Environmental Leader

Cox Enterprises Inc., a leading communications, media and automotive services company,  has announced plans to reduce its companywide carbon footprint 20 percent by 2017, which is expected to save 172,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. This effort is part of the company’s Cox Conserves program to drive sustainability programs throughout all of its business units including Cox Communications, Cox Media, Manheim, and AutoTrader.com.

So far, the company has implemented trash and e-waste recycling programs, as well as completed photovoltaic solar panel installations at several locations and one solar geothermal system installation with another one underway.

The savings are adding up. As examples, the new geothermal cooling system for KHPT-FM in Houston eliminates the heat load problem in the building, while decreasing electrical consumption by 26,000 watts, and the company’s eCycling program is projected to divert more than 1.8 million pounds of e-waste from landfills each year once fully implemented across all business units.

The company is also spearheading water conservation efforts in Georgia. For example, the new Manheim Georgia Water Conservation Center reduces water demand by 60 percent and returns water to the municipal system in a pretreated condition. The water treatment center treats 15,000 gallons of wastewater and produces up to 9,000 gallons of reusable water daily for its vehicle operations.

Cox Communications is working to green its vehicle fleet with the addition of nine hybrid bucket trucks, which delivers a potential fuel savings of nearly 60 percent in utility-type applications. Currently, the company has more than 250 hybrid vehicles and 1,400 are capable of running on bio-diesel.