They may seem contradictory: ecology and automotives, with the former the natural state of things, and the latter the use and abuse of that. But “complementary” is how Franz Roland Odenthal, president and managing director of Robert Bosch Inc. (Philippines), see the two.

“We believe in an automotive industry powered by technology that cares for the environment,” he says, “(so we have to) provide technological answers to ecological questions.” Bosch, which was established in 1886 in Stuttgart, Germany by Robert Bosch, is a leader in the manufacturing of automotive and industrial technology, consumer goods, and building technology, with its 251,000 associates from around the world generating sales that reached €41.5 billion as of end-2005.

For Odenthal, promoting environmentalism can start simply, such as in buying green products like the Bosch Lambda Sensor, which measures the level of oxygen in the exhaust emission. Fitted in the exhaust system in front of the catalytic converter, the lambda sensor reads the oxygen content of the exhaust gas flowing before it reaches the catalytic converter. The sensor then transmits the readings to the control center of the engine, which adjusts the mix formation accordingly. By ensuring optimum air-fuel mixture, lambda sensors become “indispensable catalysts in reducing such elements as hydrocarbons, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen oxides in the exhaust emission by up to 99%. This means that even the strictest exhaust emission limit values can be complied with.”

And with over 85% of diesel vehicles running on Bosch diesel components in the Philippines, a “simple move” like this “thereby helps transport groups and commercial vehicle operators comply with the country’s Clean Air Act standards,” Odenthal says.

Other products developed to help boost advocacies on clean air include components for compressed natural gas, flex fuel (ethanol driven), vehicle electrical system management, and alternators.

The production of these products, supporting green living, is nothing new to Bosch, actually. In the early part of the 1970s, the company launched the 3S Program – in German, sicher, sauber and sparsam, which translate to safe, clean and economical in English.

Because of the SSS Program, the company has introduced the first commonrail diesel injectors, a technology  fitted in vehicles to allow these to provide cleaner, thus more efficient, combustion to a car’s fuel in the latter part of the 1990s (the company has, since then, produced over 33 million commonrail systems). Since 2000, too, the company has taken the lead in complying with emission standards with its Clean Diesel Program, a sub-program under the umbrella SSS Program, which allowed for the company to additionally develop injection components that enable vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions by 25%, and the downsizing concept (the reduction of a gasoline engine’s displacement that, when coupled with turbocharging, produces more power while reducing CO2 emissions) that cuts CO2 emissions by 10%.

The company is not stopping with its accomplishments, however, with the company allocating €3.3 billion (approximately 7.7% of its annual sales) on research and development (R&D). Of  that figure, 40% are directly related to R&D on environmental preservation.

Also, beyond coming up with green products, the company has already started greening its operations. It has, for example, a solar manufacturing plant in Aveiro, Portugal, with a production capacity of 150,000 solar collectors, expected to double by end-2009. It also has innovations under the Bosch Thermotechnology Division, which include heating systems that utilize solar, geothermal, gas, and plant oil that offer selfsufficiency to households in terms of energy. Thus far, all products sold under this division contributed to avoiding four million tons of CO2, equivalent to the absorbing capacity of 1,800 square kilometer of forest area.
 
These initiatives “bring to a complete circle all (our) initiatives to produce technologies that are invented for life,” Odenthal says.

Odenthal is first to insist that promoting the support of specific products, such as Bosch, may be ideal, but isn’t what should drive companies to go green. Thus, for Bosch, “while equipping vehicles with the sensors can make a difference, we are not necessarily simply promoting (Bosch products). Instead, (we are) supporting environmental efforts, which is something everyone can get into (by buying our products or other products not produced by Bosch, as long as these promote turning green),” he says. “Everyone plays an important role (here): government agencies, nongovernment organizations, community developers, environmentalists, independent power producers, private industry (players), and society in general. As people in the world seek to harmoniously co-exist, we must maintain the critical balance between economy, society and the ecology.”