Audi Hungaria presents efforts to make production greener
The Győr-based vehicle plant has showed its own thermal power plant to the public for the first time. Audi Hungaria also presented its efforts to make the factory more energy efficient.
Every successful company strives to make make sure it uses environment-conscious technologies at its plants. Audi Hungaria, the largest domestic automotive company, is showing an example to the rest of the players in the industry, which was showcased during the Audi Hungaria Technology Day held on May 19.
"We combine sustainable mobility with air-conditioning-free production areas," said Achim Heinfling during his presentation. Heinfling, the director responsible for engine production at the Győr plant drafted a large-scale plant, which will reduce the emissions of engines as well as the production processes at Audi Hungaria by 25 percent by 2018 compared to 2010.
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| The gas turbine of Audi Hungaria's new power plant |
The director mentioned three groups of measures: reducing energy use, recovering energy and using renewable energies.
According to Heinfling, CO emissions have already been reduced by 10-15 percent in the case of certain engines, while their performance increased. The EU6-standard EA888 engine fitted in the S3 boasts a performance of 221 kW with an emission rate of 159 g/km. It's predecessor, the EU5 EA113 had a performance of 199 kW and a CO2 emission rate of 199 g/km.
Not only was the factory visit about the innovative solutions used in engine production but also the significant decrease of the Győr plant's energy use.
The press had the opportunity to walk through almost all major production halls, where the leaders of the specific areas held a presentation on their area's energy-efficiency targets. Every co-worker showed us charts illustrating how many Audi A3 engines reducing emissions on the production line equals to.
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| Audi Hungaria Technology Day - Gallery |
Thanks to the new power plant, built in 2013 at the new vehicle factory in Győr, the decrease in emissions equals to the CO2 emission rate of 1,338 A3 cars with an annual mileage of 30,000 kilometres. This means the 2.7 MW plant saves 21,600 MWh energy for the Győr factory every year.
They also save energy on lighting technology. The old industrial lamps will soon all be replaced by LED light sources. The latter don't create so much surplus heat, while their brightness is suitable for the production lines.
The plant also updated the battery chargers of the electric carts used in storage units. As a result, they saved 1,043 MWh energy and 556,662 grams of CO2 in the period between 2010 and 2013.
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| The geothermal power plant's concept |
"Little streams make great rivers," said Audi Hungaria head of communications Mónika Czechmeister, calling our attention to the light colour of the floor. "We use a light colour because it is better for showing dirt and as a result we can maintain cleaner work conditions," she added.
Audi Hungaria's new thermal plant had been opened to visitors for the first time. What's more, by the end of 2015, energy group PannErgy will open a geothermal power plant on a yet unspecified area somewhere between Győr and Pér, which will produce energy using thermal water.
To show just how large the scale of this plan is, Audi Hungaria is planning to provide 60 percent of its energy demand from this source.
Audi Hungaria is planning to provide more information on the subject during the summer.
