陶氏化學驚人的70億美元“綠色”利潤

????制造化工產品十分耗費能源。因此，陶氏化學公司（Dow Chemical）能通過提高能效節約很多錢，這件事本身并不讓人意外。真正讓人吃驚的是他們所節約的能源和現金之巨。

????陶氏化學表示，綠色投資1994年以來已為其節約能源達1.8 千萬億英熱單位——足以為美國加州所有家庭供電20個月。是的，公司為此付出成本近20億美元。但由此節省的能源成本超過了90億美元，創造凈利潤逾70億美元。

????雖然沒有一份美國企業界的最賺錢綠色投資名單，但顯然陶氏化學憑借其巨額現金節約和投資回報應位列第一或非常接近第一。

????陶氏化學的可持續發展副總裁尼爾?霍金斯表示，關鍵是要首先清晰地認識到如何衡量環境的改善，然后“從經濟角度認識到”這些對公司財務業績的影響。陶氏化學每個季度都會公布 一系列廣泛的環境措施。[在 一項相關的努力 中，陶氏化學耗資1,000萬美元同大自然保護協會（The Nature Conservancy）合作，計算每項業務決策的生態系統成本和效益。]

????陶氏化學最初于上世紀90年代中期推出了一項提高能效的十年計劃，目前正在推動第二個十年計劃。“這些目標的設立以及我們基于此取得的成就，確實改變了陶氏化學的文化，”霍金斯本周在《財富》雜志（Fortune）舉辦的頭腦風暴綠色會議（Brainstorm Green）上表示。

????不少能效改善是源于新的生產工藝，比如很多塑料的主要成分——環氧丙烷的新生產工藝。由于找到將過氧化氫轉化為環氧丙烷的新方法，陶氏化學將耗能量減少了35%。[這種方法還減少廢水排放量達70%以上，榮獲了美國環境保護局（Environmental Protection Agency）頒發的綠化工挑戰獎（Green Chemistry Challenge）。]

????霍金斯表示，還將有更多的此類節省效應。陶氏化學計劃再投資1億美元用于節能，并預計會獲得類似的投資回報。

????Making chemicals takes energy -- a lot of it -- so the mere fact that Dow Chemical (DOW) can save a lot of money by improving their energy efficiency is not what's surprising. It's just how much energy and cash they've saved that's jaw-dropping.

????Dow Chemical says its green investments have saved 1.8 quadrillion British Thermal Units of energy since 1994 -- enough to power every home in California for 20 months. Yes, those savings cost money to achieve, nearly $2 billion. But they have so far generated over $9 billion in reduced energy costs, for a net profit topping $7 billion.

????While there's no definitive list of the most profitable green investments in corporate America, its clear that Dow's huge cash savings and return on investment place it at or near the very top.

????The key, says Neil Hawkins, Dow's vice president of sustainability, was first having a clear understanding of how to measure environmental improvements and then "building an economic understanding" of their effect on the company's financial results. Dow reports a wide array of environmental measures every quarter. (In a related effort, Dow is spending $10 million in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy to tally up the ecosystem costs and benefits of every business decision.)

????Dow first launched a 10 year plan to improve energy efficiency in the mid 1990s, and is now mid-way through a second decade-long effort. "Those sets of goals and the progress we made against them really changed the culture of Dow," says Hawkins, who discussed Dow's effort at Fortune's Brainstorm Green conference this week.

????Much of the efficiency gains have come from new ways of making chemicals such as propylene oxide, a key ingredient in many plastics. By finding a way to turn hydrogen peroxide into propylene oxide, the company cut the energy use by 35%. (It also cut waste water by over 70% and won the Environmental Protection Agency's, Green Chemistry Challenge.)

????There's more such savings to come, Hawkins says. Dow plans to put another $100 million in cutting energy use even further, and expects similar returns.