A Coke and a Green Smile!

Coca-Cola, with the help of Ecos Business Solutions, is sharing what it has learned through its own sustainability efforts with restaurant customers to encourage more sustainable business practices.

“Restaurant Solutions” for Coca-Cola customers consists of three tiers of services ranging from education and benchmarking to full audits and multi-year action plans and focus on making operations more sustainable in the areas of energy, water, packaging and facilities.

For their own sustainability efforts, Coca-Cola reduces their carbon footprint with energy-efficient coolers, LED lighting in warehouses, wind turbine installations in Wakefield, England, and solar panels at a California distribution center.
The beverage company also added 185 hybrid trucks to its fleet, for a total of 327, and is completing lighting retrofits at its California facilities, which will save 5.6 million kilowatt-hours annually.

Now that is something to have a coke and smile about!

Coca-Cola adds more hybrids

Coca-Cola Enterprises will soon be the largest hybrid truck fleet in America! They are adding 185 trucks to their existing fleet of 142. Testing and evaluations conducted by Coca-Cola Enterprises found that Eaton’s hybrid-electric drivetrain-equipped trucks decreased emissions by roughly 32% and fuel consumption by up to 37% as compared to conventionally-powered trucks in Coca-Cola’s current fleet. Coca-Cola also reported lower maintenance costs on the hybrid-powered trucks. The hybrid uses a motor/generator, working with the transmission and a 340 volt lithium ion battery, and the trucks can drive exclusively on electric power below 30 MPH, eliminating that smelly diesel exhaust during city driving. The trucks also saves fuel by not idling at stop lights.

EPA Dupty Regional Administrator Stan Meiburg presented Coke with a leadership award for the beverage company’s overall plan for energy conservation and climate change, which include installing water-saving systems at their plants, using more efficient lighting, and developing a recylcing program. Earlier this month, Coke announce the upcoming completion of lighting retrofits in its California facilities, which will save 5.6 million kilowatt-hours annually. The company’s recycling program has been recognized as a leading program in the beverage industry.