CARTERSVILLE, GA.—Shaw Industries Group, Inc. has installed solar panels on the roof of its carpet tile manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Ga. The installation is expected to produce approximately 1.4 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of power annually—enough to power approximately 100 homes in Georgia each year. Feeding into the Georgia Power electric grid, Shaw will use this renewable energy to help power its Plant 15 (also known as Plant X), a facility that produces carpet tile for the commercial market.
“Within Shaw’s holistic approach to sustainability, we continually explore opportunities to improve energy efficiency and employ renewable and alternative energy sources,” said Paul Murray, vice president of sustainability and environmental affairs at Shaw. “Solar is a mature, reliable power source, and the economics made this a viable, long-term investment for this facility.”
In 2012, Shaw invested more than $5 million in energy efficiency and greenhouse gas improvements, and the company reduced its GHG emissions intensity by more than 17 percent from 2011 to 2012 (from 1.80 to 1.49 pounds of CO2 equivalents per pound of finished product).
Shaw’s 2030 environmental goals include designing 100 percent of its products to Cradle to Cradle protocols, which includes a focus on renewable energy—as well as material health, material reutilization, water stewardship and social fairness.
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