Honda installing wind turbines to make cars with wind power at Ohio factory Once the turbines begin operating later in 2013, Honda will be the first major automotive manufacturing facility in the United States to obtain a substantial amount of its electricity directly from wind turbines located on its property. The company is certainly not the only one to make its plants greener. Earlier this month, Volkswagen began operating the largest solar power installation at an auto manufacturing plant in the US at its Chattanooga, TN, facility, were the Passat is produced. Subaru, General Motors and Ford are just some of the OEMs going "landfill free" (a claim that is not without problems).
Honda installing wind turbines to make cars with wind power at Ohio factory
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| Honda installing wind turbines to make cars with wind power at Ohio factory |
Honda is installing wind turbines at its transmission plant in Russells Point, OH that will spin and supply 10 percent of the factory's electricity needs. The turbines are expected to produce 10,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, while also (naturally) reducing CO2 emissions.
Both Honda and VW are known for producing energy-efficient vehicles, so producing them with renewable energy certainly fits the marketing. Globally, Honda has established voluntary goals to reduce energy use and waste from manufacturing operations by 2020. This includes a 30-percent reduction in CO2 emissions from Honda products (compared to 2000 levels), plus other significant CO2 reductions from its plants and other operations. Honda leads all automakers with twelve LEED-Certified "Green Buildings" in North America, and 10 of its 14 North American manufacturing facilities are zero-waste to landfill.
Honda installing wind turbines to make cars with wind power at Ohio factory
In Russells Point, Honda's wind turbines have blades that are approximately 160 feet long, on 260-foot towers. The turbines are being installed and managed by Juhl Wind, which will provide the wind power to the Logan County Electric Cooperative and Buckeye Power, Inc.
Honda has also led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) rankings of overall vehicle environmental performance since 2000, and a Honda vehicle has been near the top of the America Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) list of America's greenest vehicles for 15 years.
