The best energy is the energy not consumed

The production, distribution and consumption of energy in its various forms have dire ecological effects. The depletion of limited, non-renewable natural resources like oil, gas or coal has a hugely negative impact on our ecosystems.

As a company, we are responsible for conserving energy and switching to alternative sources such as wind power.

The war in Ukraine has made it clear in a way that was unimaginable to all of us until recently, how important the energy revolution and thus independence from fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil is, not only for fighting climate change, but also for peace and democracy.

The more independent we as a company are of these contentious energy sources, the lower our economic risk, but of course also our moral "complicity" in such conflicts.

In addition to its environmental impact, energy consumption also has a high impact on the profitability of the company: the lower the energy consumption, the lower the running costs.

It is hard to believe how much power is constantly wasted - for example, for the stand-by operation of electrical devices which is completely unnecessary. Saving electricity means saving money and protecting the climate at the same time. So, pull the plug and switch it off! Read more here.

All energy consumption results in climate-damaging emissions. These are largely responsible for climate change, which threatens the very existence of mankind. This is why we urgently need to implement the energy system transformation in Germany and globally: higher energy efficiency and the conversion to renewable energy sources!

In order to offset the negative effects of our energy consumption, we have been paying a carbon offset to the myclimate organization for all emissions generated at our company headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach since 2012. This means that the entire VAUDE site in Tettnang-Obereisenbach, including manufacturing, is climate neutral. More information here.

The efficient use of energy is just as much of a given for VAUDE as the use of renewable energy sources for electricity and heat.

Since 2010 VAUDE has exclusively used electricity from renewable sources. We have also been heating with biogas since 2013. Read more here.

This is why renewable energy accounts for about 75 % of the total energy consumption for VAUDE in Tettnang.

The rest of our total energy consumption is not yet generated from renewable sources. The reason: it constitutes fuel for our company vehicles. More about the transition of our company fleet to electric vehicles here.

The "dip" in the proportion of renewable energy in 2015 and 2016 is due to the fact that lightning struck our production building and our Made in Germany production was temporarily move to a rented facility. The landlord used fossil fuels for electricity and heat. Ever since our VAUDE production is back in our own premises, all machines are working again with 100 % renewable electricity and gas.

The downward "spike" in 2021 should be seen in the context of the Corona pandemic, which led to a sharp drop in fuel consumption in the previous year (2020) - and thus to an increased share of renewables in total energy consumption. This effect has returned to normal since 2021.

VAUDE has made internal commitments to keeping upstream energy consumption as low as possible for goods and services that we procure at our headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach.

Here are a few examples:

• All office equipment such as computers, printers, coffee makers and so on, meet a high energy efficiency standard (minimum: Energy Star; preferred: Blauer Engel).

• The VAUDE company fleet is in the process of conversion to low-fuel consumption and electric vehicles. More on our company fleet here.

• The VAUDE canteen is certified organic and offers almost exclusively organic, locally-sourced products. These generally require less energy consumption for cultivation, production and transport.

As a participant of the IHK Energieimpuls-Netzwerk Bodensee-Oberschwaben, we are obliged to increase our energy efficiency. We have set concrete goals to accomplish this – read more at: Our Goals in Detail.

In the past few years, we introduced new energy management software. This enables us to record and evaluate energy consumption according to organizational units, e.g. administration, manufacturing, canteen etc.

VAUDE's total energy consumption at the company site in Tettnang-Obereisenbach decreased by 9 percent in the reporting year 2022 compared to the previous year (per employee by 14 percent, per ton of production output by 16 percent), despite increased sales and employee numbers! Shocked and motivated by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, VAUDE has fully focused on energy saving, especially in heating. Read more here. here.

Information about decoupling resource consumption from business growth can be found here. And here you can read more about VAUDE growth.

Far more energy is consumed in the upstream supply chain in the manufacture of VAUDE products than at the company's headquarters in Tettnang-Obereisenbach. Where our products are manufactured is explained here.

At the same time, we have much less influence over how the issue of energy is dealt with there. They are not our own companies, but independent contractors. Nevertheless, we are working very closely with them - both in terms of human rights and working conditions as well as in terms of environmental protection. We report on how we are trying to meet our responsibilities here.

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