Jun 24 2010
Millipore Corporation, a leading provider of technologies, tools and services for the global life science industry, announced that its Danvers, Massachusetts manufacturing facility clean room has achieved Gold level certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating system.
This certification, one of the highest ratings for building renovation, acknowledges Millipore’s newly remodeled space for its efficient use of water, energy and waste while manufacturing its single-use technologies.
“We are pleased to receive this designation which exemplifies our commitment to reduce Millipore’s environmental impact in both our products and facilities,” says David Newman, Senior Director, Global Sustainability. “This is a critical project which brings us a step closer towards our overall sustainability objectives.”
This is one of the first clean rooms to be awarded Gold certification by USGBC and is significant given the energy intensiveness of conventional clean rooms. Among the room’s new, sustainable features are high efficiency motion-sensing lighting, specialized particulate ventilation sensors which reduce airflow when it’s not needed and locally sourced building materials, many of which are derived from sustainably managed forests.
According to Paul Lukitsch, Millipore’s Worldwide Energy Manager, “It was important for us to design a state of the art clean space. By incorporating innovative design and construction elements, we dramatically reduced the energy used to manufacture Mobius single-use technologies - a key goal given the energy efficient capabilities of the solutions themselves.”
In 2008, Millipore launched a formal sustainability initiative to reduce the company’s impact on climate change, reducing waste and changing employee behaviors. Between 2006 and 2011, the company seeks to reduce green house gas emissions by 20%. Currently, Millipore has already cut its emissions by 14%.
Source: http://www.millipore.com/