14 DAY TRIAL // By the looks of it, American multinational automaker the Ford Motor Company has some really big and totally eco-friendly plans for the future. In a nutshell, it wishes to fit several of its dealerships with solar panels and wind turbines.
The goal is to have these dealerships break free from their reliance on the national grid and switch to being powered by green energy sources instead. In doing so, the dealerships will manage to improve on their ecological footprint.
The details of this green-oriented project
Information shared with the public says that the four dealerships Ford wants to fit with solar panels and wind turbines are located in New York, Michigan, and California in the US.
To complete this project, the automaker will work closely with the Wind Energy Corporation, whose job will be to pick and choose the solar panels and the turbines worthy of powering the dealerships and install them.
Ford estimates that, all in all, the costs associated with implementing this project will amount to roughly $750,000 (€603,200). This may seem like a whole lot of money, but there is little doubt that the green installations will pay for themselves in time.
According to Business Green, each of the four dealerships will be fitted with a 7kW solar array. Together with the wind turbines, these arrays will have about 20,000kWh of clean electricity delivered to each of the dealerships on a yearly basis.
It is understood that the energy provided by the arrays and the turbines will power not just the buildings per se, but also their electric vehicle charging stations and their lighting systems.
It is estimated that, once installed and up and running, the Wind Energy Corporations installations, dubbed Windy Systems, will help the American automaker's distribution centers cut their annual carbon footprint by as much as 14 tons.
Should things go according to plan, the Wind Energy Corporation will get busy fitting Ford's dealerships with solar arrays and wind turbines in the first few months of 2015. The installations are expected to become operational by spring.
Why install the solar arrays and the turbines?
Apparently, Ford is dead set on having its dealerships across the US become green energy hubs. This is because, as pointed out by studies and reports published in recent years, climate change and global warming are pretty much getting out of control.
To put these phenomena on a tight leash, efforts must be made to phase out dirty fuels and embrace renewables instead. Looking to set an example, Ford is now very much interested in investing in green technologies. Hence its decision to implement this project.
“We are pleased to be working with Wind Energy Corporation to offer a pioneering, clean energy option to Ford dealers,” John Felice, vice president for US marketing, sales and service, said in a statement. “This is yet another innovative tool to help Ford and its dealers address a global sustainability challenge,” he added.
