Green Paintshop
A Contribution to More Energy
Efficiency and Resource Saving
in Automobile Painting
by Dr. Ing Pavel Svejda, Dürr Systems GmbH
Efficiency and sustainability, these are the great trends of our time. Natural resources are restricted, and rapidly in- creasing energy demand, particularly in the growth markets of the newly industrialized countries, pose great challenges
for national economies. In recent times, vehicles have been rated
according to their CO2 output rather than their fuel consumption. In order to lower this, new drive concepts have been developed that go as far as electro-mobility. In vehicle manufacturing
as well, solutions are in demand that lower energy consumption
and thus the CO2 emissions, and handle available resources carefully. With its Green Paintshop concept, Dürr Systems GmbH
provides an integrated solution package for maximum energy
and resource efficiency in automobile painting.
In the course of its life, a vehicle emits on average twenty-one
tons of carbon dioxide, which contribute to the greenhouse effect. About twenty percent of this is already released during production. Seventy percent of the energy needed for production is
used in the paintshop. This is the same amount that is consumed
in a city with fifty thousand inhabitants.
Worldwide energy consumption is increasing rapidly. Among
the ten largest consumers, Germany ranks in seventh place, and
all four BRIC states (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are included.
For the first time, China overtook the U.S. as the largest energy
consumer. A Chinese person, however, uses less energy than individuals in western countries. Specifically, the typical Chinese
person uses a fifth of what an American needs and forty percent
of the consumption typical in Western Europe. What happens,
however, if the average Chinese person increases his energy consumption to western levels?
www.coatingsworld.com
June 2011
