Dive Brief:
- The U.S. Department of Energy has recognized General Motors for its decarbonization efforts, awarding it a 2024 Better Project Award for its steam elimination and heat recovery system aimed at reducing natural gas use.
- General Motors’ assembly plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, cut carbon emissions by 30%, against a 2019 baseline year. The process involved eliminating steam usage for comfort heating and freeze protection by swapping a natural gas-fired steam system for a combined heat and power system, which uses heat exchangers to recover waste from pre-existing landfill gas-powered generators on-site, the department announced Wednesday.
- This recovered heat is sufficient to provide more than 80% of the General Motors site’s building heating needs while reducing natural gas usage on-site, DOE said in a news release. The company is now evaluating other sites where this approach can be replicated as part of a broader goal of cutting energy use by 25% across 33 facilities, per the release.
Dive Insight:
General Motors is one of over 80 industrial sector partners participating in DOE’s Better Climate Challenge — a component of the federal agency’s Better Buildings Initiative launched in 2011 to increase energy efficiency in buildings and facilities. It has participation from over 900 organizations, DOE said.
Participants in the Better Climate Challenge initiative have committed to reduce scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and are averaging a 21% cut in these emissions from their base year, according to DOE’s 2023 Better Buildings Initiative Progress report.
General Motors is one of five industrial sector partners that has met the 50% GHG emissions reduction goal, according to the DOE. Other Better Climate Challenge industrial sector partners that have achieved that goal include nutrition, health and bioscience company DSM North America; steel producer and iron ore pellets manufacturer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.; automotive company Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems; and HNI Corporation, which manufactures workplace furnishings and building products, according to the department’s Better Climate Challenge webpage.
General Motors is now “sharing its successful strategies with others,” Jeff Marootian, principal deputy assistant secretary in the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, said in a statement Wednesday.
In addition to energy savings, the company’s Fort Wayne heat recovery system prevents emergency sprinkler systems from freezing during colder months, it said. The project is part of General Motors’ aim to slash GHG emissions from its operations 72% by 2035, the company said in a separate news release. The reduced use of natural gas and electricity saves General Motors $3.5 million annually, General Motors said.
General Motors is also working to deploy a similar heat recovery system at St. Catharine’s Propulsion Plant in Ontario, Canada, which is slated to go online next year, the company said.
The Better Project award recognizes accomplishments in implementing decarbonization, energy and water efficiency or waste reduction at individual facilities, according to the program web page. Other 2024 Better Project Award winners include Colorado State University, Pace University, RXR Realty and the New York City Housing Authority, according to the award program’s webpage.
