Yahoo Autos GM Plans To Go Totally Green In 34 Years
Detroit, September 9, 2016.: "General Motors plans to generate or source all electrical power for its 350 operations in 59 countries with 100 percent renewable energy - such as wind, sun and landfill gas - by 2050. GM is also joining RE100, a global collaborative initiative of businesses committed to 100 percent renewable electricity."
Wow. And that's not even a promise, just a plan. A plan that takes half a lifetime to fulfill. But before you'd decide whether that's good enough or not, let's have a look at what's going on in 2016:
GM saves $5 million annually from using renewable energy today, and that number will only increase once more projects come online while the installation costs go further down. In 2015, GM required 9 terawatt-hours (9 million megawatts) of electricity to power its operations. The company's previous plan was to use 125 megawatts of renewable energy by 2020, a goal they should exceed when two new wind projects come online later this year to help power four manufacturing operations.
General Motors currently has 22 facilities with solar arrays and three sites using landfill gas. It's also in the process of adding 30 megawatts of solar arrays at two facilities in China. GM's Jinqiao Cadillac assembly plant in Shanghai will feature 10 megawatts of rooftop solar and 20 megawatts of solar carports, which will cover 8,100 parking spaces at the company's vehicle distribution center parking lot in Wuhan.
Don't get me wrong, this is certainly a step towards the right direction. But to put GM's "bold and ambitious commitment" into perspective, I must tell you that the BMW Group will source more than 66% of its energy from renewables in four year's time, while India's massive Tata Motors managed to get 5% of its consumption from green sources last year already.
GM's plan for 2020 will only get them to 1.38%.
You Might Also Like
