Joined
·
78 Posts
Further establishing the Chevy Bolt as an environmentally friendly vehicle, the Orion assembly plant where the EV will be built is ranked as one of the top ten green power producers in the United States.
"Building the Bolt EV in a facility that is 54 percent powered by clean energy further adds to the car's environmental credentials," says Alicia Boler-Davis, GM vice president of global manufacturing.
According to the GM, 54% of the facility is powered by clean energy produced by methane captured from decomposing trash in a nearby landfill and converted to electricity onsite and it has a 350-kilowatt solar array that sends energy back into the grid. Using these two methods, the plant has managed to save $1 million a year in energy costs and it now ranks as the 8th largest user of green power produced on site.
General Motors’ original goal was to use 125 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020 and they have managed to meet that goal and more 4 years in advance. Maybe GM will be the benchmark for the other 59 multinational companies in the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance. As one of the members of the Corporate Renewable Energy Buyers’ Principles, GM promotes the development and implementation of cost effective clean energy.
Besides generating power, the Orion assembly plant practices other methods of sustainability like its “three-wet” painting process which requires the paint to go through the oven only once thus saving energy. This change along with other similar modifications throughout the production process reduced the facility’s energy intensity by 67% in two years. Their efforts have kept 42,758 tons of CO2 emissions from being released.
GM is committed to sustainable manufacturing and we can expect to see their production facilities climb up the green power users ranks in the future.
