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ePaper created 2014-08-08, 11:09:35 | version 1.32.01
Ú Lufthansa Systems: Saving electricity intelligently Lufthansa Systems, the Lufthansa Group’s IT subsidiary, is working to steadily optimize its consumption of energy. The IT specialist’s largest computing center covers 6,600 square meters in Kelsterbach, a town located on the outskirts of Frankfurt am Main. It contains more than 2,000 servers, which are spread out over four data centers. Because of the huge amount of hot air that is generated, an intelligent air-conditioning solution is a key component of any approach to further reduc- ing the computing center’s electricity con- sumption. 280,000 cubic meters of air are moved every hour in each computing center. Keeping hot and cold airstreams separate from one another is a highly important factor in the energy balance. The server cabinets, which are referred to as racks, are positioned relative to one another in such a way that escaping warm air is collected in one aisle while cold air is fed into a parallel aisle. The air streams are thus kept separate from one another, and cold and warm aisles are cre- ated. The cold air can be used specifically and without loss to cool the servers. Another com- ponent involves harnessing the outside tem- perature. In the winter especially, the outside air provides 100% of the needed cooling. Thanks to these and other green IT measures, Lufthansa Systems was able to reduce its consumption of electricity by about 5% in 2013 as compared to the previous year. In 2013 Lufthansa Systems also built an out- door, fully operational back-up cooling unit in Frankfurt that is connected to the computing center. In addition, an improvement in the coefficient of performance (CoP) value was achieved with a series of other measures, including installation of state-of-the-art heat exchangers in the ventilating stations. This value provides information about the energy efficiency of cooling and ventilation systems. In 2014 the IT specialist aims to achieve fur- ther improvement in the CoP by replacing the cooling stations with refrigerating machines. Ú Lufthansa Cargo: Electro-mobility-based aircraft handling At the Lufthansa Cargo Center, Lufthansa Cargo’s largest base of operations, 40 electri- cally powered vehicles were replaced by the latest generation of energy efficient models: 31 new electric fork trucks and nine electric tractors. The new industrial trucks consume about 14% less energy for the same power as their predecessors. They operate much more efficiently and can be used for a longer period before their batteries must be recharged. Hence they are responsible for a considerable increase in efficiency at the Frankfurt hub. In total, Lufthansa Cargo has more than 120 of these industrial trucks. With the exception of one that carries especially heavy loads of nine to 12 tonnes, all are electrically powered. eFreight: Off to a paperless future with Lufthansa Cargo Lufthansa Cargo has been expanding its international paperless air freight transport services (eFreight) since as early as 2007 with the aim of completely digitalizing the transport chain. Nowadays up to 30 different paper documents are needed for every single air freight shipment, regardless of its size. This imposes high costs every day and prolongs transport times. By converting to eFreight, therefore, the air freight industry will experi- ence a simplification of procedures, a reduc- tion in complexity, and the elimination of an environmental burden. The potential savings for the air freight industry as a whole—7,800 tonnes of paper per year—are considerable. This quantity of paper documents piled one atop the other would be 20 times the height of Mount Everest. Lufthansa Cargo aims to have 100% of its transport documentation handled electronically beginning in 2020. By using SmartPads for transport order man- agement, Lufthansa Cargo has already made paperless document management a reality. Instead of processing transport orders on paper, this process has been completely elec- tronic since 2013. This saves approximately 7,500 sheets of DIN A4 paper per week. It also reduces the burden on the environment and saves printing costs. Lufthansa Cargo has awarded the company’s internal environmental prize to those of its employees who were involved in the project’s development. Ú Resource efficiency in building management In our efforts to reduce energy consumption while improving the efficiency with which we use resources, we are also setting similar standards for the company’s buildings. In its key points, the Lufthansa Group’s strategic environmental program requires that the planning, construction, and redevelopment of buildings take account of the latest energy- saving and resource-conserving options that are available. The Lufthansa Aviation Center (LAC) at Frank- furt Airport was honored by the European Union for its energy efficiency as far back as 2009. The LAC is one of the first buildings in Germany to earn the privilege of calling itself a Green Building. Thanks to an innovative structure consisting of thermally-active fair- faced concrete ceilings, a sensitive auto- mated shading system, and a highly insulated façade, it needs only about one-third of the heating energy of a conventional office building. As a result, the heating energy consumed by the LAC is 56% below the guidelines of the German Energy Saving Regulation currently in effect. In the case of electricity consumption it is 17% less. Owing to the building’s low-energy design, Lufthansa is able to relieve the Rhine-Main region of about 12,000 tonnes of CO2 each year. Further examples of sustainable con- struction for which the Lufthansa Group is responsible include the Lufthansa Training & Conference Center in Seeheim, which is supplied with energy from deep underground by a geothermal energy system, and the new building satellite currently under construction at Munich Airport. This building is designed according to the principles of sustainable construction, which improves its CO2 balance 64 // Climate and Environmental Responsibility