MALVERN, Pa., April 2, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- For the third consecutive year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Ricoh with its prestigious ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award. Ricoh has also won the ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award for continued leadership and superior contributions to the program. These latest accolades acknowledge Ricoh's hard work to foster environmental sustainability in its own operations and evangelize on behalf of sustainability to customers, Ricoh Family Group dealer partners and the larger business community. Ricoh's accomplishments will be recognized by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., April 20.
"At Ricoh, we pride ourselves on our core values: to care about our people, our profession, our society and our planet," said Donna Venable, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Deputy General Manager, Shared Services, Ricoh Americas. "As we continue to strive toward Sustainable Development Goals, these newest levels of ENERGY STAR accolades are exciting – and humbling – proof points of our success and demonstrate the value we place on ENERGY STAR within our portfolio. We will continue to drive sustainability forward, empower digital workplaces and promote sustainable practices and products."
Ricoh, an ENERGY STAR partner for imaging equipment since its inception, will be honored for:
- Technology services in support of ENERGY STAR – In its work to empower digital workplaces, Ricoh designs and develops products with ENERGY STAR specifications in mind, creating energy efficiency without sacrificing business productivity. However, if users turn off Sleep Mode and other energy saving settings, sustainable design's impact is limited. To combat this, Ricoh instituted a program which focuses on collaboration and education, to introduce practical energy saving tips that help users see the benefits of eco-mode.
- Assisting ENERGY STAR product specification development – As part of ITI/JBMIA/JEITA industry associations, Ricoh is working in collaboration with the EPA to provide comments relative to Imaging Equipment Test Methodology for determining ENERGY STAR certification for future products.
- Challenged all employees to take the ENERGY STAR pledge – Ricoh once again reached the employee population, and others via outreach to employees' children during Bring Your Daughters/Sons to Work Day for this pledge challenge. The program included emails, posters, "plantable" bookmarks, PowerPoint presentations and a selfie station to encourage employees to take the pledge.
- External outreach: customers and beyond – Ricoh's Global Accounts team, which serves Fortune 100 companies, and others, provide education to customers regarding energy efficiency, including information about ENERGY STAR and a request to take the ENERGY STAR pledge. Ricoh has also significantly increased marketing promotion of ENERGY STAR content. This includes a 450 percent year-over-year jump in PR and social media content and engagement, and a 250 percent increase in ENERGY STAR-related content on its Ricoh USA, Lanier and Savin websites, and other third-party sites.
- Commitment to continued progress – Ricoh has committed to reducing the total lifecycle CO2 emissions of the Ricoh Group from year-2000 levels by 30 percent by 2020 and by 87.5 percent by 2050. Further, Ricoh has joined the EPA SmartWay® Transport Partnership, an innovative collaboration between the EPA and industry to provide a framework to assess the environmental and energy efficiency of goods movement supply chain. Ricoh's work will contribute to the Partnership's overall savings of 144.3 million barrels of oil, $20.6 billion in fuel costs, 61.7 MMT of carbon dioxide, 1.07 million tons of nitrogen oxides and 43,000 tons of particulate matter, the equivalent of taking 13 million cars off the road. All Ricoh manufacturing and production sites worldwide are certified ISO 14001 compliant for their environmental management system. Ricoh also recently installed an on-site solar array at its West Caldwell, New Jersey, corporate facility – a 2015 and 2016 ENERGY STAR certified building – to help increase the amount of renewable energy on the grid, supplying it to their utility and helping to sustainably power the facility itself.
"The 2018 ENERGY STAR Partners of the Year have demonstrated real leadership, showing how American families and businesses can save energy, save money, and reduce air emissions," said Bill Wehrum, Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, EPA.
In 2016 alone, ENERGY STAR certified products, homes, buildings and plants helped Americans save over $30 billion in energy costs and approximately 400 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, while achieving broad emissions reductions.
The 2018 Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Awards are bestowed upon companies and other organizations demonstrating continued leadership in energy efficiency and commitment to the ENERGY STAR program. Winners hail from small, family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 organizations – representing energy-efficient products, services, new homes and buildings in the commercial, industrial and public sectors.
For a complete list of 2018 winners and more information about ENERGY STAR's awards program, visit www.energystar.gov