General Motors Builds Sustainable Engine Plant in South Brazil

General MotorsGMUnited States of America, 1998 > present8 models
240 photos
has opened a new engine plant in Joinville, Brazil that it believes will comply Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification. It has already applied for the accreditation and is waiting for a reply. 

The plant features a solar power system, the first in an automotive plant in Brazil, water recycling via reverse osmosis, sewage and wastewater treatment via a wetland process, and it is the first landfill-free GM factory in Brazil. 

The factory's solar panels will mitigate 10 tons of CO2 a year, and it also uses solar power to heat the plant's water that will safe another 17.6 tons of CO2 a year. The reverse osmosis system processes wastewater into clean drinking water saving 22 million liters of water a year. Sewage is treated through filtering gardens without using chemicals to save another 3.6 tons of CO2 a year. The factory also uses rainwater to flush toilets, and it will recycle and compost food waste

“We are one of the first companies in Brazil to push environmental innovation into the manufacturing space. Sustainability is in the DNA of our company, and we are incorporating environmental features into our facilities from the ground up," said Grace Lieblein, president of GM do Brasil.

The Joinville plant will open at the end of 2012. GM is in the process of building a transmission plant in the same industrial park. This factory will not be open until 2014, and GM also plans to apply for LEED certification for it when it is finished. In total the two plants will have cost GM around $513 million. 

If the Joinville engine factory gets the LEED certification, it will be the third GM factory with the designation. The other two are the  Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan and its China Headquarters in Shanghai.