In the market for a new vehicle? If you want the option to fill up on gas, E85 ethanol or any combination of the two, consider the following FlexFuel cars and trucks:

o    Buick Regal, Verano and Lacrosse
o    Cadillac SRX, Escalade, Escalade ESV and Escalade EST
o    Chevrolet Silverado, Express, Tahoe, Suburban, Avalanche, Impala, and Equinox
o    GMC Terrain, Sierra, Savana, Yukon, Yukon XL and Yukon Denali

Filling your FlexFuel vehicle’s tank with e85 ethanol means you’ll emit 21 percent less CO2 than if you ran it on gasoline.  Ethanol not only burns cleaner than gas, but this high-octane fuel also helps reduce America’s petroleum dependence.

New nameplates to this year’s offerings include the Buick Verano 2.4L, Buick Lacrosse 3.6L, Cadillac SRX 3.6L and the fleet-only Chevrolet Caprice police pursuit vehicle.
 
The lineup also expands with the following engine variants now FlexFuel capable: Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac SRX, both with the 3.6L direct injected V6; and Buick Verano and Regal, Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain all with the new E85 capable 2.4L four-cylinder engine.

Commercial fleet customers can choose from the Malibu 2.4L and Chevrolet Caprice, and Tahoe and Impala police pursuit vehicles.
 
Keep FlexFuel capability in mind when you’re shopping at your local dealership.

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When Google heard that Chevrolet Volt electric car owners could soon charge with renewable energy using a new solution from OnStar, they were on board.

Together, OnStar and Google worked to feature this advanced technology on the 17 Chevrolet Volts in Google’s “Gfleet,” based at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.

“This demonstration shows that in the near future customers could have a real signal of demand for renewable energy,” said Nick Pudar, OnStar vice president of planning and business development. “As customers configure their Volts to favor renewable energy for their charging cycle, this real demand signal will influence utilities to tap into renewable sources."

Here’s how it works:
First, OnStar receives a signal from PJM Interconnection, which shows the percentage of available renewable energy on the grid. Then, via the OnStar ATOMS cloud platform, OnStar downloads this data and uses the signal to simultaneously manage the charging of many Volts and to match the renewable energy availability.

Have a smartphone? Via mobile app, customers are alerted when renewable energy is available.

What’s more, PJM data shows that peak time for renewable energy generation from wind is generally between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.  So, customers could use OnStar’s Smart Grid solutions to further reduce their carbon footprint and save money by charging during off-peak times.

If the renewable energy service goes into production, customers interested in using it would simply need to sign up. OnStar and the customers respective utility company would then help regulate their charging using the renewable energy signal.

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Back in March, we announced that GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly was designated a Clean Corporate Citizen by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.

Today, we’re happy to announce two more entries into the Clean Corporate Club: Flint Assembly and the Warren Tech Center.

Both of these designations are based on the facilities’ abilities to maintain and enhance Michigan’s environmental resources.

“We are very pleased to welcome General Motors’ Flint Assembly and Warren Tech Center as the eighth and ninth GM facilities in the Clean Corporate Citizen program,” said DEQ Director Dan Wyant. “This program recognizes companies that voluntarily go above and beyond the state’s environmental standards in their operations.”

At Flint Assembly, home of the Chevrolet Silverado HD and GMC Sierra HD, they recycle 75 percent of the waste streams they produce. In addition, they reduced energy and water costs by $2.9 million, and recycled 1,080 tons of cardboard, paper, plastic and wood waste.

The plant also assists the Flint River Watershed Coalition in “Flint River GREEN” monitoring. Environmental engineers from the assembly plant partner with local middle and high school teachers to teach students about the importance of clean water and the current health of local streams and rivers. Through the use of scientific methods, the area students are able to identify environmental problems, research the cause of those problems and work towards a solution.
 
In Warren, the campus has reduced natural gas consumption by 5.56 percent and water consumption by 9.55 percent within a year. Since 2005, they have reduced total waste by 29 percent and increased the recycling rate by 85 percent.

The Tech Center also retains more than 30 acres of wildlife habitat, as designated by the Wildlife Habitat Council. Among the features of this once-rural area is a tree belt that outlines the perimeter of the campus, and three man-made lakes that attract a variety of resident and migratory birds.

Employees at the Tech Center are also involved in the Clinton River Coldwater Conservation Project, an activity that seeks to improve the water quality, aesthetics, and access to the Clinton River and its tributaries.

***

It’s clear from the information above that both of these facilities work hard to roll sustainability into their everyday operations.
They are just two more examples of ways in which GM embraces environmentally friendly business practices.

Both of these facilities represent the GM ideal of rolling sustainability practices into everyday activity, with numbers to back it up.

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When a jet airplane takes off, its gas turbine engines emit energy to provide the necessary lift to get the plane off the ground. The evidence of that energy is in the squiggly waves you see trailing the plane as it rises into the sky.

But gas turbine engines aren’t just used for air travel. They factor in to Chevrolet’s most recent carbon reduction project.

A natural gas pipeline from Canada crosses Minnesota on its way to its final destination in Chicago. Along the way there are compressor stations spaced every 40 or 50 miles that use 39,000-horsepower gas turbine engines to recompress the gas – a necessary step to keep it flowing. But these mammoth engines also give off exhaust at temperatures in the range of 900 degrees Fahrenheit, real energy that is wasted when it escapes into the air.
 
To recover and use this energy, Basin Electric, a North Dakota-based consumer-owned electric utility, teamed up with a company called Ormat Technologies to put the waste heat to good use: They capture and turn it into electricity. Watch the video above to see how it’s done.
 
The generator in Garvin, Minn. is rated at about 5.5 megawatts, about what is required to power 4,400 residential homes. Although this kind of waste heat recovery is a rarity among the 1,400 compressor stations in the country, it serves as a unique model for other projects looking to create electricity more efficiently.
   
The total carbon-reduction goal for all of Chevrolet’s projects combined is equivalent to the 2011 emissions created from driving the 1.9 million vehicles Chevrolet sold in the United States between Nov. 18, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2011.

Learn more about Chevy’s carbon-reduction initiative and contribute yourself by planting a virtual tree on your Facebook wall. For each tree planted, Chevrolet, in partnership with the National Forest Foundation, will plant a real tree in a U.S. forest next year, up to 175,000 total trees.

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Did you know GM is the global leader in producing vehicles that can run on both gas and E85 ethanol? More than 6 million of the 10 million flex-fuel vehicles on the road in North America are GM cars and trucks.   In comparison to gas, ethanol burns cleaner, emitting 21% less CO2.

As part of our commitment to the future of this alternative fuel, we’ve invested in two advanced biofuel developers—Coskata and Mascoma—who are developing technologies that turn abundant biomass and municipal solid waste into ethanol. Our motive is to speed commercialization so that one day it could be an option at your local gas stations.

Recently, both of these companies have experienced successes that show progress along this path.
 
•Mascoma has signed agreements with Valero Energy Corporation to develop and operate a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Kinross, Mich. It also entered in an agreement with the Department of Energy for a cost-sharing arrangement to assist in funding the plant.  The facility, targeted for completion at the end of 2013, is expected to produce 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually from hardwood pulpwood. Mascoma filed a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock in September.

•Coskata has filed a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The number of shares to be sold in the IPO and the offering price haven’t yet been determined. According to Crain's Chicago Business, Coskata plans to sell these shares to continue R&D and finance the construction of a refinery in Alabama.

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See the full gallery on Posterous

Image one: An Ecotec 2.4L 4-cylinder engine is tested at GM’s Powertrain Engineering Center in Pontiac, Mich. Power from engine testing is used to power parts of the facility.

Image two: Four thermal oxidizers used for scrubbing engine exhaust sit between wings of powertrain testing cells at GM's Powertrain Engineering Center.

Walk into the Powertrain Engineering Development Center in Pontiac, Mich. on any given day, and you are apt to hear the roaring of test engines running as engineers work to develop and optimize new powertrains.

At Pontiac, these tests are run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which means the engines emit a lot of energy. However, GM engineers were committed to putting that excess energy to good use. Their solution: Take advantage of the facility upgrade to install energy-efficient practices.
 
“Pontiac was a brownfield project, which meant parts of it were in existence already, but other wings of the facility had to be built from scratch,” said Dave Gunnels, engineering manager for Pontiac test facilities. “The benefit of building from scratch was that we were able to bake in energy efficiency aspects directly into the system, rather than trying to retrofit.”

One of those energy-efficient projects is putting power generated from engine testing back into the facility to power air conditioning and lighting in the laboratory area. Besides lowering the overall energy output, it allowed the designers to downsize the transformers and network architecture (similar to a motherboard in a computer) because not as much original energy would be needed.

“Everything that we came up with when designing the upgraded systems was based on the availability of regenerative power, like what we pull from the engines,” said Gunnels. “If we didn’t have the re-gen feature, our utility costs would’ve been higher.”

Since Pontiac began this process back in 2008, the facility has regenerated 26,747,311 kilowatt hours of energy to power internal processes. This is equivalent to the amount of electrical power consumed by 2,326 households in the United States in one year.
 
The facility is also cleaning the escaped exhaust from the engines before it is released into the atmosphere.
 
When the facility opened, GM integrated an air permit tied to emissions with the federal government.  And as part of the regulations and standards they fell under, they had to work with emission control devices.

A common ductwork system collects engine exhaust and helps it travel through thermal oxidizers outside the plant before being released into the air. The “destruction efficiency” is 96 percent, meaning 96 percent of hydrocarbons and other constituents are removed before release.

Pontiac has four of these thermal oxidizers at its disposal, used only on an as-needed basis.

“If we’re running fewer sites within the facilities, we might only have one or two units running. We don’t want to consume more energy than we need to,” said Gunnels.

***

At the Pontiac Engineering Development Center, engineers have thought about how to best deal with the byproducts that come with engine testing, whether it’s all that power generated by the engines, or the exhaust that escapes during the testing process.
 
It’s just another way General Motors is building sustainability into success.

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General Motors remains the No. 1 innovator for the fourth-consecutive quarter among 183 companies in the Patent Board’s quarterly automotive and transportation industry scorecard.  

GM engineers are reinventing the automobile, developing advanced technologies that lead to improved fuel economy, less emissions and a reduced dependence on petroleum.

“We are in the midst of redefining the automotive DNA, and these efforts are driving our people to reinvent every subsystem on the vehicle,” said Alan Taub, GM vice president of Global Research and Development. “Being the recognized leader in innovation is important, because it tells our customers and shareholders that we are working on the leading edge of technology.”

GM was granted 1,123 U.S. patents in 2011 applied to global product engineering, global powertrain engineering, global research and development, and OnStar organizations.  

The Patent Board tracks and analyzes innovation and patents across 17 industries on a global basis.

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Sustainability and energy efficiency have a positive impact on the Earth, company morale and the business’ bottom line.  Just ask Jerome Webber, AT&T vice president of Fleet Operations.

Having recently purchased 1,200 Chevrolet Express compressed natural gas (CNG) cargo vans – accounting for the largest CNG vehicle order GM has ever seen – AT&T relies on sustainability as a key component of its  business strategy.

“CNG technology is important to AT&T because it helps us reduce our fleet-based carbon emissions,” said Jerome Webber, AT&T vice president of Fleet Operations. “It is also cost-effective and readily available in our country right now.”
 
According to the U.S Environmental Protection Agency, CNG-powered vans can produce approximately 25 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than similar gasoline and diesel-powered vans, which supports AT&T’s corporate commitment to minimize its impact on the environment.
 
That’s why AT&T plans to invest $565 million to deploy approximately 15,000 alternative fuel vehicles over a ten- year period through 2018.  Last week, the company announced the milestone deployment of its 5,000th alternative-fuel vehicle, a Chevrolet Express van, as part of the commitment.

“There are millions of fleet vehicles on the road today and we want to be a critical part of this sustainable revolution, helping make these conversions as easy as possible for companies like AT&T.” said Brian Small, general manager, GM Fleet and Commercial Operations.
 
AT&T’s Chevrolet Express compressed natural gas (CNG) dedicated cargo vans to be deployed to AT&T service centers nationwide.

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Beginning with the 2012 Chevrolet Sonic, customers will be able to see some of the environmental features of their vehicle on an Ecologic label that will be placed on the rear driver-side window.

Highlighting such items as the landfill-free status of a vehicle’s engine or transmission facility (as with the Sonic), the label will let customers see some of the environmental features of the vehicle relating to manufacturing, driving and recycling.

“Young people and consumers today who care about the environment want to know what they are buying”, says Environmental Consultant Bob Sheppard. “The Ecologic label is an important step, demonstrating that Chevrolet is serious about reducing emissions operationally and in its vehicles with a long term goal of helping the pubic understand the steps taken to achieve this goal.”
 
The label communicates vehicle-specific features in the following areas:

•    Before the road: Environmental aspects related to vehicle manufacturing and assembly.
•    On the road: Fuel-saving features such as advanced engine technologies, aerodynamics, lighter weight components or low-rolling resistance tires.
•    After the road: How 85% by weight of the vehicle can be recycled at the end of its lifespan.

Each claim on the label is audited by Two Tomorrows, an independent third-party sustainability agency that provides auditing and assurance services to companies for environmental initiatives.

Chevrolet is the first U.S. automotive brand to include a label like this on their vehicles.

“Chevrolet’s goal to invest millions in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other lower- carbon projects to reduce U.S. emissions by up to 8 million metric tons demonstrates innovative corporate leadership,” said Eileen Claussen, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES). “With this new labeling program, Chevrolet not only gives easy access to information customers want, it again shows its commitment to the environment.”

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It seems like we have been forever hearing about American students’ lack of science proficiency.

From an early age, studies show that our kids are not learning at a rate that will allow our country to stay ahead of the curve.

Fortunately, General Motors environmental engineers in Bay City, Mich. recognize that math and science are core subjects that deserve extra time and attention. And this thinking just so happens to jive with local schools’ desire to integrate hands-on and captivating lesson plans.

You’ll find Jeff Jatczak and Lynn Porath, two of GM’s environmental engineers in Bay City, at the confluence of these ideas.

They are the brains behind the GM GREEN program in Bay City.

The GM GREEN program aims to familiarize students with their local habitats, all the while helping them exercise some scientific applications and gain practical exposure and experience with professionals.

While it has locally been in existence since 1999, it has since grown to be a more robust program.

Now, students participate in a three-step program, over the course of one or multiple GM environmental engineer classroom or field visits. 

First, engineers visit the students at their schools to teach them the intricacies of a watershed; oftentimes, they use models to help enhance the lesson.  Then, students and engineers take a sampling from a local body of water to determine its water quality.  With GM engineer help and supervision, the students analyze and interpret their results.

“Jeff Jatczak and Lynn Porath visited all four of our science classes on two separate occasions this past fall,” said Diane Huckins, Western Middle School science teacher.  “These visits enriched and supported the sixth grade science curriculum and were greatly enjoyed by all of our 132 students.”

This program provides students an opportunity to learn daily practices and behaviors they can exercise to have a positive influence on the environment. 

“Classrooms of children over the past four years have become true stewards of our watershed,” said Joy McFadyen, teacher at Hampton Elementary School. “The involvement of GM in the schools is vital in helping our students understand and appreciate the natural world.”

In 2011 alone, GM GREEN held educational programs at six different schools in the area. Key projects over the years include:

•    Leading watershed education and testing sessions at Bay City State Park and Recreation Area.
•    Installing nesting boxes and interpretive signs at the Edward M. Golson Jr. Boat Launch and Nature Park in Bay City
•    Developing an interactive website, www.golsonscience.com, for the above project.
•    Constructing two rain gardens at a local school, Hampton Elementary, an idea which participating fifth grade students developed.
•    Constructing and distributing aquarium style aquifer models for the Bay City Public Schools.
  
GM GREEN involvement extends beyond the classroom, too.  In addition to their projects, it has also contributed financially, and members have volunteered their time for services including project management.

“We want these students – our future environmental stewards – to learn about practical science-related applications and how to treat their environment,” said Jeff Jatczak, GM senior project environmental engineer. “We want to teach them how important it is to have consideration for our environment, and make it a part of their everyday activities.”

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As we close out the week, we are sharing the final video we produced in alignment with GM's 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report.

In this video, Rob Threlkeld, GM's Manager of Renewable Energy, Rob talks about all of the opportunities for renewable energy and how GM is taking advantage across the globe.

You can view Dr. Alan Taub's video here, and John Bradburn's video here.

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In coordination with the release of our 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report, we shared a video on Monday from Dr. Alan Taub where he explained the future of transportation from GM's perspective.

Today we are sharing another video, this time from John Bradburn, GM's manager of waste reduction efforts. In it, he talks about how GM's landfill-free projects relate to real world situations, focusing on specific projects the company has installed to reduce waste.

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Many people would agree that Chevrolet’s carbon-reduction initiative is a bold move. The company has committed to investing up to $40 million in carbon-reduction projects across the United States with a goal to reduce up to 8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.  Chevrolet set its goal based on the estimated emissions in 2011 from driving the 1.9 million vehicles it is expected to sell in the United States between Nov. 18, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2011.
 
To date, the company has announced 16 projects—from weatherizing low-income homes to jumpstarting the reforestation of a national forest. The agreements account for half of its carbon-reduction goal.
 
Given this experience, Chevrolet has been asked to speak at a webinar on purchasing carbon offsets. Climate Action Reserve, in collaboration with the Climate Registry, is hosting it this Thursday at 1 p.m. EST to spread awareness on how companies are combatting their climate impact by participating in the voluntary carbon market.
 
During the session, Chevy Brand Marketing Manager Bill Devine will discuss how its program is an extension of GM’s energy efficiency progress and relay best practices that have shaped the initiative.
 
Bill will join Kim Matsoukas, sustainability manager, Bentley Prince Street; Matt Ellis, associate director of sustainability, CBRE; and Angus Duncan, president, Bonneville Environmental Foundation.

Interested in participating? Register any time before Jan. 19.

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Last week General Motors released its 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report - the first as General Motors Company.

As part of the report, three of our leading experts on topics like waste reduction and the future of transportation sat down to talk about their area of expertise.

Below is a video from Dr. Alan Taub, our Vice President, Global Research & Development. In it, he talks about where General Motors is going when it comes to personal transportation options in an increasingly choice-driven world.

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As we’ve talked about more than once on this blog, it’s no longer considered unusual to incorporate sustainable practices into your business plan.  At GM, we recognize it as a business necessity, and our business model is one that purposefully integrates sustainability into our operations and products around the world.

Sustainability feeds our bottom line, and we have the numbers to back it up.  It aligns our business growth with the needs of society – namely energy alternatives and advanced technologies that help reduce dependency on petroleum and pave the way for transportation alternatives that lie ahead.

With the release yesterday of our 2011 Corporate Sustainability Report – our first as a new company – we share our accomplishments, our challenges, and establish a new baseline for our environmental performance from which future performance will be measured against in a transparent manner.

Our focus this past year has been on four areas of sustainability where we feel we can make the biggest impact. They are: greener vehicles, energy efficiency, resource preservation and waste reduction.

In the pages of the corporate report, you will find a more in-depth exploration of how we are trending when it comes to sustainability, and we’ve also committed to a new set of environmental stewardship goals during the next decade.

Here are just a few:

•    Reduce energy intensity from facilities by 20 percent.

•    Promote use of 125MW of renewable energy by 2020.

•    Reduce carbon intensity from facilities by 20 percent.

•    Reduce total waste from facilities by 10 percent.

•    Protect water quality and reduce water intensity by 15 percent.

•    Promote existing landfill-free facilities while working to achieve 100 landfill-free manufacturing sites and 25 non-manufacturing sites.

To read about more of our new commitments, or the report in its entirety, please visit www.gmsustainability.com.

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In 2011, General Motors added eight manufacturing sites and nine non-manufacturing facilities to its global landfill-free list, bringing its total count to 81 plants and 16 non-manufacturing facilities that reuse, recycle or convert to energy all waste created in its daily operations.

“Given the scale of our global landfill-free program, we have many best practices to share,” said John Bradburn, manager of GM’s waste-reduction efforts. “We have a proven process and a track record for creative recycling and reuse.”

GM facilities employed waste-reduction tactics such as cutting and reworking pallets to form wood beams for the homebuilding industry, breaking down wastewater using cafeteria scraps as a food source for environmentally friendly bacteria versus chemicals, and reusing absorbent pads for cleaning oil and water from the plant floor up to three times, to name a few.

GM’s Customer Care & Aftersales headquarters in Grand Blanc, Mich., which was validated landfill free in December, features many efficient waste-reduction processes. The grounds—a designated “Wildlife at Work” wildlife habitat certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council—also feature scrap Chevrolet Volt battery covers that GM engineers converted into wood duck nesting boxes.

“This year, we’ve converted plants like Bay City Powertrain and Pontiac Metal Center that have been around for 75 years or more,” said Bradburn. “All it takes is a little perseverance and dedication to find ways to reduce waste and increase efficiency within the current infrastructure.” 

For example, manufacturing plants can generate loose filter media—a plastic-like byproduct of machining operations that challenges the industry. At Bay City Powertrain, a supplier now shakes it and removes the metal for recycling. The rest is then converted to energy.  Although newer plants often feature equipment that does this processing, Bay City achieved 100 percent efficiency using traditional tactics.

According to Bradburn, there are several landfill-free lessons to be gleaned from 2011.

Tie revenue to byproducts. Tying revenue to various waste streams tends to generate more interest and helps GM approach waste reduction from a sustainable financial perspective. For example, a holistic byproducts management system that combines environmental and financial benefits of plant waste enabled Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan to generate $7.5M in recycling revenue in 2011 alone.

Plan for the future to sustain landfill-free status. Among other efficiency improvements, GM took into account potential future manufacturing scenarios to achieve its landfill-free designations. An example is proactively planning for waste streams like sludge even if a facility may not generate it today.

Thrive on data and share best practices. This year’s new landfill-free sites are in Argentina, India, Italy, France, Germany and the United States. Reporting allows GM to share lessons learned globally, and it does this by:
• Hosting quarterly and as-needed web-based global conference calls specific to waste reduction efforts where experts from each region participate and spread out lessons learned to their teams.
• Hosting as-needed commodity-specific calls, as well as regular resource management calls with suppliers.
• Sharing best practice documents on specific processes and technologies.

Continuously improve.  On average, 97 percent of the waste generated from everyday operations at GM’s landfill-free manufacturing plants is recycled or reused, and the remaining 3 percent is converted to energy. Even at these sites, engineers strive to manage waste in accordance with the globally accepted hierarchy of elimination, reuse, recycling and energy recovery. These activities will continually increase those landfill-free facilities’ efficiencies and environmental performance. Additionally, GM has steadily built on its 2010 achievement of a global operations commitment  to make half of its plants landfill-free, and will continue converting plants throughout the New Year and beyond.

Here’s the full list of manufacturing facilities designated landfill-free in 2011:
• Talegaon Powertrain and Stamping plants in India
• Advanced Manufacturing Technologies New Hudson Stamping plant in Michigan
• Rosario Assembly and Stamping plants in Argentina
• Fort Wayne Assembly in Indiana
• Pontiac Metal Center in Michigan
• Bay City Powertrain plant in Michigan

Non-manufacturing facilities designated landfill-free in 2011:
• Customer Care and Aftersales Pontiac in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Headquarters in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Davison in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Willow Run in Michigan
• Customer Care and Aftersales Ypsilanti in Michigan
• Dudenhofen Proving Ground in Germany
• Torino Engineering Research and Development Center in Italy
• Gonesse Warehouse in France
• Russelsheim International Technical Development Center in Germany

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This past month, Britta Gross, GM’s director of global energy systems and infrastructure commercialization, participated on a panel at the Platts Global Energy Outlook Forum in New York City to discuss how we can establish global energy stability.

Britta was joined by representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy and Manhattan Institute, among others, to talk and answer questions about the green economy.

Here are some of the ideas Britta touched on:

•    We know that customers typically save money driving on electricity versus gasoline. So if a customer decides they want to purchase an alternative fuel vehicle, they just need to get past the higher up-front cost of the vehicle today.  Our highest priority now is getting the cost of this new technology down. And if there is a winning business case for the consumer to buy an electric vehicle (saves money overall!), then there is a winning case for the automakers to build them.

•    Our move toward the green economy is not happening perhaps as quickly as some expected, but it is surely happening. There are 9 million E85 FlexFuel vehicles on the road in North America. In the U.S., we’ve reduced our use of gasoline in light duty vehicle transportation annually by over 5 percent. Can you imagine any other single alternative fuel introduction that could have displaced five percent of gasoline in a couple of years?

•    Imagine living in Manhattan if there were no vehicle emissions and reduced noise levels. As this becomes the norm in certain areas, more consumers will want to experience it. A green environment will lead to increased demand to live in areas that are clean and safe.

In addition to her time in New York City, Britta was also featured in the December issue of Parking Professional Magazine to discuss the future of cars and where parking fits in (article limited to subscribers), as well as an interview in The Atlantic about her day-to-day role at General Motors.

Clearly, this is something that is important to Britta, and it drives her (no pun intended) to get the word out that GM is working toward a more sustainable transportation future.

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Through our GM GREEN (Global Rivers Environmental Education Network) program, we match 8,500 students each year with GM volunteers to analyze water monitoring data, identify issues of concern, and develop a community project to address it.

This partnership between community-based organizations in GM communities and the non-profit organization Earth Force offers hands-on learning experiences that help to pique students’ interest in their environment.

The program works – just ask Lisa Parks.

Lisa is a senior environmental engineer for General Motors. When she was in high school, she participated in the GM GREEN program, which she says spurred her interest in science. Now an environmental engineer at GM, she ensures that facilities across the organization stay in lock-step with EPA regulations when it comes to air emissions.

In the next installment of the GMBeyondNow podcast series, Parks talks about her experience with GM GREEN, what her day-to-day work is like, and her involvement in mentoring students.

GMBeyondNow_Lisa_Parks.mp3 Listen on Posterous

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It’s hard to believe we find ourselves at the tail-end of 2011, but like they say, time flies when you’re having fun.

In 2011, we made a concerted effort to show we are making consistent progress in sustainability, while telling the stories we thought you would be interested in from an energy and environmental perspective.

With that in mind, we've picked the top 15 stories from the year that was that represent some of the milestones we hit.

The Nature of our Business

GM and Detroit Youth Turn Chevy Volt Battery Covers into Wood Duck Homes

An Array of Light at Chevy Volt Plant

Landfill Gas Powers GM Plant for Fuel-Sipping Cars

Volt's Boom Story Continues to Break Barriers

Landfill-Free Initiative Gains Steam with Conversion of 10 Non-Manufacturing Facilities

General Motors Doubles Global Solar Commitment

GM Commits to Greener Vehicle Standards

Patent Board: GM is #1 Auto Innovator

Chevy Sonic Gets Eco-Friendly Paint Job

Environmental Experts Comment on Chevrolet's Carbon Reduction Project

GM Adds Argentina Plants to Landfill-Free List

GM Plant Sites Certifiably Kind to Their Habitats

Fort Wayne Builds Trucks without Waste: GM's FIrst U.S. Landfill-Free Assembly Plant

General Motors Accepts (and Meets) EPA Challenge for Industry

Even with all of the news we made in 2011, we have even more planned in 2012.

If you took the time to follow along, we thank you, and we hope to see you next year.

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By John Bradburn, Manager of Waste Reduction Efforts, General Motors

In the past, the term “treehugger” described an individual who took extreme action to prevent harm to the environment. They often would put themselves in harm’s way by lying down in front of bulldozers or tying themselves to trees to deter development.  Although those individuals meant well and held deep respect for our environment, in most cases they did not change how our world evolved. The increased demand on natural resources continued.

This post is about the treehugggers who have kept a strong devotion to the environment, but now act with holistic goals in mind.  Today, these modern treehuggers negotiate sustainable actions to meet the needs of our changing world, using safer means to instill change.
   
As an environmental engineer within General Motors, I have been fortunate to live in both worlds, as a treehugger and developer, with a goal to serve the needs of industry while holding deep convictions to our global environment.

The Rise of the Modern Treehugger
Today, the demand for natural resources is greater than at any other time in world history. This demand reinforces the need to care for the environment with great passion.  Modern treehuggers, young and old, are needed to manage progress with sensitivity to other stakeholders needs. They must base their opinions and actions not only on environmental impacts, but also serve as stewards to economic and societal issues, as well.
 
We hear that technology and innovation will bring solutions to our current economic and environmental challenges.  To achieve efficiency-based solutions, however, our politicians, business executives and planners must work together with engineers and scientists to create solutions to match or exceed impacts caused by global conditions.  Those solutions must be deployed to offset increased demand for economic growth and natural resource conservation for future generations.

A Shift in Sustainable Balance
We’ve moved into a turbulent era, with a need to focus on economic factors with great intensity.  In many areas, basic human needs are not met and more are at risk from both natural and man-induced sources.
    
There are many innovators with solutions who have the skills needed to address many of these issues.
 
•    They are the people who work long hours, care for their families and community. 
•    They are the people who create jobs and manufacture and procure products using efficient systems to reduce operating costs. 
•    They are the people who use and seek additional technologies to increase operating efficiency, pass savings onto their customers to remain competitive, and subsequently reduce environmental impacts. 
•    They are the people with diverse backgrounds who keep the engine of economy churning.

Many of them are not in leadership positions. However, if we enable them to succeed, they will bring forth change.

They are the modern treehuggers.

On the Road to Change
Accomplishing these actions will demonstrate that we simply cannot protect just one environmental, economic or societal factor without regard for all three. We must use an ecosystem approach to improve our economy with sustainable progress as the goal.
     
These modern treehuggers hold the conviction to build a better world.  They act to create jobs by developing new technologies in energy optimization, waste elimination and pollution prevention.  They apply science-based emotion into their actions and, most importantly, motivate others to do the same.
 
These people draw upon their human spirit, combining scientific principles, faith and innovation to accomplish what was once considered non-progressive and anti-economy.  They share experiences with others who believe dreams can become reality and inspire all, regardless of position or background, to improve the future.
 
Today, we must travel these long, sustainable pathways together with those factors in mind, viewing ecology and economy as inseparable. When done, the result will be an improved world for all.

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