Green manufacturing is driving more business for SET-listed Siam Cement Group (SCG), Thailand's largest cement maker and industrial conglomerate, as it is eager to use more clean energy, develop environmentally friendly products and utilise electric vehicles (EVs).
Its Cement and Green Solution Business, a unit under the Cement and Building Materials Business, is planning to increase use of renewable energy to more than 30% of total energy demand.
"Now 70% of our energy comes from fossil fuel sources, notably oil and coal, but we are going to gradually decrease this share," said Chana Poomee, vice-president of Cement and Green Solution Business.
SCG produces 200 megawatts of electricity from solar energy, which is used to fuel the operations of its Cement and Building Materials Business as well as Petrochemical Business.
The Cement and Building Materials Business plans to increase electricity generated by on-ground and floating solar farms by 97MW to replace 5% of electricity supplied by the grid and help reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 75,000 tonnes a year.
SCG also plans to reduce coal usage by 50% at its cement production facilities in Saraburi.
Its Cement and Green Solution Business aims to achieve a net-zero goal -- a balance between greenhouse gas emissions and absorption -- by 2050, by developing more environmentally friendly products and adopting production techniques with low carbon dioxide emissions.
The company also launched SCG hybrid cement, which is used in structural work. SCG claims the product is Thailand's first innovative eco-friendly cement, following hydraulic cement standards based on the use of biomass and heat from the production process as fuel in making cement.
This production technique reduces carbon dioxide output by 0.05 tonnes per tonne of cement.
SCG is also using electric trucks at limestone mines, operated by its subsidiary Siam Cement (Thung Song) Co. The EVs help reduce both carbon dioxide emissions and PM2.5 ultra-fine dust.