The three AGC Group companies in Gumi City, South Korea have been proactively tackling climate change issue by carrying out the "energy conservation diagnosis" fostered by the AGC Electronics Company on a global scale.

Trends in South Korea

The Korean government enacted the Framework Act on Low Carbon, Green Growth in April 2010 with a view to becoming an advanced country that can fulfill its responsibility in the international community through the creation of a low-carbon society, and is upholding the target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30%*1 by 2020. Under the law, 470 companies in the country are designated as companies to be placed under special management based on the predefined greenhouse gas emissions criteria. AFK and PGK are among the designated companies, and are thus required to submit their greenhouse gas emissions reduction plans for fiscal 2012 by the end of December 2011. In response, AFK and PGK estimated their greenhouse gas emissions and received external certifications for the estimates.

*1 Relative to greenhouse gases to be emitted in the "business as usual (BaU)" scenario (i.e. if no anti-climate change measures are taken)

The AGC Electronics Company's Initiatives

As an initiative to prevent climate change, the AGC Electronics Company is fostering energy conservation measures at its manufacturing facilities as well as developing production technologies to improve its production processes. The Asahi Glass Engineering Center had long carried out energy conservation diagnosis and made subsequent improvement proposals on the utility facilities of the In-house Company's production bases in Japan. The center expanded these activities to include the Company's overseas bases in Taiwan, South Korea and Thailand, while promoting the sharing and implementation of excellent measures beyond national boundaries. The target of the diagnosis was not only utilities but was expanded to include lighting and air conditioning equipment. As a result in fiscal 2010, CO₂ emissions at the bases in Taiwan, Korea and Thailand were reduced by about 5,000 tons in total.

Effect of "energy conservation diagnosis" at the three companies in Gumi City

AFK and PGK have been carrying out “energy conservation diagnosis” on their utility, lighting and air-conditioning equipment since 2009. Based on the results, the two companies launched a joint project team to review the use of lighting and air-conditioning equipment and conducted measures to improve the efficiency of their compressors and introduce inverters*2 to their water pumps. As a result, the two companies reduced their CO₂ emissions by about 1,600 tons in total in fiscal 2010.
HTG has been conducting unique energy conservation activities and succeeded in reducing its CO₂ emissions by about 1,100 tons in fiscal 2010 by taking measures such as increasing the efficiency of its lighting and air conditioning equipment, and improving the operations of its boilers and cleaning machines used in the manufacturing processes. The company carried out the “energy conservation diagnosis” on its lighting equipment, etc. in December 2010 to identify any further problems. HTG will continue to foster its systematic energy conservation activities, including the visualization of the brightness of lighting equipment at its manufacturing facilities.

*2 This refers to the addition of add a function to control the rotating speed of the pump in a precise manner according to changes in the load.