Beyond Now

Beginning with the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, customers will be able to see some of the environmental features of their vehicle on an Ecologic label that will be placed on the rear driver-side window.

Highlighting such items as the landfill-free status of a vehicle’s engine or transmission facility (as with the Sonic), the label will let customers see some of the environmental features of the vehicle relating to manufacturing, driving and recycling.

“Young people and consumers today who care about the environment want to know what they are buying”, says Environmental Consultant Bob Sheppard. “The Ecologic label is an important step, demonstrating that Chevrolet is serious about reducing emissions operationally and in its vehicles with a long term goal of helping the pubic understand the steps taken to achieve this goal.”
 
The label communicates vehicle-specific features in the following areas:

•    Before the road: Environmental aspects related to vehicle manufacturing and assembly.
•    On the road: Fuel-saving features such as advanced engine technologies, aerodynamics, lighter weight components or low-rolling resistance tires.
•    After the road: How 85% by weight of the vehicle can be recycled at the end of its lifespan.

Each claim on the label is audited by Two Tomorrows, an independent third-party sustainability agency that provides auditing and assurance services to companies for environmental initiatives.

Chevrolet is the first U.S. automotive brand to include a label like this on their vehicles.

“Chevrolet’s goal to invest millions in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other lower- carbon projects to reduce U.S. emissions by up to 8 million metric tons demonstrates innovative corporate leadership,” said Eileen Claussen, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). “With this new labeling program, Chevrolet not only gives easy access to information customers want, it again shows its commitment to the environment.”

It seems like we have been forever hearing about American students’ lack of science proficiency.

From an early age, studies show that our kids are not learning at a rate that will allow our country to stay ahead of the curve.

Fortunately, General Motors environmental engineers in Bay City, Mich. recognize that math and science are core subjects that deserve extra time and attention. And this thinking just so happens to jive with local schools’ desire to integrate hands-on and captivating lesson plans.

You’ll find Jeff Jatczak and Lynn Porath, two of GM’s environmental engineers in Bay City, at the confluence of these ideas.

They are the brains behind the GM GREEN program in Bay City.

The GM GREEN program aims to familiarize students with their local habitats, all the while helping them exercise some scientific applications and gain practical exposure and experience with professionals.

While it has locally been in existence since 1999, it has since grown to be a more robust program.

Now, students participate in a three-step program, over the course of one or multiple GM environmental engineer classroom or field visits. 

First, engineers visit the students at their schools to teach them the intricacies of a watershed; oftentimes, they use models to help enhance the lesson.  Then, students and engineers take a sampling from a local body of water to determine its water quality.  With GM engineer help and supervision, the students analyze and interpret their results.

“Jeff Jatczak and Lynn Porath visited all four of our science classes on two separate occasions this past fall,” said Diane Huckins, Western Middle School science teacher.  “These visits enriched and supported the sixth grade science curriculum and were greatly enjoyed by all of our 132 students.”

This program provides students an opportunity to learn daily practices and behaviors they can exercise to have a positive influence on the environment. 

“Classrooms of children over the past four years have become true stewards of our watershed,” said Joy McFadyen, teacher at Hampton Elementary School. “The involvement of GM in the schools is vital in helping our students understand and appreciate the natural world.”

In 2011 alone, GM GREEN held educational programs at six different schools in the area. Key projects over the years include:

•    Leading watershed education and testing sessions at Bay City State Park and Recreation Area.
•    Installing nesting boxes and interpretive signs at the Edward M. Golson Jr. Boat Launch and Nature Park in Bay City
•    Developing an interactive website, www.golsonscience.com, for the above project.
•    Constructing two rain gardens at a local school, Hampton Elementary, an idea which participating fifth grade students developed.
•    Constructing and distributing aquarium style aquifer models for the Bay City Public Schools.
  
GM GREEN involvement extends beyond the classroom, too.  In addition to their projects, it has also contributed financially, and members have volunteered their time for services including project management.

“We want these students – our future environmental stewards – to learn about practical science-related applications and how to treat their environment,” said Jeff Jatczak, GM senior project environmental engineer. “We want to teach them how important it is to have consideration for our environment, and make it a part of their everyday activities.”

As we close out the week, we are sharing the final video we produced in alignment with GM's 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report.

In this video, Rob Threlkeld, GM's Manager of Renewable Energy, Rob talks about all of the opportunities for renewable energy and how GM is taking advantage across the globe.

You can view Dr. Alan Taub's video here, and John Bradburn's video here.

In coordination with the release of our 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report, we shared a video on Monday from Dr. Alan Taub where he explained the future of transportation from GM's perspective.

Today we are sharing another video, this time from John Bradburn, GM's manager of waste reduction efforts. In it, he talks about how GM's landfill-free projects relate to real world situations, focusing on specific projects the company has installed to reduce waste.

Many people would agree that Chevrolet’s carbon-reduction initiative is a bold move. The company has committed to investing up to $40 million in carbon-reduction projects across the United States with a goal to reduce up to 8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.  Chevrolet set its goal based on the estimated emissions in 2011 from driving the 1.9 million vehicles it is expected to sell in the United States between Nov. 18, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2011.
 
To date, the company has announced 16 projects—from weatherizing low-income homes to jumpstarting the reforestation of a national forest. The agreements account for half of its carbon-reduction goal.
 
Given this experience, Chevrolet has been asked to speak at a webinar on purchasing carbon offsets. Climate Action Reserve, in collaboration with the Climate Registry, is hosting it this Thursday at 1 p.m. EST to spread awareness on how companies are combatting their climate impact by participating in the voluntary carbon market.
 
During the session, Chevy Brand Marketing Manager Bill Devine will discuss how its program is an extension of GM’s energy efficiency progress and relay best practices that have shaped the initiative.
 
Bill will join Kim Matsoukas, sustainability manager, Bentley Prince Street; Matt Ellis, associate director of sustainability, CBRE; and Angus Duncan, president, Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

Interested in participating? Register any time before Jan. 19.

Last week General Motors released its 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report - the first as General Motors Company.

As part of the report, three of our leading experts on topics like waste reduction and the future of transportation sat down to talk about their area of expertise.

Below is a video from Dr. Alan Taub, our Vice President, Global Research & Development. In it, he talks about where General Motors is going when it comes to personal transportation options in an increasingly choice-driven world.

As we’ve talked about more than once on this blog, it’s no longer considered unusual to incorporate sustainable practices into your business plan.  At GM, we recognize it as a business necessity, and our business model is one that purposefully integrates sustainability into our operations and products around the world.

Sustainability feeds our bottom line, and we have the numbers to back it up.  It aligns our business growth with the needs of society – namely energy alternatives and advanced technologies that help reduce dependency on petroleum and pave the way for transportation alternatives that lie ahead.

With the release yesterday of our 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report – our first as a new company – we share our accomplishments, our challenges, and establish a new baseline for our environmental performance from which future performance will be measured against in a transparent manner.

Our focus this past year has been on four areas of sustainability where we feel we can make the biggest impact. They are: greener vehicles, energy efficiency, resource preservation and waste reduction.

In the pages of the corporate report, you will find a more in-depth exploration of how we are trending when it comes to sustainability, and we’ve also committed to a new set of environmental stewardship goals during the next decade.

Here are just a few:

•    Reduce energy intensity from facilities by 20 percent.

•    Promote use of 125MW of renewable energy by 2020.

•    Reduce carbon intensity from facilities by 20 percent.

•    Reduce total waste from facilities by 10 percent.

•    Protect water quality and reduce water intensity by 15 percent.

•    Promote existing landfill-free facilities while working to achieve 100 landfill-free manufacturing sites and 25 non-manufacturing sites.

To read about more of our new commitments, or the report in its entirety, please visit www.gmsustainability.com.

In 2011, General Motors added eight manufacturing sites and nine non-manufacturing facilities to its global landfill-free list, bringing its total count to 81 plants and 16 non-manufacturing facilities that reuse, recycle or convert to energy all waste created in its daily operations.

“Given the scale of our global landfill-free program, we have many best practices to share,” said John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts. “We have a proven process and a track record for creative recycling and reuse.”

GM facilities employed waste-reduction tactics such as cutting and reworking pallets to form wood beams for the homebuilding industry, breaking down wastewater using cafeteria scraps as a food source for environmentally friendly bacteria versus chemicals, and reusing absorbent pads for cleaning oil and water from the plant floor up to three times, to name a few.

GM’s Customer Care & Aftersales headquarters in Grand Blanc, Mich., which was validated landfill free in December, features many efficient waste-reduction processes. The grounds—a designated “Wildlife at Work” wildlife habitat certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council—also feature scrap Chevrolet Volt battery covers that GM engineers converted into wood duck nesting boxes.

“This year, we’ve converted plants like Bay City Powertrain and Pontiac Metal Center that have been around for 75 years or more,” said Bradburn. “All it takes is a little perseverance and dedication to find ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency within the current infrastructure.” 

For example, manufacturing plants can generate loose filter media—a plastic-like byproduct of machining operations that challenges the industry. At Bay City Powertrain, a supplier now shakes it and removes the metal for recycling. The rest is then converted to energy.  Although newer plants often feature equipment that does this processing, Bay City achieved 100 percent efficiency using traditional tactics.

According to Bradburn, there are several landfill-free lessons to be gleaned from 2011.

Tie revenue to byproducts. Tying revenue to various waste streams tends to generate more interest and helps GM approach waste reduction from a sustainable financial perspective. For example, a holistic byproducts management system that combines environmental and financial benefits of plant waste enabled Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan to generate $7.5M in recycling revenue in 2011 alone.

Plan for the future to sustain landfill-free status. Among other efficiency improvements, GM took into account potential future manufacturing scenarios to achieve its landfill-free designations. An example is proactively planning for waste streams like sludge even if a facility may not generate it today.

Thrive on data and share best practices. This year’s new landfill-free sites are in Argentina, India, Italy, France, Germany and the United States. Reporting allows GM to share lessons learned globally, and it does this by:
• Hosting quarterly and as-needed web-based global conference calls specific to waste reduction efforts where experts from each region participate and spread out lessons learned to their teams.
• Hosting as-needed commodity-specific calls, as well as regular resource management calls with suppliers.
• Sharing best practice documents on specific processes and technologies.

Continuously improve.  On average, 97 percent of the waste generated from everyday operations at GM’s landfill-free manufacturing plants is recycled or reused, and the remaining 3 percent is converted to energy. Even at these sites, engineers strive to manage waste in accordance with the globally accepted hierarchy of elimination, reuse, recycling and energy recovery. These activities will continually increase those landfill-free facilities’ efficiencies and environmental performance. Additionally, GM has steadily built on its 2010 achievement of a global operations commitment  to make half of its plants landfill-free, and will continue converting plants throughout the New Year and beyond.

Here’s the full list of manufacturing facilities designated landfill-free in 2011:
• Talegaon Powertrain and Stamping plants in India
• Advanced Manufacturing Technologies New Hudson Stamping plant in Michigan
• Rosario Assembly and Stamping plants in Argentina
• Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana
• Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan
• Bay City Powertrain plant in Michigan

Non-manufacturing facilities designated landfill-free in 2011:
• Customer Care and Aftersales Pontiac in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Headquarters in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Davison in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Willow Run in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Ypsilanti in Michigan
• Dudenhofen Proving Ground in Germany
• Torino Engineering Research and Development Center in Italy
• Gonesse Warehouse in France
• Russelsheim International Technical Development Center in Germany

This past month, Britta Gross, GM’s director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization, participated on a panel at the Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum in New York City to discuss how we can establish global energy stability.

Britta was joined by representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and Manhattan Institute, among others, to talk and answer questions about the green economy.

Here are some of the ideas Britta touched on:

•    We know that customers typically save money driving on electricity versus gasoline. So if a customer decides they want to purchase an alternative fuel vehicle, they just need to get past the higher up-front cost of the vehicle today.  Our highest priority now is getting the cost of this new technology down. And if there is a winning business case for the consumer to buy an electric vehicle (saves money overall!), then there is a winning case for the automakers to build them.

•    Our move toward the green economy is not happening perhaps as quickly as some expected, but it is surely happening. There are 9 million E85 FlexFuel vehicles on the road in North America. In the U.S., we’ve reduced our use of gasoline in light duty vehicle transportation annually by over 5 percent. Can you imagine any other single alternative fuel introduction that could have displaced five percent of gasoline in a couple of years?

•    Imagine living in Manhattan if there were no vehicle emissions and reduced noise levels. As this becomes the norm in certain areas, more consumers will want to experience it. A green environment will lead to increased demand to live in areas that are clean and safe.

In addition to her time in New York City, Britta was also featured in the December issue of Parking Professional Magazine to discuss the future of cars and where parking fits in (article limited to subscribers), as well as an interview in The Atlantic about her day-to-day role at General Motors.

Clearly, this is something that is important to Britta, and it drives her (no pun intended) to get the word out that GM is working toward a more sustainable transportation future.

Through our GM GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network) program, we match 8,500 students each year with GM volunteers to analyze water monitoring data, identify issues of concern, and develop a community project to address it.

This partnership between community-based organizations in GM communities and the non-profit organization Earth Force offers hands-on learning experiences that help to pique students’ interest in their environment.

The program works – just ask Lisa Parks.

Lisa is a senior environmental engineer for General Motors. When she was in high school, she participated in the GM GREEN program, which she says spurred her interest in science. Now an environmental engineer at GM, she ensures that facilities across the organization stay in lock-step with EPA regulations when it comes to air emissions.

In the next installment of the GMBeyondNow podcast series, Parks talks about her experience with GM GREEN, what her day-to-day work is like, and her involvement in mentoring students.