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At Pinnacle West we realize the importance of properly managing the materials and chemicals used in our daily operations, and we take steps to ensure all materials are tracked, properly disposed of and used in accordance with regulations. Effective procurement management can result in environmental benefits, such as reduced wastes and toxicity, as well as financial benefits. We strive to develop and implement procurement procedures that help maximize these benefits. In addition, we have programs in place that allow us to reuse materials within the company.
We adhere to a specific and focused vision for recycling, resource reduction and conservation of natural resources, including:
- Reduced consumption of virgin materials through product or process redesign
- Water conservation
- Energy conservation
- Habitat conservation
- Risk reduction
- Procurement of goods with recycled content
- Recycling solid waste
- Recycling hazardous waste and toxic materials
Our employees strive to incorporate this thinking into every aspect of our operations; from making environmentally sensitive purchasing decisions to promoting reuse and recycling efforts. Our systems are being integrated to help manage purchasing, chemical use and reuse of company equipment. Our in-house chemical review team is responsible for examining and approving chemical purchases.
Our purchasing and inventory system, called Materials Logistics Information System (MLIS), allows us to better manage purchasing and inventory activities and increase employee awareness of purchasing practices. We also use our electronic Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) system in conjunction with the MLIS program to facilitate tracking and reporting the types and quantities of chemicals purchased and stored. These two systems allow us to create baselines to more effectively plan and set goals.
Environmentally Preferred Procurement
Our EHS policy confirms our corporate support for green procurement, including sections on use of safe products and services, sustainable use of natural resources, stewardship of natural resources and pollution prevention. Our internal corporate procurement procedures further defines this policy:The purchase of all products, including chemicals and hazardous materials, will only be made after consideration of the products' total life cycle. Prior to procurement, materials must be evaluated for environmental attributes such as recycled content, toxicity and disposal options. Employees making procurement decisions must share in this responsibility in order to minimize adverse environmental impacts and future liability.
APS has committed to the LEED principles in construction of new facilities, and has developed a LEED policy that incorporates LEED green procurement parameters for use by our facility services departments.
Investment Recovery
APS also has a very successful Investment Recovery department that manages surplus materials. The first objective is to re-deploy useful material within the company. For materials that can not be re-deployed, Investment Recovery may sell, recycle or donate materials. Disposal is the last option. In 2006, Investment Recovery recorded $4,400,006 of total recovered dollars (up from $2.5 million in 2005) , and an additional $361,368 of avoided costs (e.g. avoided landfill costs on recycled materials), up from $200,000 in 2005.
In 2006, more than 11.4 million pounds of materials were recycled through Investment Recovery’s programs, up from 6.4 million pounds recycled in 2005.
Chemical Management
All hazardous materials that are used by the company are required to be reviewed by a Chemical Review Team prior to purchase in order to help insure the use of materials with lower environmental and safety impacts. The teams review new products and compares them to existing products to see which provides the greatest overall benefit to the company. These teams also provide on-going reviews of current products to evaluate for “greener” alternatives.
All chemical products are assigned a "EHS Rating" based on the Chemical Abstract Numbers (CAS) of the ingredients in the product and the products National Fire Protection Associaton (NFPA) rating. This allows us to quickly evaluate and compare the potential risks and hazards of the products we use, and to make better informed decisions regarding the approval of new products.
Through this process, APS has been able to reduce the number of chemical products across our system by about 50 percent over the past 10 years, and to also reduce the potential risk of the chemical products we use by substituting products with a lower potential for health or environmental impacts.
MSDS
All chemical products used at APS are included in an electronic Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) system which is available to any employee across the company. APS facilities may use only those products approved for use and which are coded on this system. The electronic MSDS system provides other benefits to our EHS efforts since it allows us to quickly identify the specific chemical ingredients contained in the products at our facilities, while highlighting the risk profile of specific products. The MSDS system also allows users to print labels for secondary containers, and improves our ability to identify hazardous materials, in order to ensure such materials are properly stored and handled.
PCB Management
Over the past seven years, APS has been successful in reducing the use of PCBs in electrical equipment by targeting suspected equipment based on manufacturer name and serial numbers. From 2000 through 2004, APS removed 3,212 pieces of PCBs (> 500 ppm) or PCB-contaminated (> 50 to 499 ppm) equipment from service, resulting in the disposal of 425,336 kilograms (kg) of PCB material. During 2005 and 2006 APS has removed an additional 6,615 pieces of PCB-containing equipment from our transmission and distribution system representing 583,484 kilograms of disposed material, including the following: 5,983 large PCB capacitors (317,458 kg), 287 PCB-contaminated and PCB bushings (29,965 kg), and 345 PCB-contaminated and PCB transformers (236,061 kg).
Our company has long been a leader in energy efficiency and energy conservation, and many of our facility energy management efforts have been described in our past EHS Annual Reports. We continued our efforts with positive results in 2006.
Our facilities implement a variety of energy-efficiency measures including:
- Operating air conditioning systems with energy-efficiency software that manages duty-cycling and set-backs
- Replacing out-dated air conditioning with high-efficiency equipment
- Writing all new construction specifications with energy efficiency in mind
- Requiring energy-efficient Energy Star computers whenever new computer equipment is needed
More than 97 percent of our facility space is equipped with energy-efficient fixtures. We estimate energy savings of more than 13 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year from the use of energy-efficient products.
In 2003, our corporate headquarters in downtown Phoenix was converted to the Northwind Cooling system which uses an industrial grade, ice-based chiller that manufactures three million pounds of ice each night when utility loads and rates are lowest. The conversion to Northwind eliminated the on-site requirement need for cooling towers and their associated air-conditioning chillers, resulting in a significant reduction in water consumption in the cooling towers, and the elimination of CFC refrigerant R-11 from the chillers.
APS is a registered member of the U.S. Green Building Council and has committed to a goal of incorporating Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) principles in our building design and maintenance. LEED principles encourage “design and construction practices that significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment and occupants in five broad areas: sustainable site planning, safeguarding water and water efficiency, energy efficiency and renewable energy, conservation of materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.”
The LEED rating system ensures buildings meet a minimum set of criteria in each of five categories, contributing to a sustainable environment, ensuring a healthy and safe workplace and reducing operational costs.
APS is taking an active role in LEED in order to ensure the sustainability of our own facilities, and to allow us to generate interest for the program as well as educate our customers who may be interested in participating in the LEED program.
In 2006, APS had three registered LEED projects: the Wickenburg and Flagstaff Service Centers and the new Ocotillo Service Center.
APS has 2,209 company-owned vehicles, which are managed by the APS Transportation Services department. These vehicles are used to operate and maintain our electric generation, transmission and distribution facilities, business offices and other operations which are located through-out the state of Arizona.
We have been able to significantly increase our fleet fuel efficiency over the past several years, as shown in the chart below, primarily by accelerating our purchases of new vehicles with improved mileage.
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