We all need air. Air that is clean and free of pollutants that could affect our health. We have all read about greenhouses gases, the depletion of the ozone layer and the problems of vehicle emissions in our towns and city centres. Here are some examples of what we are doing to protect the air we breathe.

Carbon dioxide [CO2] is a by-product of all fossil fuel based energy using systems. Energy consumption creates CO2, a greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to global warming.

We are continuing with a well respected energy management programme that began in the 1970's when a number of energy conversation measures were pursued in our manufacturing areas.

In 1996, a huge investment was made to install a gas-fired power station on site in the form of a combined heat and power [CHP] plant.
 
The CHP has resulted in much cleaner energy production with reduced levels of emissions, including particulates such as carbon smuts. The CHP plant has a highly efficient combustion process and, by using careful management, continues to deliver benefits.

As a company, we have embraced the principles of protecting the climate for future generations and in November 2000 we signed up to the negotiated agreement between the Society of Motor Manufactures and Traders and the UK Government as part of "Climate Change Levy". This commitment will continue to drive reductions in our energy consumption and, consequently, emissions to atmosphere. We have agreed to reduce our energy consumption by a further 5% between now and 2010. These longer-term plans will come about with improvements in our processes and changes in technologies.

As a company, we are authorised under the Environmental Protection Act by the Environment Agency to make certain CO2 emissions to atmosphere. We operate within our consent limits, and we regularly monitor to check our compliance.

Our paint processes, as with other vehicle manufacturers, produce a certain amount of volatile organic compounds [VOCs] as part of the waste stream, and these are emitted to atmosphere. VOCs can react with sunlight to produce low level ozone.

We are constantly working at reducing the VOC emission from our processes. This is achieved by reviewing and improving the paint spraying efficiencies, i.e. reducing the actual amount of paint used on each car, by using a high solid content paint and water based paints. These combined with reviewing and improving the paint system cleaning techniques have seen major benefits.

We have an authorisation monitored by Birmingham City Council to discharge a certain level of VOCs to the atmosphere, and over the past 10 years we have reduced our VOC emissions by over 60%. A good achievement in itself but one that will continue.

As indicated earlier, the burning any fossil fuel has the potential to cause pollution. We manufacture both petrol and diesel engine variants, but all of our engines must meet stringent EC and global exhaust gas emission standards.

Such control requires precise management and control of the combustion cycle. Also, it relies on a good engineering design of our engines, e.g. cylinders designed for efficient combustion, selection of materials, the treatment of exhaust gases by a catalytic converter, etc. We use fuel efficient clean burn engines with technologies that include electronic injection mapping and fuel flow modelling for optimum induction.