WORKERS at a Huddersfield engineering firm have received global recognition for their energy-saving efforts.

The energy reduction team at Turnbridge-based Cummins Turbo Technologies was presented with a best performance award by Tim Solso, chairman and chief executive officer of US-based parent company Cummins Inc.

The award recognises the team’s achievements in reducing CO2 emissions at the St Andrew’s Road site by 201 tons and saving £52,000 during the 2008 two-week Christmas shutdown.

The cost-saving figure was the best achieved by any of the 54 Cummins sites taking part in the company’s Unplugged Challenge – a contest designed to encourage Cummins workers worldwide to save energy at their plant or office.

The 54 participating sites account for almost 90% of Cummins’ total energy use.

Reduction in use of gas and electricity has saved more than 7,220 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The Huddersfield works, which makes turbo-chargers for trucks, has a strong track record for energy reduction, cutting pollution and waste management.

It received the Cummins Award in 2006 for outstanding environmental performance.

For this latest award, the energy reduction team, led by Craig Hall, identified two main areas where cost savings could be made and targeted these to achieve the highest possible reductions.

The bulk of the savings were made by prompt shutdown of production and office equipment when not in use.

Mr Solso said: “Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of employees here at Huddersfield and all across Cummins we were able to save nearly 1m US dollars through the Unplugged Challenge.

“This effort here showed that by taking large and small actions we can achieve significant savings.”

Mr Hall said: “The success of the Huddersfield team in the Unplugged Challenge demonstrates what can be achieved by simple actions such as switching off machines and computers.

“This is just the start of our endeavours to further reduce our energy consumption with more being done to drive improvements into the working week.

“Cummins Turbo Technologies has clearly led the way for other local companies and Cummins worldwide to make substantial savings.”