Dive Brief:
- The General Motors (GM) assembly plant in Lake Orion, MI was recently listed as the eighth-largest user of green power generated on-site out of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Green Power Partnership Partners.
- Orion Assembly generates up to 8 MW of electricity from landfill gas, comprising 54% of the plant's energy needs. Gas comes from Waste Management's Eagle Valley and Republic Services' Oakland Heights landfills.
- The facility—which builds the Chevrolet Bolt EV—saves $1 million per year by using renewable energy. This also includes a 350 kW solar array on-site.
Dive Insight:
Orion Assembly has been using landfill gas since 1999 and GM's Fort Wayne Assembly has been using it since 2002, but mainly for heating and cooling purposes through steam. In 2013, the company announced a $24 million investment in new landfill gas-to-energy equipment to generate electricity on-site at both locations. At the time, GM forecasted that this would avoid the production of 89,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year.
In an interview with Waste360, GM's global manager of renewable energy said the company chose to become an EPA Green Power Partner to show corporate leadership in the clean energy field and promote the benefits of reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The Fort Wayne facility actually topped Orion on the EPA's on-site generation list due to the overall amount of power produced, though less of it came from landfill gas. Wal-Mart, Apple, Coca-Cola, and BMW were ahead of GM as the top producers.
Many of these companies have been in the news lately for their overall sustainability progress. GM announced that its Detroit headquarters is now "landfill-free," Apple made a surprise entry into the landfill gas-to-energy business, and Wal-Mart has begun a pilot program to sell "ugly produce" in select Florida stores.
