Renewable Energy Use

Environment
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- Environmental Management
- Design for Life-Cycle Sustainability
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  - Operational Energy Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
    - Renewable Energy Use
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  - Waste Management
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  - Remediation
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- Case Studies

Ford is highly involved in the installation, demonstration and development of alternative sources of energy. Examples of installed technologies include a photovoltaic array and solar thermal collector at the Ford Rouge Visitors Center. The adjacent Dearborn Truck Plant has a living roof system, which uses a thick carpet of plants to reduce the need for heating and cooling, while also absorbing rainwater. In addition, a geothermal system installed at the Lima Engine Plant provides process cooling for plant operations, as well as air tempering for employee comfort. This system uses naturally cooled 40°F water from two abandoned limestone quarries located on the plant site. The installation cost was comparable to that of the traditional chiller and cooling tower design it displaced. This award-winning project eliminates the emission of 4,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year. We are also investigating the expansion of our existing reclaimed landfill gas installation at the Wayne Assembly Plant.

In the UK, construction was completed in 2004 on London's first wind power park, at Ford's Dagenham complex. The wind turbines provide 100 percent of the electricity required for our new Dagenham Diesel Centre. This is equivalent to the electricity needs of more than 2,000 homes and saves 6,500 metric tons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere each year. In 2007, Dagenham began the process of adding a third wind turbine in order to remain 100 percent wind powered, following the installation of a new 1.4/1.6-liter Duratorq TDCi engine line. The third wind turbine – which is subject to planning approval, would have the capacity to produce 1.8 megawatts of green electricity for Ford's Dagenham Diesel Centre – the equivalent of powering 1,000 homes. The Dagenham facility has also reduced its gas and electricity bills by 12 percent, by reducing the use of energy-intense operations such as the generation of compressed air for handheld tools on the production line. High-energy-use equipment was scientifically optimized on Dagenham's new engine assembly line; it requires 70 percent less energy per engine than other manufacturing lines. In 2007, Dagenham was nominated for a national "Award for Excellence" by a UK organization called Business in the Community, for the facility's CO2 reduction, energy efficiency and other environmental actions.

In Germany, Ford is now sourcing renewable electricity to cover the full electric power demand of its manufacturing and engineering facilities in Cologne, including the electricity needed to assemble its Fiesta and Fusion models. Through this initiative, the Company will reduce its CO2 emissions by 190,000 metric tons per year. The green electric power is recognized as coming from a fully renewable, environmentally friendly source; it is generated by three hydropower plants in Norway and Sweden, owned by Vannkraft AS (Norway) and Fortum AB (Sweden), and provided to Ford through the Cologne-based energy infrastructure service provider RheinEnergie AG.

In Wales, Ford's Bridgend engine plant was the first site retrofitted with one of the largest integrated, grid-connected solar/photovoltaic installations at a car manufacturing plant in Europe.

In 2008, renewable energy contributed less than 1 percent of our total energy use. We hope to increase this percentage in the future.