-heating

• and implementing a system using outside air to pre-cool the building during swing season months.

Participation in the energy efficiency program has provided the opportunity for BI to re-evaluate operational paradigms that exist. The retrocommissioning project included changes to the energy management system’s programming for both space heating and cooling and water heating. Functional testing of each measure and continuous review ensures that each system runs as intended and has resulted in many electrical loads being turned off when not needed by processes.

Boehringer Ingelheim saw immediate electric and gas savings as a result. In addition, the company upgraded some commercial kitchen equipment to ENERGY STAR® certified models. This included a commercial dishwasher that not only reduces energy consumption but also reduces water consumption by thousands of gallons per year due to an innovative cascading rinse cycle. The company is actively pursuing installation of a gas-driven 100-500 kilowatt micro turbine as an alternative to fuel cells.

This commitment to efficiency extends to Boehringer Ingelheim’s employees. The company’s guiding principles include the following: “In all our activities we will protect our employees, facilities and the environment from harmful influences, conserve natural resources and promote environmental awareness.” Energy conservation goals are included in job descriptions, goals and performance metrics for members of the Energy Strategy Team. Recent efforts include energy fairs, electric vehicle demonstrations and home conservation workshops.

As much as Boehringer Ingelheim has done, the company is committed to doing even more. They have introduced a global initiative to reduce their carbon footprint by 20 percent by 2020.

For a business dedicated to healing people and animals all over the world, these efforts are just what the doctor ordered—for the health of the company as well as the planet.