ABB participates in Earth Hour

Beijing, March 28, 2009 – ABB, the leading power and automation technology group, shut off power in its offices and facilities Saturday evening in support of the global Earth Hour program sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). ABB’s participation demonstrated its commitment to energy conservation and environmental protection in order to fight against climate change.

ABB China switched off all unnecessary lights and office equipment in its 27 local facilities as well as its 38 sales and service branch offices in China from 20:30 to 21:30, joining Earth Hour’s global call for action on climate change. In addition, ABB China’s 15,000 employees and their families also took action in their homes by adopting power saving measures in conjunction with 1 billion other supporters of Earth Hour around the world.

Brice Koch, President of the ABB North Asia Region and Chairman and President of ABB China, commented, “As a global technology leader in power and automation, ABB believes that ‘the greenest energy is the energy saved.’ We were pleased to demonstrate our support of Earth Hour through the one-hour of darkness.”

ABB consistently advocates energy efficiency and conservation as one of the company’s core business concepts, and is dedicated to the promotion of environmental protection with its advanced technologies. In China, ABB has successfully constructed three HVDC links that transmit electricity to power-hungry regions in East and South China, saving enough power to meet the needs of 500,000 households.

ABB has been proactive in helping government bureaus at every level to achieve the goals set in the country’s 11th 5-year plan: reduce energy consumption by 20% per GDP unit and emissions by 10%. In 2006, ABB signed a strategic five-year partnership with Guangdong Province to promote energy consumption reduction in order to help local enterprises improve their energy efficiency in support of Guangdong's goal of reducing energy consumption by 16% per GDP unit by 2010.

In addition to providing advanced technology to enable customers to improve efficiency, ABB also places great emphasis on improving the resource efficiency of its own office buildings and facilities. ABB requires all manufacturing facilities to strictly comply with the local government’s and ABB group’s internal regulations on environmental protection and global environmental standards including ISO 14001. By leveraging its extensive environmental products and technologies, ABB has made energy efficiency an integral part of any new facility construction or expansion.

Local ABB companies have also improved their energy efficiency and lowered their emissions in a variety of ways. For example, by adopting the ABB i-Bus intelligent system, ABB workshops can maximize the use of natural light to lower electricity consumption. The adoption of ABB drives and efficient electrical appliances has remarkably improved the power efficiency of ABB. The application of insulation building materials can also reduce the energy required for cooling in the summer and heating in the winter. From 2002 to 2007, ABB’s power consumption for every one million RMB of revenue dropped by 48%, and water consumption per capita fell 36% at its China facilities.

In order to further improve the resource efficiency of ABB office buildings and facilities, the company has recently launched a “Saving resources, Saving cost” campaign to encourage ABB employees to contribute their own ideas about resource efficiency. Their creative measures, with a high degree of feasibility and ease of promotion, will help local facilities and their employees improve their daily operations and change their personal behavior so as to further cut down resource consumption and improve efficiency. The company will present the “President’s Award” to the employee who proposes the best advice in each quarter.

Earth Hour, a global environmental protection action, calls for individuals, communities, companies and governments to turn off their lights for one hour on March 28 in order to raise public awareness about energy conservation and global climate change.

Since its inception in Sydney in 2007, Earth Hour has won worldwide support and become one of the most influential public welfare programs across the world. For this year, WWF asked everyone to turn the lights out for one hour at 8.30pm local time on March 28. About 1 billion people from over 2,000 cities in more than 80 countries participated, demonstrating their concern for environmental protection. In China, Earth Hour has generated great interest from people of all walks of life. Many Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Chengdu, and Baoding, announced their support. At the hour, the National Stadium (the Bird’s Nest) and the National Swimming Center (the Water Cube) in Beijing, the Oriental Pearl Tower in Shanghai, and the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center switched off their lights to show their concern for energy conservation.

ABB (www.abb.com) is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs about 120,000 people. ABB has a full range of business activities in China, including R&D, manufacturing, sales and services, with 15,000 employees, 27 joint ventures and wholly owned companies, and an extensive sales and service network across 60 cities. To find out more about ABB in China, visit www.abb.com.cn.