In our two warehouses in Orimattila and Tuusula, we will replace natural gas used mainly for heating and cooling the facilities with air-water heat pumps to be built on the plots in early 2023. The forms of district heating used in two of our other warehouses in Tuusula and Kerava have already been switched to renewable district heating. After these energy investments, Transval will only use natural gas as a secondary form of energy in one warehouse, where the primary form of energy is geothermal energy.
As the market leader in logistics outsourcing in Finland, we have a total of 320,000 m2 of warehousing space, and we produce or buy all of the electricity we use as fossil-free energy.
“The form of energy is one of the important choices we have to make to achieve our goal to completely eliminate our emissions by 2030, as our parent company Posti is doing. We’re now building air-water heat pump plants on the plots of our Orimattila and Tuusula warehouses. These two warehouses account for 50% of our own emissions from warehousing services, which means that the investment now being made will play an important role in reducing our own emissions. Our decision to replace the form of energy was further accelerated by the geopolitical situation,” says Development Director Vesa Rinne.
Our newest warehouse was completed in Sipoo in summer. In this 30,000 m2 warehouse, the production of the geothermal power plant on the plot covers 90% of the heat and cooling needs of the warehouse, and the solar power plant on the roof of the warehouse generates 5–8% of its electricity consumption. There are solar power plants on the roofs of three of our warehouses.
As part of Posti’s emissions reduction targets in line with climate science, Transval is also taking decisive action together with customers to reduce its emissions. Rinne states that Transval is also a trendsetter in the logistics sector in terms of environmental responsibility. Transval’s annual greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 were around 4,200 tonnes, and in 2023, annual emissions are estimated to be around 40% lower. In addition to the changes in the form of heating used in the warehouses, we are also switching the fuels used in our vehicles to renewable diesel and renewable light fuel oil. Transval’s newest forklift fleet is powered by lithium-ion batteries.
“Switching to renewable fuels is a quick way to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from logistics. Together with our customers, we’re making sustainable changes that will carry far into the future – last year, for example, we reduced the greenhouse gas emissions from Paulig’s port logistics by 90% by switching to renewable diesel in our terminal tractor equipment,” Rinne says.
The heat energy consumption of the warehouses will be reduced by a further 4%
In some of our warehouses, we have lowered the indoor temperatures by one to two degrees. This saves about 650 MWh of heat energy per year. Even though the warehouses already have the necessary and correctly adjusted heating and cooling as well as LED lighting, Rinne says that the company can still cut back on its heat energy consumption a little.
“Still, we’ll ensure that the temperatures are always pleasant and suitable for the personnel to work in and in accordance with the recommendations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Naturally, the temperature is also affected by the temperature requirements of the products stored in each warehouse. For our part, we’re doing our best to offer responsible and sustainable warehousing solutions to companies operating in Finland. Our own personnel is very proud of our efforts and concrete actions in promoting environmental responsibility,” Rinne continues.
