Honeywell has introduced its most durable laminate film to date, designed to protect solar power panels from harsh environments while helping them maintain reliable power output over their 25-year lifespans. The product, PowerShield® 3W, is a cost-effective solar panel backsheet that helps protect the electrical circuits, preventing moisture from entering and keeping electrical charges within the module. These features help the module retain maximum power output while maintaining electrical safety.

The technology behind PowerShield 3W is based on Honeywell’s more than 30 years of experience as the world’s leading manufacturer of high-barrier films for food packaging, industrial and healthcare applications, including packaging that protects drugs sold by the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Honeywell has an active and global research and development program for photovoltaic backsheets, with laboratories in Morris Township, NJ, and Shanghai, China.

Learn more from PowerShield® 3W press release.

Honeywell has announced an upgrade to its HTF7000 turbofan engine that will simultaneously cut emissions and boost thrust without increasing engine size.

SABER2, the new variant of Honeywell’s singular annular combustor for emissions reduction (SABER) currently available for the HTF engine family, will reduce drag and weight through improved aerodynamics and re-engineered fuel nozzles and fuel scheduling systems. These changes will offer improved performance as well as significant reductions in nitrous oxide emissions, going beyond the 25 percent reduction already delivered through Honeywell’s existing SABER system. SABER2 is expected to be commercially available by late 2013.

Honeywell will showcase other aviation products at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) from May 14-16 in Geneva, Switzerland. Products include: Ovation Select™ Cabin Management System, Primus Elite™ Flight Deck, Gulfstream PlaneView® Flight Deck,  and Dassault EASy II Flight Deck.

Read all Honeywell Business Aviation News.

The Business Roundtable (BRT) has released its 2012 Sustainability Report – titled Create, Grow, Sustain – which highlights the efforts of America's CEOs to create a more sustainable future. In the report, Dave Cote, Honeywell Chairman and CEO and Energy Environment Committee Chair of the BRT, explains how Honeywell’s solutions and technologies expand sustainable capacity and improve the efficiency of products and processes to foster “Sustainable Opportunity”.

In an effort to help reduce energy consumption and environmental impact around the world, Honeywell is working with the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) as one of four energy services companies involved at the outset of CCI’s Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program. The company has already implemented projects to upgrade facilities and cut carbon emissions in London, Melbourne, Seoul, Hong Kong, and Puerto Rico.

The company’s dedication to protecting the environment with a comprehensive and contemporary commitment is one of the central tenets of how Honeywell does business. In 2007, Honeywell established five-year greenhouse gas and energy efficiency objectives for our internal operations. Honeywell met these goals, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30 percent, and increasing our energy efficiency by more than 20 percent, both measured from a 2004 baseline year. Annual goals will continue to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase energy efficiency.

Watch Cote’s latest message reaffirming Honeywell's commitment to protecting the environment.

Read the Business Round Table’s 2012 Sustainability Report  or visit their website.

Honeywell announced that the company’s smart grid project with Custom Building Products won the “Energy Project of the Year” award from the Southern California Chapter of the Association of Energy Engineers (AEE). The Honeywell project provides Custom Building Products with precise control over how its Bell, Calif., manufacturing facility uses energy, enabling it to automatically respond to changing peak electricity prices and trim utility bills.

The award recognizes the project for its high level of substantiated savings, which will enable the work to pay for itself within an estimated five months. Custom Building Products, a manufacturer of supplies for the construction industry, offset the $80,000 total project cost with rebates from Southern California Edison (SCE) and support from a Smart Grid Investment Grant Honeywell received from the Department of Energy in late 2009. Those funds lowered the out-of-pocket expenses to less than $3,000. And Custom Building Products expects to realize $6,000 in annual energy savings due to the upgrades and the resulting enhanced control.

For the project, Custom Building Products enrolled its 142,000-square-foot building in an automated demand response program, managed by Honeywell, to control how facility equipment responds to SCE’s dynamic pricing structure. The structure bases electricity rates for commercial and industrial customers on consumption levels and generation costs, meaning prices rise significantly during periods of peak demand. 

Read more about Honeywell’s smart grid-focused work.

Honeywell Utility Solutions, part of the company’s Building Solutions business unit, was one of 15 companies and government agencies recently recognized by Governor Neil Abercrombie at the 2012 Hawaii Green Business Awards ceremony in Honolulu.  

Through the Hawaii Energy “Go Green” program, Honeywell helps Hawaii consumers qualify for incentives by installing solar water heaters or taking other energy efficiency measures. At its own local offices, the company provides subsidized bus passes to employees, eliminated the use of all plastic utensils, and buys only recycled paper products.

This the second year Honeywell has received this award, reaffirming its commitment to help Hawaii reach the goal of 70 percent clean energy by 2030.

See additional information on Honeywell's sustainability and conservation efforts in Hawaii. And read more about Honeywell’s utility- and smart grid-focused work.

Honeywell has successfully reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 30% and increased energy efficiency by more than 20% compared to its 2004 benchmark year.  This effort was part of a five-year plan focused on internal operational improvements across the company.  Honeywell has also reduced its hazardous waste generated per dollar of revenue by more than 15% between 2007 and 2012.

Going forward, Honeywell will continue to establish annual goals for further greenhouse gas emissions reductions and energy efficiency enhancements and monitor its progress.  Additionally, Honeywell has developed a global inventory of water usage in its manufacturing operations and is developing conservation targets at sites in areas that are experiencing “water stress” as defined by the World Resources Institute. Implementation of conservation targets will begin in 2013.

Honeywell’s commitment to sustainability extends to its customers through the continued development of products that help customers address key challenges, including energy efficiency and clean energy generation.  Today, nearly 50 percent of Honeywell’s product portfolio is linked to energy efficiency. The United States could reduce its energy consumption 20 to 25 percent by immediately and comprehensively adopting existing Honeywell technologies.

Learn more about Honeywell's commitment to sustainability.

For almost a decade, Honeywell and Fort Bragg, one of the largest military installations in the world, and home to more than 40,000 U.S. soldiers and their families, have worked to reduce campus-wide energy use and mitigate operating costs. In February, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the organizations for their efforts with the Energy Star Combined Heat and Power (CHP) award. Fort Bragg was one of two Department of Defense installations to receive this honor.

The Fayetteville, N.C plant is powered by a combustion turbine-generator that produces up to 5 megawatts of electricity. Waste heat from the turbine is recovered to create nearly 27,000 pounds of steam per hour, which is then used to meet the post’s heating and hot-water needs.  This has helped to significantly increase energy efficiency at Fort Bragg and reduced reliance on the local utility grid, consuming 18 percent less fuel than a conventional system and an estimated 12,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is equivalent to removing 2,400 cars from the road, according to figures from the EPA. It has also reduced the post’s energy costs by an estimated $1 million annually.

Honeywell has awarded scholarships to 254 students from 30 countries and 30 U.S. states and territories to attend the Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy (HLCA).  This unique, week-long leadership and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) program will run twice from February 26 to March 9 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL.

HLCA provides children of Honeywell employees with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills through technology- and science-oriented workshops, lectures, and team exercises that include simulated astronaut training that brings these studies to life. Developed in partnership with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, the program is designed to encourage high school students to pursue STEM-related careers.

Since 2010, Honeywell and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center have awarded more than 630 scholarships to students after rigorous application and review processes based on their academic achievement and community involvement.  All junior and senior level high school children of full-time Honeywell employees are eligible to apply.  Financial contributions from Honeywell employees help fund the scholarships, which include tuition for the week-long program, meals, accommodations, and program materials.

For more information, read the press release or visit the program’s website.

Honeywell Turbo Technologies is an active member of a coalition which recently published a white paper authored by former Transportation and Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta supporting technology neutral policies as policymakers begin to implement new CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) regulations announced by U.S. President Barack Obama.

The white paper details Secretary Mineta’s support for technology neutral policies which do not favor one technology over another through consumer incentives, federal subsidies, testing standards, or technology specific credits. Recent policies have favored electric vehicles but have failed to help gain wide-spread acceptance from consumers or enhance the likelihood of significant growth of electrics in the United States. The white paper cites data suggesting significant technology advancements in conventional gasoline and diesel engines provide the most economical and efficient path to achieve President Obama’s new CAFE standards.

“Now that the government has set aggressive performance targets, it is critical that the Administration and regulators allow markets the freedom to innovate and choose the best technology to reach those targets. In this era of severe budget restraints, lawmakers should address the inequities in consumer incentives by eliminating language that favors one technology over another,” Secretary Mineta said.

The white paper was published by the U.S. Coalition for Advanced Diesel Cars, a national coalition supported by Honeywell focused on promoting technology neutral policies and the energy efficiency and environmental benefits of advanced clean diesel technology.

For more information, read the full white paper.

Honeywell celebrated the grand opening of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS), a living laboratory for researchers to teach, test, and study the long-term impact of sustainable practices and technologies.

Featuring advanced building controls, sensing technology, and management software from Honeywell, CIRS will serve as a leading academic hub to test and advance sustainable technologies before broader implementation, and operate as a center for green building policymakers to establish future standards. CIRS is one of only a handful of buildings worldwide that will provide “net positive” benefits to the environment. It reduces UBC’s carbon emissions, powers itself and a neighboring building with renewable and waste energy, and provides water for inhabitants with rainwater treated onsite.

Honeywell installed heating and cooling, fire alarm, and security technology in the building, and is using its Enterprise Building Integrator (EBI) to tie these and more than 80 other third-party systems into a single interface that will help the university operate the centre more efficiently and cost effectively. UBC and Honeywell also worked to ensure CIRS is one of the most sustainable buildings in the world. The research facility was built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum and Living Building Challenge certification standards, the industry’s most advanced green building benchmarks.

In addition, as a Strategic Alliance Partner, Honeywell has committed to supporting the facility and UBC’s research efforts over the next five years. This will include ongoing product development, as well as collaborating with the university to test new building technology.

For more information, read the press release or visit Honeywell’s Sustainable Opportunity website.