adidas Group – Shaun Takao – 2015

Goals

The adidas Group is a multinational manufacturer of athletic footwear and apparel, which was recognized by Corporate Knights as the 3rd most sustainable corporation globally in 2015. The company has set aggressive performance targets for 2015, including a 20 percent relative reduction in energy consumption and a 30 percent relative reduction in carbon emissions. In order to help the company achieve these goals, adidas Group hosted EDF Climate Corps fellow Shaun Takao, an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management. His task was to identify and analyze technology-based solutions to improve energy efficiency at two of the company’s distribution centers as well as within the company’s portfolio of retail stores.

Solutions

Through extensive research of the market for LED lighting and control systems, Takao identified economically-justified, next-generation lighting and control systems for Adidas’s US distribution center in Spartanburg, SC and the TaylorMade production and distribution center in Carlsbad, CA. He also analyzed energy use at the company’s retail locations. Through this analysis, he identified the stores where implementing energy management systems (EMS) would make the best business case.   

Potential Impact

The recommended lighting and EMS upgrades could save the adidas Group $1.4 million annually by reducing energy consumption by nearly 12.4 million kilowatt hours each year. These recommended investments represent a net present value of approximately $4.45 million and could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 8,500 metric tons annually.