Volvo Cars recently announced that it will be electrifying its vehicle lineup beginning in 2019. This move is all part of the Swedish carmaker’s goal of reducing its carbon footprint and helping clean up our already polluted environment.
Apparently, the move was only one piece of the puzzle. Another integral part comes in the form of making its production plant environment friendly. The carmaker’s engine production plant in Skovde, Sweden has begun employing renewable energy to power its heating system.
Volvo will utilize energy derived from waste incineration, as well as biomass and recycled biofuels. This essentially means that garbage is what is used to fuel the plant’s heating requirements. Not only will this help solve the garbage and waste disposal problem, but it will likewise lessen the load on the power grid.
While the Skovde engine plant is the first Volvo plant to utilize renewable energy for heating purposes, it isn’t the first time that the plant employs renewable energy to power various operations. The factory, along with the company’s other European plants, has been using renewable energy to provide electricity since 2008.
In 2016, the Ghent, Belguim factory introduced a heating system that reduces carbon emissions by as much as 15,000 tons. This is part of the company’s strategy to help reduce its impact on the environment. With all these, Volvo hopes to become one of the cleanest carmakers on the planet, both with its products and how these are put together.
