Green with energy

Linde Material Handling UK is undertaking a raft of measures to cut its carbon emissions. While there are some headline changes that will make big impacts, the company is also looking for incremental gains.

Linde Material Handling UK is rolling out a major sustainability investment programme across 14 UK depots. The initiative aims to reduce the company’s carbon footprint while also supporting its customers’ net zero plans.

Linde has started with the integration of solar panels at its Bridgend premises in Wales and at the Newton Aycliffe premises in the North-East of England. Ultimately it will incorporate renewable energy solutions across all Linde Material Handling owned UK premises.

Dr Arthur O’Sullivan, one of the regional directors of Linde Material Handling, who is spearheading the UK & Ireland sustainability programme, says, “We are very much aware of the environmental impact of the intralogistics industry and recognise our responsibility, as a forerunner in this space, to help lead the way for a more sustainable future.

“Make no mistake, we realise that we have some way to go but we have set out our ‘greenprint’ for enhanced sustainability across our operations.”

Every little helps

In addition to major projects, Linde Material Handling is also undertaking smaller initiatives that, collectively, are expected to make a significant difference to the company’s environmental footprint. These include transitioning its service engineer van and company car fleets to pure EV alternatives, and expanding EV charge point availability for staff, visitors, and company-owned vehicles.

However, the company is being careful to ensure that the e-vans are up to the job. “We have ordered a small fleet of e-vans and are beginning field tests in the next few months,” said Arthur. “We will then apply learnings to the overall e-van rollout.

“Our approach is to match engineer working patterns/energy requirements with e-van functionality. We estimate that around 20%  of our fleet can be converted to e-van without any diminution of service. We will continue to review the emerging EV technologies and adjust our fleet proportionally with range improvements over time.”

Linde already has experience with EVs as it has been transitioning its car fleet to electric for some time now. “We began to covert our car fleet to EV a few years ago and we are now ramping up that conversion process,” said Arthur. “We are reducing our use of IC cars and expecting that more than 25% of the fleet will be EV by the end of 2026. As an additional benefit of our PV investment programme, we expect that our car fleet will increasingly operate on Linde-generated power.”

Other measures expected to yield incremental gains include installing LED lighting across warehouses, workshops and offices, which will cut energy consumption. Linde will also source energy from low-carbon providers and is deploying rainwater harvesting systems to reduce water usage. In addition, installing automatic roller shutters on workshops will minimise heat loss.

Return on investment

These combined initiatives should have a significant impact on Linde’s UK carbon footprint. “On the basis of fossil fuel-powered generated electricity, our carbon reductions have been calculated at circa 200,000t of CO2 per year,” says Arthur.

The company also expects a financial return on investment. “Infrastructure investment levels are very much commensurate with our commercial activity, and all have relatively short payback periods,” he added. “Return on investment is typically over a 36-month period or less.

Arthur is also open to more ideas on how to reduce carbon emissions. “Our action plan doesn’t represent the limit of our investment in sustainability,” he said. “We are actively seeking and are open to any solutions that can help reduce our impact, no matter how big or small.”

Green products

The announcement of Linde Material Handling’s sustainability investment programme comes hot on the heels of the launch of a range of next-generation EV counterbalance trucks.

“We are looking forward to a full launch programme for the new 1251 model during May 2025 and will host series of events that showcase the unique features of our trucks,” said Arthur. “Supplementing our efforts to reduce CO₂ production, our new trucks will offer even better energy consumption with improved performance and that will assist our customers in reducing their energy consumption and improving environmental performance.”