Ford Testing Wind And Solar Power Systems For Dealerships

Car dealerships have been catching a lot of flack for fighting against Tesla’s direct sales model and not selling plug-in cars effectively, but there are plenty of dealers out there trying to go green and do good by the environment. Ford announced a new pilot program this week to install wind and solar power systems on four of its dealerships, offsetting over 50 tons of carbon annually.

At the heart of the pilot program is a Wind Energy Corporation “Windy” turbine with Ford-emblazoned sails rotating in the gentle breeze. Along with a 7 kWh solar array, this energy will be used to power ceiling lights and electric car chargers, generating some 20,000 kWh of energy every year. This will reduce the carbon footprint of each dealer by 14 tons of CO2 every year, or about 56 tons combined, and produce enough energy to either power two average American homes or recharge the 23 kWh battery of the Ford Focus Electric some 870 times.

Ford tapped four participating dealers to take part in the program; Dana Ford Lincoln in Staten Island, New York; Tom Holzer Ford in Farmington Hills, Michigan; and two dealers in California: The Ford Store in Morgan Hill, and Fiesta Ford in Indio. Ford selected these companies based on their plug-in car sales and commitments to alternative energy. Ford itself has embarked on a major efficiency campaign, including $25 million in LED lights and the second-largest solar-powered carport in the MidWest.

Car dealers across the country have actually placed themselves at the vanguard of going green in a number of different ways. A New Jersey Honda dealer, for example, uses zero net energy thanks to efficiency techniques and a huge solar power array, and in Canada the Chevy Volt makes up 35% of one Chevy dealer’s sales, just because they took the time to do so.

Ford’s pilot program is hopefully the first step towards a nationwide effort to get its dealers to go green, with installation of the wind and solar arrays to begin early next year.

Source: Gas2

Honda Transmission contracts with Juhl Wind for two utility-scale wind turbines at Ohio plant; up to 10% of electricity for operations

Honda Transmission Mfg. of America, Inc. announced an agreement with Juhl Wind, Inc. to develop, install, and operate two utility-scale wind turbines (each rated at about 2MW) to generate electricity for the plant’s operations.

The plant manufactures automatic transmissions, gears and four-wheel-drive systems, including the next-generation Earth Dreams transmission technology. The two wind turbines will supply up to approximately 10% of the plant’s electricity. Based on their location and actual wind speeds, combined output from the two wind turbines is estimated at 10,000-megawatt hours (MWh) per year.

Once the turbines begin operating later this year, the Honda transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio 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.

Studies commissioned by Honda Transmission indicate that wind-generated power is a cost-effective source of electricity for the plant and that the project will not adversely impact local wildlife or the environment.

The decision to go forward with the project followed a thorough evaluation of renewable energy sources for the plant, which Honda announced in February 2012. The turbines, with blades approximately 160 feet (49 meters) long, will be installed on 260-foot (79 meters) towers on Honda Transmission property, which is suited for a maximum of two wind turbines. Last June, the Washington Township (Logan County, Ohio) Board of Zoning Appeals approved a variance to the height limitation for the wind turbines.

Juhl Wind will be primary developer of the project and own the two turbines. Through agreements with Honda Transmission, Juhl will generate electricity for the plant, and be responsible for the interconnect agreement with the Logan County Electric Cooperative and the power purchase agreement with Buckeye Power, Inc.

Globally, Honda has established voluntary goals to reduce the environmental impact of its products and manufacturing operations by 2020. This includes a 30% reduction in CO₂emissions from Honda products, and significant CO₂ reductions from the company’s plants and other operations, compared with year 2000 levels.

To achieve these new environmental targets, Honda is accelerating its efforts to advance the environmental performance of its products, and its operations throughout North America. The wind turbine project is among a number of other initiatives at Honda plants to reduce energy use and waste from manufacturing operations.

• Two Honda automobile plants in Ohio have earned the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR certification for the sixth year, while a Honda auto plant in Indiana earned the designation for the first time in 2012, boosted by energy efficiency gains from the start of a second shift of auto production.
• 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 of America Mfg. auto plants in Marysville and East Liberty, Ohio have ongoing initiatives to reduce energy consumption. Major areas include installation of energy-efficient equipment, implementing new technologies in auto-body painting systems and lighting efficiency improvements.
  
  

Wind-Powered “Skypump” Fills Your EV With Clean Energy

The cleanliness of your EV is directly proportional to your source of electricity. If you’re drawing current from a coal-fired powerplant, well that isn’t very clean, is it? But a new wind turbine design from GE and Urban Green Energy cleverly called the “Skypump” uses a compact design with urban areas in mind to deliver clean energy to electric vehicles.

Using the power of wind to charge electric cars isn’t a new idea, though GE’s implementation of the Skypump is worthy of note. The compact design does away with huge propellers in favor vertical wind blades that require a minimum of 7 MPH winds to operate. The Skypump is hooked into one of GE’s DuraStation Level 2 EV chargers.

Standing at 42 feet high, and utilizing a compact blade design, the Skypump could fill in where traditional wind turbines are just too big. Each blade on some wind turbines can be as big as 160 feet long; the Skypump could easily see use in mall parking lots or industrial/business parks.

Don’t get me wrong; the Skypump won’t be solving the woes of EV users anytime soon. However, it can offer a genuinely green alternative to plugging into a coal-fired plug, and if this design proves effective, it could become quite commonplace.

Source: Gas2.0