Ford shows its commitment to the environment on Earth Day, and everyday.
Ford continues to actively engage in innovative green technologies and alternative sources of energy for its manufacturing operations. In addition to sourcing green energy, Ford has improved energy efficiency at its plants to conserve electricity and water as well as to reduce waste.
Ford continues to pioneer environmental initiatives, which have resulted in many industry firsts.
- Ford was the first automaker to estimate its total greenhouse gas emissions from its facilities.
- Ford’s Brigend engine plant in Wales was the first site retrofitted with one of the largest integrated, grid-connected solar/photovoltaic installations at a car manufacturing plant in Europe.
- Ford was the first automaker to participate in carbon trading markets in North America and the UK.
- Ford is the only automaker to voluntarily accept CO2 emissions targets in the UK emissions trading scheme and the Chicago Climate Exchange.
- Ford is the only automaker to win EPA’s Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for two successive years (2006, 2007) and its Sustained Excellence Award this year.
- Ford, along with the Georgia Institute of Technology, designed an overseas shipping container made of polypropylene plastic that after use can be ground up and used in plastic auto parts.
- Ford reduces the industry’s impact on the environment by engaging its suppliers in its Code of Basic Working Conditions established in 2003.
- Ford is only automaker to have been chosen best-in-class on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) annual review of global automotive sustainability leaders six consecutive years.
- Ford was first automaker to certify all its manufacturing plants worldwide under ISO 14001–a voluntary international environmental management system standard.
Sustainability initiatives have allowed the company to minimize the environmental effects of its worldwide operations. Here is a partial list of the achievements Ford has made in North American and around the world toward a greener future:
- Since 2000, Ford has cut its global operational energy use by 30 percent (3 percent improvement from a year ago), CO2 emissions from its facilities by 39 percent (11 percent improvement from a year ago) and water use by 43 percent (21 percent improvement from a year ago). By improving energy efficiency in the U.S. by 4.5 percent, Ford saved approximately $18 million.
- Renewable or “green” energy such as hydro-, solar- and wind-power, landfill gas and waste gases as well as other sources supply approximately three percent of Ford’s global energy needs.
- In Dearborn, Michigan, Ford redeveloped its Rouge Center to incorporate environmentally-friendly and sustainable processes, including installing a photovoltaic array and solar thermal collector at the Visitor Center, and the world’s largest living roof system that reduces the solar thermal load. Ford also implemented a storm water management system, natural wetlands and retention ponds and a new green-belt promenade along the plant’s main road.
- In Lima, Ohio, Ford eliminated 4,300 metric tons of CO2 each year through the installation of a geothermal system to cool the plant. The plant also uses reclaimed landfill and low-impact hydro. Together, this has reduced CO2 emissions by 144,000 metric tons per year.
- In Kansas City, Missouri, Ford has offset its greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing renewable energy certificates from wind power plants, creating carbon neutral vehicle manufacturing for hybrid vehicles Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid.
- In Avon Lake, Ohio, the assembly plant reduced CO2 emissions and VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions by about 10 percent through a three-wet paint process that also creates a smaller, less expensive and cleaner paint shop.
- In Oakville, Canada, Ford’s Fumes-to-Fuel process converts paint emissions into electricity at its Oakville Assembly Plant. The program, also at Michigan Truck Plant in Dearborn, involves one-third of the fumes in one paint booth, but produces 45 to 50 kilowatts of electricity daily when the system is running, enough to meet the typical demand of an average suburban block of houses.
- In Dagenham, England, Ford will remain 100 percent green-energy powered despite increased production by adding a third wind turbine. At the present time the existing two wind turbines reduce CO2 emissions by more than 6,500 metric tons per year.
- In Cologne, Germany, Ford began to source fully renewable energy from three hydro-power plants in Norway and Sweden as of 2008. This will help Ford reduce CO2 emissions by 190,000 tons per year.
