EMD Millipore

A commitment to life science and human health is at EMD Millipore’s core. As an industry leader with operations in 67 countries and 2010 revenues of $2.2 billion, the multi-national company set out to be a leader in environmental stewardship as well.

EMD Millipore,is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. Its Jaffrey, New Hampshire site is one of the company’s largest manufacturing plants, with 700 employees working 24 hours a day to provide cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. The 252,000-square-foot facility houses clean rooms, laboratories, offices and warehouses, as well as a cafeteria and mechanical rooms. 

Through a partnership with Public Service of New Hampshire, the facility has completed 30 projects at a total cost of $535,000. The savings: 1,462,873 kilowatt hours—and $161,000—every year.

Improvements have included compressor and motor upgrades, new high-efficient HVAC units and chillers, variable frequency drive controls on air conditioning systems, lighting controls, window replacements, and hot water controls.

In 2011 alone, the facility achieved a 28 percent reduction in greenhouse gases from the previous year, avoiding an additional 40,000 metric tons CO2e. EMD Millipore is committed to continuing this effort, with the hopes of one day going carbon neutral.

The company’s vision of sustainability extends to reducing consumption of non-renewable resources, reducing waste, and conserving water. The Jaffrey facility has reused over 165 million gallons of water—enough to fill 240 Olympic-sized swimming pools—by using a reverse osmosis water system to purify and recycle water for lavatory flushing, lawn irrigation, and use in the wastewater treatment plant.

The plant recycles plastic and corrugated packaging, recovers and reuses solvents, and uses double-sided printing and biodegradable and compostable cutlery. All together, it achieves a recycle rate of close to 50 percent.

Incentives encourage employees to detect compressed air leaks, each of which can run $500 per year in energy costs. The “Sustainable Labs Challenge” is getting researchers involved in saving energy and other resources. And EMD Millipore offers its workers significant credits for installing solar electric or hot water systems in their homes, purchasing or leasing hybrid vehicles, and conducting home energy audits.

It’s a big investment, but the drive toward more sustainable energy practices has meant decreasing operating expenses relative to revenues—increasing profit margins on EMD Millipore’s products, and giving the company yet another incentive to continue its green ways.

EMD Millipore: unleashing the power of science—and harnessing the power of energy efficiency.