Fuel Reduction Programs
Union Pacific Center LEED Certification
We built Union Pacific Center, our corporate headquarters in Omaha, Neb., to be environmentally sustainable from the ground up. We have continued to innovate, update and improve the building and the way we manage it, including:
- Implementing a green cleaning program – more than 75 percent of our cleaning supplies meet the LEED standard.
- Increasing recycling from just over half our building’s solid waste to nearly 70 percent.
- Installing low-mercury, energy- efficient bulbs.
- Reducing annual potable water consumption at our headquarters by over half a million gallons – that is a reduction of more than 130 gallons for every headquarters employee.
We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished with Union Pacific Center in the last several years. Our success has not gone unnoticed. In February 2012, the U.S. Green Building Council awarded Union Pacific Center a Silver Existing Building certification. Union Pacific Center has more than 1 million square feet, and it is now the largest LEED-certified building in Nebraska – proof that size and scale can be perfectly consistent with environmental sustainability.
Union Pacific’s three-pronged approach to improving fuel efficiency includes improving operations, incorporating technology and engaging employees.
When it comes to fuel savings, technology only gets you so far. As many drivers know, a key piece to saving fuel also is how you operate your vehicle. Reducing idling time and driving at a steady speed, rather than racing to a traffic light only to stop and start again each time the light turns green, can do a lot to reduce the amount of fuel you burn, whether you’re driving a passenger vehicle or operating a 5,000 ton train.
Helping our locomotive engineers operate trains in the most fuel-efficient manner means that we can reduce fuel costs and reduce our locomotives’ emissions. Both of these objectives are important to us, which is why we created the Union Pacific Fuel Masters Unlimited program, which gives engineers the knowledge and tools they need to squeeze the most power out of each gallon of fuel. We’ve trained more than 7,000 engineers using this program, which is more than 95 percent of our road locomotive engineers.
We continue to invest in fuel efficiency technology, train employees how to use it and support ongoing operating best practices improvements.
