Automobiles are complex systems. Choices about materials have implications throughout the value chain and can influence safety, fuel economy and performance. Materials can be more or less sustainable based on a number of factors, including the origin of the material – virgin, renewable or reclaimed – and the resources used and emissions produced throughout its life-cycle. As described in the previous section on the Product Sustainability Index, we use tools such as design for environment, life-cycle assessment and life-cycle costing to help make beneficial choices.

We are also working to improve our overall materials efficiency by increasing the amount of recycled materials we use in our vehicles. Vehicles in North America typically are composed of 20 to 25 percent post-consumer recycled material by weight, primarily due to the extensive use of metals with recycled content. Ford has concentrated its efforts on developing new uses for recycled materials in the nonmetallic portions of the vehicle, which are typically composed of virgin materials. While the amount of recycled content in each vehicle varies, we are continuously increasing the amount of recycled material used in each vehicle line. For example, the 2008 Escape is the first U.S. vehicle to use seating surfaces made from 100 percent post-industrial recycled fabric. Ford designers worked with Interface Fabrics to develop the 100 percent recycled fabric line to meet Ford's stringent quality, performance and appearance requirements. Interface Fabrics estimates that Ford's use of post-industrial recycled materials rather than virgin fibers could conserve 600,000 gallons of water, 1.8 million pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents and more than 7 million kilowatt hours of electricity, based on an annual volume of 80,000 vehicles using the Interface fabrics. By 2009, all Ford seat fabrics will have least 25 percent post-industrial recycled content. In addition, all of our non-woven headliner fabrics now contain 50 to 75 percent recycled yarns, depending on their color.

All of Ford's European vehicles use recycled polymers and renewable parts, where these are seen as contributing to a sustainable material supply and providing a more sustainable solution.

We are also actively researching and developing renewable material applications that will reduce our overall use of petroleum products, while providing superior performance. For example, a group of research scientists at Ford's Research and Innovation Center are focused solely on developing automotive foams, plastics and composites derived from renewable resources.

Since 2002, our researchers have led the development of soy-based polyurethane foams for automotive applications. The manufacture of soy foam reduces carbon dioxide emissions, decreases dependency on oil and increases the utilization of renewable, agricultural commodities. Last year, Ford implemented this innovative technology on the seat cushions and seat backs of the Ford Mustang, Expedition and F-150 and the Lincoln Navigator, and we will be migrating the technology to the Ford Escape program later this year. Life-cycle analyses show a net decrease of 5.5 pounds of CO2 per pound of soy oil used, resulting in a net decrease of greater than 2.5 million pounds of CO2 annually for the vehicles on which we have already implemented soy foam. The soy foam used on the Mustang alone is expected to deliver a CO2 reduction of 605,000 pounds annually.

Ford has been recognized for this innovative technology through awards from the United Soybean Board (2006) and the Society of Plastics Engineers' Environmental Division (2008). Ford has also licensed its soy foam technology to John Deere and Sears Manufacturing. These companies are investigating soy foam for seating applications in their agricultural equipment products. Soy foam not only uses a sustainable, agricultural crop but offers the potential for cost savings and stability from petroleum-product price swings.

Ford researchers are also developing other renewable materials, such as corn-based, compostable and natural-fiber-filled plastics for automotive applications. These materials will help to reduce the resource burden and waste generated by our vehicles and will help to reduce the weight of vehicles and improve their fuel economy. For example, we are developing a sustainable replacement for the fiberglass now used between the headliner of a vehicle and the roof sheet metal. The replacement material is bio-based, reduces weight, improves acoustics and neutralizes odor. We are also developing natural-fiber composites as a potential substitute for the glass fibers traditionally used in plastic automotive components to make them stronger. Finally, we are investigating ways to use plastics made from sustainable resources such as corn; and scientists are looking at how to improve the feasibility of these materials so that plastic components on future Ford vehicles can be composted instead of landfilled. Ford researchers have made considerable inroads with polylactic acid (PLA) – a biodegradable plastic derived completely from the sugars in corn, sugarbeets, sweet potatoes and other vegetables. When plastic parts made from PLA reach the end of their useful life, they can biodegrade in 90 to 120 days. By contrast, traditional petroleum-based plastics are projected to remain in landfills for up to 1,000 years.

We are also using engineered wood – which is both a recycled and renewable resource – on several interior applications. This wood has been recycled and reassembled grain by grain, and then stained to give it a warm, rich appearance, without using additional trees. Engineered ebony wood was implemented on the 2008/2009 Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition, as well as the Lincoln MKX. This technology will also be used on the 2009 Lincoln MKS. We are also using leathers that are processed without chromium in the 2009 Lincoln MKS and 2010 Lincoln MKZ.

In 2007 Ford completed a cooperative project, funded by the European Commission, known as SEES, for Sustainable Electrical and Electronic System for the Automotive Sector. In this project, we assessed the sustainability of vehicle electronic systems over their life-cycles, and we discovered that some potential environmental improvements for a specific life-cycle phase are not actually improvements when viewed from a total life-cycle perspective. For example, we assessed the environmental effects of substituting the currently used copper wire harnesses with aluminum wire harnesses. Although many technical challenges would need to be overcome, this substitution could provide a significant weight reduction, which would improve fuel economy. Since the aluminum required for a wire harness has a very high energy demand in production, however, this substitution did not bring any environmental advantages from a total life-cycle perspective. The advantage in the use phase due to reduced weight was completely offset by the increased environmental impact in the production phase.

Several concepts identified in the SEES project are being further developed. For example, we are assessing the possibility of substituting glass-fiber-reinforced injection molding materials with natural-fiber-reinforced injection molding materials for electronic housing components; alternative (copper-based) wire harness technologies that enable weight reduction; and new electronic functions that enable direct reductions in fuel consumption.

We are also actively pursuing the development of cutting-edge materials to reduce the weight of our vehicles and improve their fuel economy without compromising safety or performance. For example, we are using nanotechnology to develop advanced lightweight materials that will allow us to decrease vehicle weight without sacrificing strength, safety or performance. Much of this work focuses on developing the ability to model material properties and performance at the nanoscale, which will allow us to develop better materials more quickly and with lower research and development costs. For example, Ford researchers recently implemented virtual aluminum casting technology, which uses nanoscale modeling of one commonly used aluminum alloy to improve the performance and reduce the costs of lightweight aluminum engine blocks. In February 2007, Ford began a partnership with Boeing and Northwestern University to expand nanoscale modeling to other alloy types. This will allow Ford to develop and implement better lightweight materials and significantly reduce the research, testing and prototyping costs and time required to bring these new materials to production vehicles. This technology will also advance Ford's goal of utilizing more recycled and recyclable materials by improving our ability to incorporate recycled aluminum without compromising the materials' performance characteristics.

In addition to this modeling work, Ford is experimenting with nano-filler materials in metal and plastic composites to reduce their weight while increasing their strength. For example, we are developing the ability to use nano-clays that can replace glass fibers as structural agents in reinforced plastics. Ford researchers are also investigating new types of steel that are ten times stronger than current steels, strengthening foams that are strong enough to stabilize bodywork in an accident but are light enough to float on water, and surface coatings that reduce engine friction and remain intact even under the most adverse conditions. For more information on our weight-reduction activities, please see Sustainable Technologies and Alternative Fuels Plan.