By 2020, Honda aims to reduce CO2 emissions produced from manufacturing their products by 30%, when compared to levels emitted in 2000. Honda plan to put up more wind turbines later this year, by constructing a so called ‘wind farm’ beside their new manufacturing facility in Brazil. That wind farm is expected to generate the equivalent to Honda’s current annual electricity consumption for vehicle manufacturing in Brazil, approximately 95,000 MWh.
Honda is the first major automotive manufacturer in the United States to install wind turbines, at their factory in Russell’s Point, Ohio, which will create a substantial amount of energy toward manufacturing. Following on from Europe with the likes of Bentley and SEAT who already use solar power and BMW who have wind turbines at their BMW i3 plant, Honda are the latest to improve their overall carbon emissions and the first in the USA to do so with on-site wind turbines.
The turbines will produce 10,000 megawatt hours (MWh) per year, which equates to approximately 10 per cent of the plant’s overall electricity consumption.
Low-carbon manufacturing around the world
Honda strives to introduce low carbon manufacturing solutions across all of its plants, the best example being the sophisticated new automobile production plant in Yorii, Japan, which opened in July 2013.
On the roof of Yorii’s final assembly and inspection building Honda has installed thin-film solar cells capable of generating 2.6MWh of electricity – the largest solar power generation system at any car factory in Japan. This is sufficient to supply more than 450 households with electricity and eliminate 1,200 tonnes of CO2 that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Yorii also has an 8,730kW gas turbine generator running on city gas to help lower emissions.
The plant is surrounded by a 16,000m2 area into which Honda has introduced rare animals and plants. The area includes thickets, waterways, rice paddies and wetlands. There is also a two-kilometre green bio-corridor to the nearby Ogawa engine factory.
Honda’s European manufacturing plants are also working towards reducing CO2 emissions. Both Honda of the U.K. Manufacturing (HUM) and Honda Turkiye (HTR) automobile production plants utilise solar power to this end.
In October 2011, HUM introduced renewable energy from a 5 megawatt peak (MWp) solar-array consisting of more than 21,000 ground mounted panels covering an area of 32 acres. The installation generates 4.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable energy, equating to 4.4 per cent of the sites total electricity requirement for the year. In the first year of operation it delivered considerable cost savings compared to buying grid supplied energy and reduced CO2 emissions by almost 2,000 tonnes.
Similarly, HTR has been successfully using solar power in its operations, recently installing solar panels and inverters on site. To date the site has generated 124,000 kilowatt hours (KWh) per year of renewable energy, resulting in a CO2reduction of 54 tonnes.
Source; Honda press release
