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Buy a compressor and plant a forest

22 November, 2013

The Swedish compressor manufacturer Atlas Copco has launched a campaign under which it will donate trees to the landlocked African nation of Burkina Faso for every VSD (variable speed drive) controlled compressor that it sells. It hopes to donate 225,000 trees by the end of the campaign in March 2014, to create 550 acres of forest – an area similar to New York’s Central Park.

The number of trees that Atlas Copco donates will depend on the kW rating of the VSD-controlled compressors that it sells. It will plant one tree for every kW rating of its GA range of VSD compressors, or two trees per kW for its recent GA VSD+ compressors, which incorporate a permanent magnet motors and are claimed to achieve average energy savings of around 50%. For every compressor that it sells with built-in energy recovery, the company will donate a further ten trees. The compressors span ratings from 5–90kW.

Altas Copco is giving the trees to WeForest, a global non-profit association which is hoping to reverse the decline of biodiversity in Burkina Faso, and to push back the encroaching Sahara desert by replanting native forest

“Atlas Copco believes in conducting business in a manner that preserves the environment for future generations,” says Koen Lauwers, vice-president for marketing in the company’s Industrial Air division. “With this campaign, we go one step further. We don’t just want to preserve nature, we want to create it.”

For every VSD compressor it sells, Atlas Copco is planting trees to hold back the desert in Burkina Faso

Atlas Copco has given the campaign a head-start by donating to WeForest the prize money from its recent Sustainability Award, which was won by the team that developed the GA VSD+. This donation will fund the planting of around 14,500 trees.  

Compressor buyers will be given an electronic certificate to mark their contribution to the “VSD for Life” campaign. 




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