General Motors took the hard stance to be powered completely and solely by renewable energy by the time 2050 rolls around. That’s quite a ways off, but the impacts are starting to become apparent even today.
Car and Driver broke down what’s behind the promises and marketing glitz of renewable energy promises, and there is a resounding positive message: we’re beginning to see real possibilities when big corporations sign on.
Not only does the price for the energy and hardware itself come down (economies of scale 101), but there’s plenty of money to be saved, too. GM has already saved $73 million this year by using greener and renewable energy sources, but as more sources come to life for renewable energy, that figure will surely rise.
However, there is a reality an automaker like GM must face. There will have to be a very major investment at some point to truly reach the goals outlined. Currently, GM still produces 0.78 metric tons of carbon dioxide per vehicle produced. To ax that all together, the automaker must invest in, or make an agreement, to use a very large solar farm to cover its manufacturing operations.
Of course, this is all relative today. We know renewable energy will be cheaper in the future, meaning a greener process seems clearer than ever. There are simply going to be some major monetary hurdles in the short run.
Comments
what about the jobs that will be lost in the electrical power producing industry, is GM going to hire them ??? as more and more people loose their jobs because of all these govt environmental edicts and can’t find new ones the govt will need more and more of your tax $$$ to support these people. think about that.
“what about the jobs that will be lost in the electrical power producing industry, is GM going to hire them ???”
Why would GM have to hire out of work electrical grid workers if GM’s making its own electricity in-house?
I suppose GM will hire them to run inside huge hamster wheels hooked up to generators inside the plants. It’ll be renewable energy that costs many thousands less than buying it from an electrical utility, PLUS it helps fight off obesity. Win win!
You’re still a loser, by the way.
You are forgetting that GM will sell more electric vehicles soon, so the electricity not consumed in their manufacture will be used to charge and power the same vehicles but in customer hands. Then you will be asking : “what about the jobs that will be lost in the oil producing industry?”, and those deserve to be reduced and moved to renewable energy production.
Everything changes and in this case, if we don’t change and change soon, there won’t be an inhabitable planet and then the loss of jobs won’t matter at all. Besides that, one would think that our energy giants would be smart enough to make the transition from fossil fuels to renewable green energy sources and keep its employees on the payroll. A study at MIT that was conducted both in the mid 80s and again in the 90s seems to indicate that if we don’t make radical changes in what we are doing to the environment, life will cease to exist after 2034. It seems to me that GM needs to step up their plans for becoming completely energy independent and make this happen much sooner or there won’t be a reason to continue building the best automobiles in the world.