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CompanyStats

DuPont
  • HQ: Wilmington, DE
  • 2008 Revenues: $31.8 billion
  • Employees: 60,000
  • Global: Over 70 countries
  • R&D: More than 75 R&D labs in 12 countries
  • Fortune 500: 75

CEOExtra

DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman cites great demand for alternative forms of “clean” energy. To answer that demand, the company is looking to the power of the sun by manufacturing the films and pastes used in solar panels. Demand for these products, DuPont expects, will heat up even more in the years ahead: Company estimates show the overall solar market reaching annual sales of $70 billion by 2013. What’s more, DuPont fine-tunes its solar know-how in-house. For instance, about 55 percent of the energy needs at the company’s Kauai, Hawaii, research facility, according to Kullman, is powered by 1,500 solar panels using DuPont materials. According to Kullman, this saves the company on average $200,000 a year in purchased electricity costs.

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Ellen Kullman

DuPont

What is the business case for sustainability?

The demand for sustainable products represents one of the greatest business opportunities of our lifetime,” says Ellen Kullman, CEO of DuPont (DD). “Business is being challenged not only to better manage its impact on the environment but also to bring a different type of product to market.”

“Business is being challenged not only to better manage its impact on the environment, but also to bring a different type of product to market.”

Kullman, who was named CEO in January, says she and her management team are seeing a pull across virtually every market DuPont serves for products that help customers lower greenhouse-gas emissions and boost energy efficiency. “Energy-efficient cars and homes are only a few examples of the growing demand,” says the CEO. For instance, the company’s resins are being used in a new digital control valve that helps cars boost fuel economy and reduce emissions; and DuPont’s popular Corian® brand of countertops now includes colors and styles made from recycled materials.

DuPont’s new Sorona® polymer is made in part with agricultural feedstock instead of petrochemicals, Kullman says, because customers want high-quality products that leave the smallest environmental footprint. Commercial and residential carpet fibers made with Sorona provide a better combination of durability and stain resistance than previously available fibers. “This,” she says, “is the optimal combination of both environmental benefit and superior performance.”