DETROIT — General Motors earned the 2017 EPA ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence award for continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. GM’s commitment to reducing energy intensity saved $73 million in energy costs last year and avoided 388,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the electricity use of 57,000 U.S. homes.
This is GM’s sixth consecutive Partner of the Year award. The company is one of 17 ENERGY STAR industrial partners who earned the distinction this year.
“The ENERGY STAR program’s benchmarking and modeling helps reduce our carbon footprint, while also saving GM millions of dollars,” said Alicia Boler Davis, executive vice president of Global Manufacturing. “We continue to introduce the program to our suppliers so they, too, can further increase operational efficiency and realize financial and environmental benefits from energy conservation.”
GM uses ENERGY STAR’s energy “treasure hunt” guide to help its facilities and major suppliers uncover opportunities for energy improvements, from optimizing start-up and shut-down procedures to identifying locations to install motion-activated lighting.
In the U.S., GM reduced energy use at its manufacturing facilities by 10 percent on a per-vehicle basis in 2016 compared to the previous year. Additional achievements include:
- Established a new renewable energy commitment to meet the electricity needs of GM’s global operations with 100 percent renewable energy by 2050. Optimizing energy efficiency is the first step toward reaching this goal.
- Completed $20 million worth of energy-savings projects that are expected to produce a two-year return on investment.
- Implemented a new energy management system in GM’s non-manufacturing facilities, which saves $2 million annually.
Fifteen GM buildings earned ENERGY STAR certification in 2016, including the Enterprise Data Center in Warren, Michigan. The data center’s aisles of technology equipment use in-row cooling to contain heat generated by the equipment in a smaller area. GM is able to leverage Michigan’s cooler climate for nearly three-quarters of the year by pumping water outside to chill it naturally before using it to cool the data servers, bypassing the HVAC system. The Warren Enterprise Data Center is one of only 104 ENERGY STAR certified data centers across the U.S., and GM is the first automaker to earn such certification.
GM is committed to reducing its energy and carbon intensity by 20 percent by 2020. Since 2010, GM has reduced both by 15 percent. The company ranked on CDP’s global Climate A List last year in recognition of actions and strategies to address climate change. For more information on GM’s environmental commitments, visit its sustainability report or environmental blog.
About General Motors
General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM, TSX: GMM) and its partners produce vehicles in 30 countries, and the company has leadership positions in the world's largest and fastest-growing automotive markets. GM, its subsidiaries and joint venture entities sell vehicles under the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Baojun, Buick, GMC, Holden, Jiefang, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling brands. More information on the company and its subsidiaries, including OnStar, a global leader in vehicle safety, security and information services, can be found at http://www.gm.com
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Apr 10, 2017 5pm EDT / 2pm PDT / 10pm BST / 11pm CEST