General Motors now has 54 facilities meeting the EPA’s Energy Star Challenge for Industry, and the company says it is saving $90 million in energy costs as a result.
The Energy Star Challenge for Industry requires facilities to reduce energy intensity by 10 percent within five years. GM’s 54 facilities cut energy intensity by an average of 26 percent within two to three years.
New to the list are 22 GM International Operations sites, as well as two facilities in North America. These join the 30 GM plants that met the Challenge last year.
To achieve the Challenge, GM employed tactics such as benchmarking energy use, upgrading to energy-efficient lighting, improving control of ventilation systems and automating the shut-down process of equipment that previously was shut down manually as well as process energy reductions.
In 2012, the EPA named GM one of its Energy Star Partners of the Year for energy management, and the Lansing Customer Care and Aftersales parts distribution center earned Energy Star building certification for performing in the top 25th percentile of similar facilities nationwide. Additionally, the GM Lansing Delta Township plant, which earned Energy Star plant certification for superior energy efficiency last year, has retained its certification for 2012.
In July, Toyota announced eight of its North American manufacturing sites had reduced their energy intensity by 10 percent or more, meeting the standards of the EPA’s Energy Star Challenge for Industry.
