The Siemens regional company in Brazil demonstrated that environmental management amounts to far more than administrationof environmental issues; it also involves adopting ambitious goals and motivating employees to achieve these goals in their day-to-day activities. As part of the company’s environmental management program, the Environmental Protection Department of the Siemens regional company in Brazil initiated projects that ultimately reduced the company’s water consumption by 5 percent and lowered energy consumption by 2 percent, solely on the strength of employee awareness-raising measures. By the end of 2007, Siemens Brazil expects to achieve cost reductions of about 160,000 euros through its environmental programs.

The computed tomography machine “Somatom Definition,” one of the newest medical diagnostic devices of the Siemens Healthcare Sector, uses 30% less energy for a standard thorax examination than its predecessor model. And depending on the patient’s pulse rate, the X-ray dosage required for a heart examination is 33 percent to 58 percent lower, even though the image quality is significantly better. Furthermore, the quantity of lead used in the machine (lead being an indispensable component due in part to the ability of this metal to shield against X-ray radiation), was reduced by more than 80 percent, from 110 kg to 19 kg (lead being an indispensable component due in part to the ability of this metal to shield against X-ray radiation). Furthermore, these improvements led to a cost reduction of 40 percent.

A winning submission from Turkey dealt with the social responsibility side of environmental protection, which is increasingly important for the business success of global enterprises. The environmental protection association founded in that country by Siemens employees counts more than two hundred members and celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2006. The jury selected their project as the winner in the category of Environmental Communication and Social Responsibility. The association’s members, who commit their time and resources on a voluntary basis, promote cooperation with universities and Turkish environmental protection associations. Among other activities, they sponsor contests for neighborhood schools and for the children of Siemens employees, to raise awareness for environmental protection. By this means, Siemens has reached about 8,000 school children in the last six years. For grown-ups, they sponsor seminars in which prominent politicians and artists participate.

As in the previous years, Siemens again honored initiatives that were indicative of outstanding personal accomplishments in 2006. In this category, the jury was especially impressed with a submission that combined technology with personal dedication. This project involved the capture of waste heat from water-cooled pressurized-air compressors and the channeling of that energy to the heating system of the Siemens location in Munich-Perlach. As a result, the location requires less purchased district heat for its buildings. Only one year after the equipment in question was modified in this way, the location has achieved savings of 145,000 euros, well above the investment costs of 125,000 euros. And the environment benefited as well because this measure avoided 930 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. The remarkable thing about this project was the fact that, while having been initiated by Siemens, it was co-implemented by an external business partner. Without the ability to motivate others to work together, the necessary modification work would not have been performed in Munich-Perlach; and the project would not have won first prize in the “Special Award” category.

The Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) is used to communicate product-specific environmental data to customers and other interested groups. For this purpose, the entire life cycle of the product or product group is analyzed, documented and transparently described. The Environmental Product Declarations prepared by Siemens conform with the requirements of DIN ISO 14021.

Examples of the Environmental Product Declarations of selected Divisions can be viewed or ordered in the Internet, at the following links: