Sooner or later, oil cartels will be hurt by alternative energy initiatives. Governments need to be involved, if, big if, politicians can free themselves from oil money.
General Motors will double its global output of solar power with the planned addition of an 8.15-megawatt of capacity on the rooftop of its Opel Rüsselsheim facility in Germany. The new solar array – one of the largest alternative energy projects in Europe – is equivalent to the area of 32 football fields – that’s soccer for Yankees.
With the help of the sun, the new installation will generate approximately 7.3 million kW hours. This represents a CO2 reduction of approximately 3,150 tons per year, or equal to the amount of carbon isolated annually by 609 acres of pine forests.
“We are committed to increasing renewable energy use to 125 megawatts by 2020,” said Mike Robinson, a GM vice president.
The electricity produced at Rüsselsheim feeds into the power grid of the plant and is used in vehicle production. Excess solar power is fed into the public grid of Stadtwerke Mainz, a leading energy provider in Germany.
The Rüsselsheim solar array is significant as these things go and adds to the world’s largest rooftop solar array on top of GM’s Zaragoza Spain facility, as well as GM’s Kaiserslautern facility. The amount of electricity generated by the trio is about the amount needed to supply 5,800 households with their annual electricity needs.
For more information on GM’s environmental commitment, visit its sustainability report and environmental blog.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
