Automakers going beyond EVs to help sustain the environment
It no longer is enough to manufacture fuel-efficient vehicles: car companies also want to be known for environmental leadership up and down the assembly line.
Nissan is the acknowledged global leader in producing electric vehicles. The world’s first mass produced EV, the Leaf, has sold more than 75,000 vehicles worldwide, most of them in the U.S. The Leaf and other models are being produced in plants that are getting greener each year.
The company’s Green Program 2016 is designed to reduce its carbon footprint in everything from using more efficient robots in factories to using less printer ink in corporate offices.
At the factory in Smyrna, Tennessee, that produces the Leaf, Rogue and Infiniti QX60, a new high-tech paint plant has reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) by 70 percent.
The technology involves applying all three paint layers — primary and two topcoats — in quick succession before sending the vehicle into the drying oven, instead of drying each layer separately. In addition to energy and emissions savings, the one-step process is speeding up the produc- tion line.
In Mexico, Nissan uses power generated by the country’s largest windfarm to run its factories. The wind replaces more than 5 million gallons of fuel oil.
In Brazil, where the Nissan Versa is built, a new factory in Resende is surrounded by a “green belt” that neutralizes CO2 emissions while reducing noise levels. The plant uses water-based ink cartridges in painting robots, which reduces use of solvents.
In Japan, Nissan has increased its use of electricity generated from biomass and solar power, as part of its goal to reduce CO2 emissions by 1 percent each year. Nissan sets the example for other automotive manufacturers, as well.
Volkswagen has integrated solar into its factory in Chattanooga, Tenneessee, the world’s first auto manufacturing plant to be LEED Platinum certified (Leader- ship in Energy and Environmental Design).
As much as 20 percent of the plant’s power is generated by a huge solar farm next to the assembly lines, which produce the Passat. The solar farm produces more than 13-gigawatt hours of electricity a year, enough to power 1,200 homes for a year. VW has announced its intent to reduce energy and water consumption and CO2 emissions by 25 percent worldwide by 2018.
Ford uses an energy efficient and low emissions socalled three-wet paint system at its Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, which produces models including Focus and Focus Electric. The facility draws energy from a 500-kilowatt solar panel system to further reduce emissions.
Ford rehabbed its antiquated, brownfield Rouge Center a decade ago, before sustainable green auto facilities started to sprout. The $2 billion investment included a 10.4-acre planted green roof that provides insulation to reduce heating and cooling costs while it reduces greenhouse emissions. The Rouge Visitor Center also is LEED certified.
BMW has purchased a carbon fiber plant in Washington state that is entirely hydropowered. The carbon fiber produced there is for the new BMW electric cars, the i3 and i8.
Honda has installed a 1-megawatt fuel cell system at its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, California, which is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1,300 metric tons a year. The company has zero-waste landfill at three of its parts distribution facilities in the U.S.
General Motors now has 105 factories and other facilities worldwide that are landfill-free thanks to extensive recycling programs. That includes the new factory in Joinville, Brazil, which is the first auto factory in South America to be LEED certified. Among other things, the plant uses solar power for lighting and water heating.
All Subaru products are manufactured in zerolandfill production plants, and the factory in Lafayette, Indiana, is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation.