Ford Motor Company’s actions to reduce the amount of energy used to manufacture vehicles and support its U.S. operations have earned it the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s coveted 2011 ENERGY STAR Award for the sixth consecutive year.
The 2011 ENERGY STAR Award for Sustained Excellence recognizes Ford’s continued leadership and commitment to protecting the environment through energy efficiency.
In 2010, Ford improved energy efficiency in its U.S. manufacturing facilities by 2 percent bringing Ford’s 5-year improvement to more than 15 percent. The cumulative improvement represents 1,875 million kilowatt hours (kWh) which is equivalent to the amount of energy required to power 60,000 average U.S. homes for a year. Ford establishes new baseline measures of energy efficiency – natural gas and electricity – every five years and normalizes for changes in production volume and weather.
“We are extremely proud of the steps we’ve taken to improve responsible use of natural resources,” said Donna Inch, Chairman and CEO, Ford Land. “Energy efficiency is critical to running a strong and successful business, delivering both financial and environmental benefits.”
Ford’s energy efficiency improvements include:
- Improved paint processes including implementation of the 3-Wet Paint Process and recirculation of air in paint spray booths. These process improvements eliminate bake ovens between paint booths, reduce paint booth footprint and reduce the amount of ventilation air that must be heated and humidified to paint a car. The energy savings per plant is approximately 35 million kWh annually
- Retooled powertrain manufacturing facilities with energy efficient equipment and process changes including flexible machining, minimum quantity lubrication and elimination of heated parts washers
- Improved metering at manufacturing facilities allows Ford to measure daily and weekly production and non-production energy use
- Installation of energy efficient lighting systems at various Ford locations including a 50,000 light fixture upgrade in southeast Michigan that will reduce energy use by 18.2 million kWh and is expected to save Ford $1.3 million annually
- Development and launch of a commonized sustainability measurement scale for all manufacturing plants worldwide. The scale evaluates performance in all areas of sustainability – energy, air quality, water, waste and others – and will be used to plan and measure future improvements
- Installed a solar power generation system at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant delivering 500 kW of renewable energy which is integrated with 750-kW battery storage facility. This facility will help power the plant and production of Ford’s new Focus, Focus Electric, next-generation hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles
In 2010, Ford earned nine ENERGY STAR Building Labels for efficiency improvements. Ford has launched a 5-year plan to obtain LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for a number of Dearborn-based office buildings.
“Ford has earned EPA’s highest ENERGY STAR award – the 2011 Sustained Excellence Award,” said Elizabeth Craig, Acting Director of EPA’s Office of Atmospheric Programs. “Ford’s long term leadership and commitment to energy efficiency demonstrates the types of accomplishments that we can all achieve in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and protecting our global environment. We look forward to their continued partnership and leadership.”
