Caterpillar wins 26th Illinois Governor's Sustainability Award with Mossville Technical Center Project

The Illinois Governor's Sustainability Award, presented by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, honors organizations that have demonstrated a commitment to environmental excellence through outstanding and innovative sustainability practices. The Technical Center - Caterpillar's global headquarters for Research & Development in Mossville, Ill., and the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) teams were recently recognized with this award for their efforts to reduce water consumption on the campus.

Since 1987, Caterpillar facilities have won 26 Illinois Governor's Sustainability Awards for achieving excellence in improving sustainability through preventing waste and improving efficiency. "This achievement is remarkable given that the company in second place with respect to number of awards is Abbott Laboratories with a total of 14 awards," said Dr. Tim Lindsey, Global Director of Sustainable Development.

As the enterprise hub for research and development, the Tech Center plays a vital role in developing new technologies, tools and processes to increase the productivity, reliability and safety of Cat machines. A significant amount of water is needed to support these operations - the Tech Center is the third largest user of water in the Caterpillar enterprise.

From 2002-2008, water usage at the facility grew from 156 million gallons to 284 million gallons - an 82 percent increase over a seven-year span. In 2010, a water foot printing project was launched. The project involved the installation of meters throughout the campus to monitor water consumption at each point of use.

The results were impressive. After the meters were integrated into building automated control systems, the team was able to account for 92 percent of total annual water usage. Water consumption for 2011 was reduced by 58 percent compared to 2008 (the project's baseline). To date, the project has saved 2.9 million gallons of water per week and more than $600,000 per year.

Water consumption at the facility is now 50 percent below 2006 levels, surpassing the enterprise 2020 sustainability goal to hold water consumption flat. "We are very excited to have been selected as a recipient of the Governor's Sustainability Award this year," said Mandy Chadwick, EHS Manager. "The Tech Center facilities and EHS teams have worked very hard towards achieving the 2020 sustainability goals for the enterprise. Water consumption is just one aspect we have improved at the facility-level."