Though the finished product is a small lens, the eyewear industry as a whole makes a large impact on the environment. Vision-Ease Lens is reducing its carbon footprint, maintaining its operating principle to be a good corporate citizen and setting new sustainability standards for lens manufacturers.
As of March 1, 2008, all VEL products manufactured in its Ramsey, Minn.-facility are being made with 100 percent renewable energy. Beyond setting a new standard in the lens industry, VEL commitment to sustainability marks one of the largest industrial companies with 100 percent renewable energy in Minnesota.
This effort builds on significant conservation and recycling efforts that VEL has had in place over the past several years, and sets the stage for a long-term, corporate-wide initiative.
Vision-Ease Lens Sustainability Initiatives
Vision-Ease Lens (VEL) used to ship lenses cross-country twice before being shipped to the customer. By re-shifting the manufacturing process, VEL ships directly to the customer, eliminating two extra shipments and producing the following benefits:
Saving 12,872 gallons of gas in 2006 by producing LifeRx™ in one facility
Saving 113 metric tons of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to:
CO2 emissions from 20.8 passenger vehicles for one year
CO2 emissions from the electricity for 15 homes for one year
Carbon sequestered by 2,908 tree seedlings over ten years
By replacing all lighting in the Ramsey facility with energy efficient fluorescent lighting, VEL is saving 799.2 metric tons of CO2 emissions.
The power usage at Ramsey over the last 12 months totaled 17,571,150 kilowatt hours. By contracting for renewable energy to power the Ramsey plant, VEL will eliminate 15,759 metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. These savings are equivalent to:
CO2 emissions from 1,788,767 gallons of gasoline
CO2 emissions from the electricity for 2,087 homes for one year
Carbon sequestered by 404,078 tree seedlings over ten years
Each pair of lenses produced at Ramsey using renewable energy eliminates 10.5 pounds of CO2 emissions. With renewable energy, the production of VEL lenses delivers the following comparable CO2 reductions:
Carbon sequestered by 0.12 tree seedlings over ten years
Each pair of lenses is equivalent to one tree seedling for one year
Two pair of lenses avoids the carbon release of one gallon of gasoline consumed
100 pair of lenses is equal to the carbon release of one barrel of oil
1,000 pair of lenses is equivalent to the reduction of one passenger vehicle for ten months
10,000 pair of lenses equals the reduction of carbon release of the electricity to power six homes for one year
* Calculations were made using the carbon calculator on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Web site.