NGK receives new industry environmental award
Ignition and sensor specialist NGK has been presented with a prestigious new industry accolade.
The company received the inaugural ‘Environmental Award’ at a recent awards night in Manchester, held by UK magazine CAT.
CAT said it looked at companies that were transitioning to renewable energy and making environmental concerns a core part of their business.
NGK’s N-Forest building in Japan stood out to CAT, which uses all sustainable materials and is powered both by solar cells and by oxide fuel cells.
“Although this building is in Japan, and the firm’s building in Hemel Hempstead has a way to go to match it, we noted that the company has a plan to transition away from carbon, which will mean upgrading buildings and working practices everywhere. For that reason, the panel thought NGK deserved the CAT Awards’ Environmental Award,” said Greg Whitaker, CAT editor.
NGK Spark Plugs (UK) Ltd MD, Marko Wowczyna added: “We are honoured to be the first recipient of this prestigious CAT award which is testament to NGK’s worldwide drive to transform into an environmentally sustainable company fit for the future.”
The new N-Forest building at its Komaki Plant in Japan serves as a focal point for promoting its change, digital transformation, new work styles and innovation with a variety of different facilities and systems.
With the company goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, the N-Forest building is making an impressive contribution towards this target. It features a solar power generation system as well as a power generation system built by Hitachi Zosen Corporation.
The latter uses solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), which are supplied by Morimura SOFC Technology Co., Ltd. SOFC is an electrochemical conversion technology that produces electricity directly from oxidising a fuel.
This technology is expected to provide even further benefits in the future when carbon-free hydrogen can be used as fuel.