More Operations/Performance Highlights

Most of Georgia-Pacific's large pulp and paper mills self-generate power to run equipment needed to make bath tissue, paper towels, linerboard and many other paper products people use every day. We generate this power from steam produced in our boilers.

Through a process called cogeneration, or combined heat and power, we can use that steam as it's on its way to be used in the manufacturing process to turn turbines that generate additional electricity to run other parts of our operations. Cogeneration enables us to self-generate electricity at about double the efficiency of a typical commercial utility.

That's important to Georgia-Pacific's sustainability efforts. In 2010, the company used more than 300,000 billion Btu to power its manufacturing operations in North America. More than half of that energy is self-generated, and of that self-generated energy, about 70 percent is used in the cogeneration process.

Cogeneration makes economic sense by eliminating waste from the commercial electricity generation process. By making both heat and power more efficiently, we buy less electricity from power companies, providing an environmental benefit by reducing the overall emission of greenhouse gases.

Georgia-Pacific saw the light, and in many cases, it wasn't very efficient.

But a company-wide energy initiative, officially begun in 2006, is turning that around.

Led by the company's procurement and energy groups, Georgia-Pacific has conducted lighting upgrades at more than 80 facilities so far, with nearly a dozen more upgrades planned in the near future.

Lighting power consumption has dropped significantly where upgrades have been made, which translates into better energy efficiency and lower energy costs.

The project began after an audit revealed many GP facilities had older, less efficient fluorescent and metal halide lighting in their manufacturing, warehouse and office spaces.

The upgrades are providing benefits beyond energy savings. The company is also using fewer maintenance resources to keep up lighting systems, so those maintenance resources can be used on more value-added tasks at GP plants and mills.

Going forward, the lighting team is developing a set of standard lighting specifications for all the company's large pulp and paper mills, which will help improve inventory costs and maintenance and ensure that less efficient lighting is no longer used.