DENSO China: A new era engine for promoting sustainable development and environmental protection

With the development of global industry and population growth, people's demand for resources is increasing day by day. Over the years, the CO₂ produced in the process of resource consumption has had an increasingly serious impact on the environment and ecology. Global warming and frequent extreme weather have even posed a major threat to human survival in the future . Therefore, reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become an important challenge faced by mankind.

The goal of carbon neutrality has now become a global consensus. The international community has reached the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit the rise in global average temperature to within 2 degrees Celsius and strive to limit the rise to within 1.5 degrees Celsius. Countries have successively introduced relevant policies and regulations to address environmental issues. The green transformation from dependence on fossil energy to the use of renewable and sustainable energy is imminent. As one of the world's largest carbon emitters, China has taken the initiative to assume global governance responsibilities and clearly put forward the 30·60 dual carbon goals to contribute to the global carbon neutrality process. Against this series of backgrounds, companies have actively responded to the carbon neutrality initiative and have adopted improvement plans that are in line with their own development to promote green transformation.

Founded in 1949, DENSO is the world's second largest automotive parts supplier with a high sense of social responsibility. Since entering China in the 1980s, it has always practiced the positive concept of sustainable development. AI Automobile Manufacturing Industry Reporter recently had the honor to visit the factory of DENSO (Guangzhou Nansha) Co., Ltd. for an exchange activity and gain an in-depth understanding of the factory and DENSO's overall environmental response strategies and achievements.

With the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035, DENSO is actively working in the field of "sustainable development", upholding the principles of environment and peace of mind to fulfill its corporate social responsibility and contribute to the establishment of an environmentally friendly society in China. On this basis, in the field of "environment", it strives to achieve "zero emissions" of CO₂. In the field of "peace of mind", it is committed to achieving "zero deaths" in traffic accidents. When it comes to environmental protection, DENSO is not limited to itself. DENSO (China) Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "DENSO China") will take the lead in cooperating with 10 suppliers in 2023 , and work with upstream companies to jointly promote carbon neutrality and promote carbon neutrality throughout the entire life cycle of the entire industry chain. At the same time, DENSO China has also completed its first ESG deposit, further contributing to sustainable development projects such as improving the environment and solving social problems.

It is worth mentioning that in the energy-saving competition hosted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan (equivalent to the Ministry of Commerce), Denso has won awards for 13 consecutive years and ranked first in Japan. These award-winning energy-saving projects will also be gradually introduced to Denso's factories around the world. According to the 2023 Green Manufacturing List announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, this year, three Denso factories in China won the title of "National Green Factory". So far, a total of 4 Denso factories in China have been rated as national green factories, 6 factories have been rated as provincial green factories, and 2 factories have been rated as municipal green factories.

Denso strives to achieve carbon neutrality mainly through three important areas: factory manufacturing, mobile travel products, and energy recycling. In terms of mobile travel, Denso actively caters to the current industry development trend of electrification, and has comprehensively developed core technologies and products such as battery management systems, electric generators, and inverters for different technical routes such as HEV (hybrid electric vehicles), BEV (pure electric vehicles), FCEV (hydrogen fuel cell vehicles), and e-VTOL (air vehicles). At the same time, Denso improves energy utilization and reduces vehicle energy consumption through thermal management and energy management systems, thereby improving the driving range and overall performance of electric vehicles. Fuel cells are also a hot topic now. Regarding this field, Liu Sujun, director of Denso China's International Publicity Department, said: "Denso uses its technical experience in electric drive, thermal management, and battery status monitoring and control technologies accumulated in the hybrid field to actively assist in the efficient power generation of fuel cells and the forward-looking research and development of products and systems."

Denso (Guangzhou Nansha) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Denso Nansha") was established in 2004. The company adheres to the principle of "people-oriented" and takes "caring for the natural environment and coexisting with society" as its business philosophy. It is committed to using advanced technology to provide the society with high-quality products that focus on environmental protection. Based on the vision of Denso's global carbon neutrality goal in 2035, Denso China proposed a 5% annual emission reduction target by 2025 in 2013, and formulated a goal to achieve electricity carbon neutrality in China by 2025, that is, factory carbon neutrality. During the visit, the reporter learned that in order to achieve this goal, Denso Nansha has accelerated the progress by purchasing renewable energy, developing creative energy, and reducing CO₂ emissions in the factory. At present, the overall Denso Nansha factory has achieved an 8% carbon reduction performance.

In terms of purchasing renewable energy and developing new energy, Denso Nansha has completed the installation of distributed solar power generation projects and will also purchase green electricity when necessary. The total area of ​​solar panels reaches 83,000 square meters, with a capacity of 12MW, which is also the largest capacity of all Denso factories in China. The annual power generation is 13.2 million KWH, reducing 8,400 tons of CO₂ emissions. The project has successfully generated electricity and put into use in January 2023. It is understood that solar panels will be affected by dust, shading and other aspects in addition to weather, which can reduce the power generation efficiency by up to 30%. Denso will also further explore aspects such as automatic cleaning devices for solar panels to ensure that the power generation efficiency can reach more than 80%.

Cui Qinggao, Section Chief of Denso Nansha Security Department, said: "In the one year since the implementation of solar power generation, solar power generation accounts for about 32.5% of the factory's electricity usage, saving a lot of costs and reducing carbon emissions , playing an important role in achieving the goal of carbon neutrality. In addition to being used for production equipment, it is also linked with the cold storage device during peak power generation hours to maximize the use of solar power by adjusting the start and stop of air conditioners, and it also plays an important role in peak power regulation of the power grid." In addition, Denso Nansha also uses a solar power generation monitoring system. This system can upload the solar power generation in the Denso Nansha factory in real time, and important data such as usage and sales can be clearly seen at a glance, avoiding unnecessary waste of electricity.

In terms of reducing CO₂ usage and saving energy, Denso mainly promotes energy-saving transformation of existing equipment and facilities, adopts energy-saving technology for newly manufactured equipment, and saves energy in daily use. It is divided into three energy-saving groups (supply side, use side, and affairs side) to promote them separately, and regularly hold sharing and exchange activities. In the introduction of the person in charge, the reporter learned that there are many energy-saving examples in Denso Nansha Factory, such as replacing all the lighting facilities inside the factory with LED lights, reducing annual electricity consumption by 2% and reducing CO₂ emissions by 140 tons; replacing COP4.3 refrigerators with COP6.4 refrigerators, reducing annual electricity consumption by 8.7% and reducing CO₂ emissions by 600 tons; heat recovery transformation of the heat generated by the air compressor, reducing annual electricity consumption by 6%, reducing CO₂ emissions by 660 tons, and other energy-saving solutions. Section Chief Cui Qinggao also said that Denso Nansha is also considering introducing the newly developed CO₂ recovery device of Denso headquarters in terms of energy conservation to promote negative emissions .

According to Section Chief Cui Qinggao, all employees are involved in saving energy. The reporter saw multiple employee education centers and carbon neutrality centers in the factory. These educational facilities can drive the participation of all employees through daily awareness penetration, and carry out pyramid-shaped talent training through energy-saving teaching materials and props. Only with the participation of all employees can energy waste be reduced to a minimum. At the same time, setting up a reward mechanism can also stimulate the subjective initiative of employees and propose energy-saving plans.

In addition, Denso Nansha's carbon reduction measures are also reflected in the daily work and life of employees. The air conditioners in the office are set to fixed temperatures in winter and summer, and special personnel are assigned to manage them. Electronic approval and paperless office are fully implemented. So far, more than 3,000 energy-saving posters have been drawn by employees and their families, and more than 250 kilograms of old items have been donated, which truly permeates green environmental awareness into employees' food, clothing, housing and transportation.