At Pratt & Whitney “green” means total care for the environment.
From the PurePower® PW1000G engine with Geared Turbofan™ technology that provides double-digit fuel burn improvements and significant reductions in emissions and noise, to our EcoPower® engine wash service, which improves efficiency, fuel burn, and reduces emissions, our company offers product and service solutions that deliver environmental performance and customer value.
We are also leading the design of next generation, sustainable products including the PW100, PW300, PW600 and PW800 engine families, and with engine improvements including upgrades to Advantage70 and V2500Select™ engines.
Leadership
Our commitment to the environment starts at the top. In cooperation with our parent company United Technologies Corp. (UTC), Pratt & Whitney sets aggressive EH&S goals that we continually meet and exceed.
In 2007, UTC embarked on a four-year program absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent, water consumption by 10 percent, air emissions by 20 percent and non-recyclable waste by 30 percent compared with 2006. These metrics are not normalized for business volumes - which are growing - meaning that the per-product emissions will be dropping even more.
Pratt & Whitney’s greenhouse gas reduction target is equivalent to taking more than 16,000 cars off the road. In the first two years of the program, Pratt & Whitney has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 11 percent, water usage by 13 percent, air emissions by 49 percent, and non-recyclable waste by 4 percent.
Pratt & Whitney is doing its part to reduce the human impact on climate change by providing our customers with the most environmentally-responsible products, services and operations, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions globally.
UTC Statement of Principles on Climate Change
Products & Technology
Pratt & Whitney is developing and powering next generation propulsion systems and technologies that provide an immediate path to fuel efficiency, fewer emissions and noise reduction.
For more than 20 years, Pratt & Whitney has made significant investments in technologies like the Geared Turbofan™, and it’s Technology for Advanced Low Nitrogen Oxide (TALON) family of combustors. We will continue to meet industry environmental performance requirements through aggressively researching and testing alternative fuels, and other measures.
Services
The EcoPower® engine water wash system reduces fuel burn by up to 1.2 percent and increases engine exhaust gas temperature margin up to 15 degrees Celsius. Engines washed twice per year lower a wide body aircraft's average CO2 emissions by as much as 750 metric tons annually. [Learn more.]
Facilities & Operations
Thirty-six Pratt & Whitney facilities are ISO 14001 certified and 13 sites are OHSAS 18001 certified. We have 11 OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) sites and had five Environmental Performance Agency Performance Track sites until the Performance Track program was terminated in May 2009. New buildings and renovations are designed to U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Currently, three facilities are under construction and one, Pratt & Whitney Power Systems – UTC’s first LEED-certified building – opened in 2008.
The LEED rating system is a widely accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. The rating system is organized into five categories. Different levels of green building certification are awarded by USGBC based on the total credits earned. Platinum is the highest level, followed by Gold.
We are taking other actions to turn otherwise wasted power plant heat into process steam at our East Hartford and Middletown, Conn., sites which will reduce fuel usage and CO2 produced.
Energy & Power Systems
Pratt & Whitney has been applying its engine and aerospace expertise to power generation and energy exploration for more than 50 years.
Our Power Systems business uses derivative Pratt & Whitney engines in its industrial gas turbines, with more than 2,000 installed in over 40 countries worldwide.
It is also home to the PureCycle® geothermal system, which produces renewable energy by harnessing the Earth’s own heat to power a turbine, turning a renewable resource into 280 kW of electrical power with zero emissions. The system extracts water from the earth that is then returned to the earth, reheated and re-used.
The self-contained unit can operate on a wide range of fluid resource temperatures starting as low as 195°F (91°C) and enables geothermal wells deemed unproductive because they are below 300°F (149°C) to become viable energy sources.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne has nearly 50 years of experience developing environmentally friendly, hydrogen-oxygen propelled rocket engines that emit steam. Hydrogen generation, using rocket technology, has the potential to provide a far more affordable and lower emission production capacity for tomorrow’s environmentally conscious energy applications. Its technology enables zero-emission coal gasification and enhances Pratt & Whitney syngas production capability.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne also supports Hamilton Sundstrand, a sister company, in the development of Compact Solar Power Tower technologies that have the potential to offer an unequaled, renewable source of energy that produces zero emissions.
Resources
In 2008, Pratt & Whitney contributed $50,000 to Yale University to help study ways in which the aerospace industry can reduce its environmental impact.
Pratt & Whitney continues to take a leadership role in green engine technology and the development of environmentally responsible products, services and operations. We encourage educational institutions, students, professionals and customers to explore our Web site to learn more and download product, services and operations information.
Learn more about R.E.A.C.H. and materials of concern.
View a glossary of environmental terms and definitions.