2. Bacardi Cuba
Now the third-largest international spirits company in the world, family-owned
Bacardi began operations in Santiago de Cuba in the 19th century in 1862.
While corporate and social responsibility (CSR) has been at the foundation of
Bacardi for more than 150 years, in the past decade, the company has set and
achieved several new goals for sustainability, including enhancing energy
efficiency.
For spirits makers, distillery operations have had the greatest impact on energy
use. As much as 40 percent of the energy used in the entire production process
is consumed by distilleries. Bottle manufacturing and the production of raw
materials require additional power and resources.
3. Bacardi Cuba
Bacardi set an energy efficiency objective of an overall 12 percent improvement
against 2006 baseline numbers. The company has more than doubled its
progress, however, with a 27 percent improvement. For greenhouse gas
emissions, Bacardi has achieved a 31 percent reduction per unit of production.
The company plans to release additional greenhouse gas reduction goals next
year.
4. Bacardi Cuba
In terms of renewable energy, Bacardi unveiled the largest wind turbine
installation in Puerto Rico designed to harness natural wind energy to help
power its top global distillery near San Juan. The two wind turbines generate
approximately 1,000,000 kWh of electricity per year, which accounts for 3 to 7
percent of the power used by Bacardi and is roughly equivalent to the
consumption of the facility's tourism-related activities at its Casa Bacardi Visitor
Center. This figure is also equivalent to the energy consumption of about 100
average households and is expected to offset more than 900 tons of CO2
emissions per year. One hundred percent of the power generated by the wind
turbines is consumed by the Bacardi facility. This project was the first step in
utilizing wind power as a renewable energy source for Bacardi, and the
company continues to consider additional wind solutions and other energy-
saving initiatives.
5. Bacardi Cuba
In addition, Bacardi was granted patents for anaerobic digesters (AD) as early
as the 1980s, and built its first AD at its Puerto Rico distillery in the early
1990s. Today, approximately 50% of the energy requirements at its Puerto
Rico facility are provided by AD.
As a whole, Bacardi now relies on renewable energy for 19 percent of its
power. This figure greatly surpasses the firm’s original goal: increasing
renewable sources from 6 percent to 12 percent of total power usage.
