14 DAY TRIAL // It looks like the Chevrolet division of General Motors is not all about making not so eco-friendly Camaros, but they also have an ambitious carbon-reduction goal of preventing up to 8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from entering the air during the next five years.
The company has identified 16 projects across America that range from biomass to wind turbines, which are expected to eventually comprise 4.6 million metric tons. Actual carbon reductions from these projects will take place over the next five years.
“Now that we’re committed to 16 diversified projects, we are fortified in our support of community-based, carbon-reduction initiatives,” said Chris Perry, vice president of Chevrolet Global Marketing and Strategy. “It’s fulfilling to back organizations working toward building a cleaner, more-secure energy future.”
Examples include natural gas replaced with renewable biomass – mostly waste wood – to heat greenhouses that grow gardening plants, as well as a 108-turbine wind farm, including seven community-owned wind turbines, that provides rural farmers and residents with locally generated power and financial returns.
Capturing the heat that would otherwise be vented from natural gas pumping station motors and recovering it to generate electricity, which is fed back into the grid, is also on the list.
Beyond Chevrolet’s carbon-reduction goal, it is partnering with the National Forest Foundation and the San Juan National Forest in Colorado to replant trees in a portion of the forest severely damaged by a fire.
Chevrolet also will launch an application enabling consumers to plant virtual trees on their Facebook walls. For each one, Chevrolet, in partnership with the National Forest Foundation, will plant a real tree in a U.S. forest next year – up to 175,000 trees.
“Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is one of mankind’s greatest responsibilities,” said Dr. Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, for GM. “Creative carbon stories – like turning harmful emissions into energy – are everywhere.”