Climate action at CWS: New water layer tank in Olching

Reducing our CO2 emissions with new water layer tank in Olching.

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9 March 2023

At CWS, we work hard to drive forward sustainable solutions, construct a sustainable business ecosystem and make a contribution to a clean, sustainable future with an intact environment. Therefore, we are pursuing ambitious sustainability goals for the near future and are aiming to reduce our overall greenhouse gas emissions by 50 % by 2030.

In 2021/2022, an analysis of CWS’ corporate carbon footprint across three scopes (Scope 1, 2 and 3) identified several emission hotspots. Based on those findings, we designed a decarbonisation roadmap: We want to take measures and make targeted investments to decarbonise processes across our operations. One of the measures related to energy efficiency is the installation of water layer tanks at our laundries. The first water layer tank was recently installed at our laundry in Olching, Germany.

The cooling water from our combined heat and power plant (CHP) in Olching is used in a closed circuit to heat the water in the water layer tank. Due to the different temperature levels, we can use the stored water for our processes at different extraction points: Water at the highest temperature level is used for the washing process, water at the medium temperature level is used for the closed circuit of the CHP, and the return flow from the CHP ensures that the high temperature level (upper range) can be maintained without having to use additional energy. In addition, by using the CHP, we were able to eliminate the steam boiler and now generate our own electricity and hot water.

Subsequently, we can reduce our natural gas consumption, which is responsible for more than 30% of our Scope 1 emissions. Scope 1 includes direct emissions from sources CWS as a company owns or controls, such as manufacturing plants, laundries and vehicle fleets.  

Outlook: Thanks to the water layer tank, we are now also in a position to incorporate other energy sources such as solar systems and heat pumps in the future. We are also planning to install further water layer tanks at our laundries in Murrhardt, Den Bosch and Solingen.

 

>>> More information on the decarbonisation at CWS can be found here.

>>> The full Sustainability Report 2021/2022 can be found here.