Speed, power, fitness, take your pick. No one gets this more than our colleagues in the EMEA region. The design team in Laakdal, Belgium finished the construction of six windmills, which is part of the massive energy efficiency design considerations for the EMEA distribution center.
The best climate-neutral energy is energy that you don’t use. That was the thinking of the team that designed and built a new distribution center in Belgium. Nike is the first company of its size in Belgium to operate solely on green energy produced on site.
As part of this commitment, we installed six wind turbines to power our European distribution center. These six windmills produce power that is equivalent to the annual energy use of about 8,000 households. In addition to the windmills, our new distribution center building orientation maximizes daylight, while special sunscreens keep heat out. Ground-cooling tubes replace an air-conditioning system, and draft-reduction systems preserve heat in winter. Our team completed this highly complex project on time and under budget with new project management techniques that will help inspire and educate others for future efforts. This team won a 2007 Global Maxim Award (Maxim 8: Do the Right Thing) for their work.
"By supporting the increase of renewable power sources, the Nike Laakdal DC has demonstrated leadership in meeting environment and climate protection challenges," said Oliver Rapf, climate change expert at the WWF European office. "Nike’s commitment to fight climate change is mirrored in the hard work that has been put into this initiative. Nike just does it; more companies need to follow Nike’s example."