Golden Bay Cement (Portland, Whangarei)

Whangarei's Golden Bay Cement has been hailed as an industry leader for its use of bioenergy to reduce CO2 emissions, winning the Renewable Energy category in the 2012 EECA Awards.

The company has cut CO2 emissions by a huge 58,000 tonnes per year and is saving $3m every year in energy costs, as a result of substituting nearly a third of the coal burned in its kiln for wood fuel, sourced from demolition and construction waste and from local forestry wood waste.

All forms of treated and untreated waste wood are processed into chip at a new purpose resource recovery facility in Onehunga, in Auckland. Most of this is trucked to Golden Bay Cement in Whangarei for use as a biofuel to replace coal.

In addition, wood waste, which otherwise would have gone to landfill, was chosen for being renewable, readily available and was locally sourced from forestry and timber processing companies in the Northland area.

The substitution rate of wood waste has increased each year to 30% in 2012, while reducing Fletcher Building’s exposure to the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme. This initiative has helped reduce the company's annual CO2 emissions by 58,000 tonnes and cut $3 million from its annual energy costs.