Valley Forge-based Saint-Gobain in Chester County Thursday announced it has been awarded the Energy Star Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the fourth consecutive year.

Other Energy Star Award winners in Pennsylvania include: Air King Limited, West Chester; Brandywine Realty Trust, Radnor; EnergyCAP, Inc., State College; Liberty Property Trust, Malvern; North Penn School District, Lansdale; and Ricoh Americas Corporation, Malvern.

The award recognizes Saint-Gobain’s outstanding leadership in energy management and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Saint-Gobain is the first and only manufacturer of glass containers or fiberglass insulation ever to receive the award.

“At Saint-Gobain, we strive to be a good example of a 21st century manufacturing business by practicing and consistently working to reduce our energy usage at our more than 130 plants throughout North America,” said John Crowe, President and CEO of Saint-Gobain and its North American construction materials subsidiary, CertainTeed Corporation. “As a company that manufactures products that help consumers live more energy-efficient, comfortable and healthy lives, it's important to us that the process in which we make these products reflects our end goal.”

The 2014 Partner of the Year - Sustained Excellence Award winners are selected from the 16,000 organizations that participate in the Energy Star program. The award is given to a select group of organizations that have exhibited outstanding leadership year after year. These winners have reduced greenhouse gas emissions by setting and achieving aggressive goals and employing innovative energy-efficiency approaches.

This is the sixth consecutive year that Saint-Gobain and its North American subsidiaries have been recognized by the EPA with an Energy Star Award. Saint-Gobain was first awarded the Energy Star Partner of the Year Award in 2009 and 2010, and then attained the prestigious level of Sustained Excellence in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.

Saint-Gobain’s accomplishments and long-term commitment to energy efficiency will be recognized at an EPA awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., on April 29.

“Saint-Gobain has earned EPA’s highest Energy Star award – the 2014 Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award – because of their unwavering commitment to helping consumers become increasingly more energy efficient,” said Bob Perciasepe, Deputy Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA is recognizing Saint-Gobain for its leadership in implementing a wide range of process improvements and energy management practices over several years. Since 2008, the company has improved energy intensity by 17 percent.

In 2013, Saint-Gobain businesses in North America were able to reduce their energy intensity (the amount of energy used to produce a unit of product) by 2.1 percent – equivalent to the amount of energy required to produce approximately 488 million typical glass containers or the energy required to make enough shingles for new roofs on over 700,000 typical houses or the energy used to provide insulation for about 100,000 typical homes.

In addition, the energy savings achieved by the Company equate to avoiding more than 70,957 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions last year.

“We are deeply honored to be recognized by Energy Star for our contributions for the sixth year in a row,” continued Crowe. “This recognition represents the impact made by all of our family of companies in North America consisting of more than 19,000 employees and serves as a reminder of what we can accomplish when we work together to continually improve our practices and the products we manufacture to ultimately help create a more energy-efficient future for all.”

4/7/2014