Sustainability

Saving energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions is central to promoting sustainability and the health of the environment, and when it comes to making more efficient use of the world's electrical power Eaton is on the cutting edge. In fact, Eaton's industry-leading electrical power control systems and production equipment can help customers like you reduce power consumption (and its attendant greenhouse gas emissions) by up to 50 percent.

Eaton is also helping to boost the fuel efficiency of the world's vehicles. Our Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEC) and Hydraulic Launch (HLATM) Systems are helping buses and trucks improve their fuel economy while reducing harmful particulate emissions. Automakers are turning to Eaton, too. Our valve actuation technology and superchargers give consumers more fuel efficient cars without sacrificing the horsepower and overall performance they demand.

While these advances are significant, as responsible corporate stewards, we view helping our customers save energy as only one part of our larger commitment to the environment. In our own business practices, Eaton has pledged to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 18 percent (adjusted for sales) by 2012. And we have pledged to measure the environmental performance of all our facilities against a newly formulated Global Management System of Environment, Safety, Security and Health (MESH). Instituted in 2007, this program is designed to function as a unified framework for managing our own environmental, safety and health initiatives across the globe.

The goal of MESH is to build on numerous environmental initiatives that already have achieved dramatic results. For instance, an energy conservation program at our truck transmission plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, reduced energy consumption by 40 percent. In the U.S., our valve manufacturing plant in Searcy, Arkansas, reduced its generated waste by 70 percent, and our new plant in China's Shandong province has been praised as a leading example of environmentally conscious development.