CEMEX USA Named ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year
Despite CEMEX being a Mexican company, its brand of environmentalism does not go unnoticed in the US. The latter’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency, honored the cement manufacturer as its ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for 2009.
This designation could only mean CEMEX USA has been America’s latest exemplar in energy efficiency. By efficiently managing its energy use, CEMEX has, in effect, offset 115,000 metric tons of carbon emissions. The energy saved from CEMEX’s singular practices is enough to power 1,500 homes in the US for 10 years.
For good measure, CEMEX has a special energy management team on its payroll. Every CEMEX cement plant even has an on-site energy management team.
EPA has chosen CEMEX among 12,000 potential organizations across the country. However, CEMEX is used to getting awards from EPA before.
In 2008, CEMEX air quality made a record when it got EPA ENERGY STAR certifications for five of its US cement plants, the most for a cement company. A year before, three CEMEX air quality facilities had received the same recognitions. CEMEX USA itself has been an ENERGY STAR partner since 2004.
Granted, EPA concedes that CEMEX is still a rarity in an industry, where the idea of energy efficiency has yet to sink in. The agency estimates that industrial and commercial facilities are responsible for half of all carbon emissions from America.
