GM's hybrid transmission plant goes solar
This sounds like it must have been a really easy decision for General Motors: Install a brand new solar array which will provide 1.2-megawatts of power - enough to cut its electricity bill by 20-percent per year beginning in 2009 - for free. We wish somebody would make an offer like that to us. Unfortunately, our homes don't quite have the 300,000 square feet of roof space necessary to hold the 8,700 solar panels. Although the General already has two warehouses with solar roof installations, the White Marsh plant is the first factory to be so equipped. SunEdison will put up the panels and make money by selling the electricity that GM doesn't use.
What's especially cool about this particular story is that the White Mash plant in Maryland is where the Allison transmissions are built, including the 2-Mode unit used in the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon twins, Cadillac Escalade hybrid SUVs and soon for the 2-Mode-equipped hybrid full-size trucks. Also of note is the fact that all the waste heat from the factory is reused and it reached landfill-free status in 2007.
[Source: The Detroit News]
This sounds like it must have been a really easy decision for General Motors: Install a brand new solar array which will provide 1.2-megawatts of power - enough to cut its electricity bill by 20-percent per year beginning in 2009 - for free. We wish somebody would make an offer like that to us. Unfortunately, our homes don't quite have the 300,000 square feet of roof space necessary to hold the 8,700 solar panels. Although the General already has two warehouses with solar roof installations, the White Marsh plant is the first factory to be so equipped. SunEdison will put up the panels and make money by selling the electricity that GM doesn't use.
What's especially cool about this particular story is that the White Mash plant in Maryland is where the Allison transmissions are built, including the 2-Mode unit used in the Chevy Tahoe/GMC Yukon twins, Cadillac Escalade hybrid SUVs and soon for the 2-Mode-equipped hybrid full-size trucks. Also of note is the fact that all the waste heat from the factory is reused and it reached landfill-free status in 2007.
[Source: The Detroit News]
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