John Viera, director of sustainability and environmental policy for Ford Motor Co., sits behind the wheel of a Ford Fusion Hybrid at Fox Ford in Grand Rapids. Photo by Jeff Hage.
An automaker on the cover of a sustainable business publication? That’s a good one.
I have to admit I could hear the groans and visualize the eye rolls when some readers gazed at the cover of this TBL publication. After all, what do the automakers know about the triple bottom line when it seems like their products and practices are the antithesis of sustainability?
Huge carbon emissions, government bailouts, layoffs and plant closures don’t necessarily paint a pretty picture. Ford Motor Co. knows that. But if executives like John Viera are true to their word, the company knows it must change and is taking the proper steps to get there.
He told the Southeast Michigan Sustainable Business Forum that Ford is taking a “wells to wheels” perspective in chasing CO2 reductions, meaning that it looks at emissions from all aspects of fuel production and use in the vehicles.
The result is that Ford is pouring resources into making the internal combustion engine more efficient and economical while not sacrificing performance. At a recent Air and Waste Management Association of West Michigan meeting, he said Ford’s next step is to remove weight from the vehicles so it doesn’t take as much energy to move them.
The familiar blue oval company is attempting to go green.
Ford realizes it needs to sell in volume if it wants to hit fleet carbon reduction targets of 30 percent by 2020. The public’s not ready – especially in the midst of a recession – to pony up the extra $15,000-20,000 for electric vehicles, especially with gas less than $3 per gallon. That’s why Ford’s driving efficiency in the traditional internal combustion engines by using direct injection technology, as well as combining displacement downsizing with turbocharging in its EcoBoost engines. Even the 305-horsepower Mustang V6 achieves 31 miles per gallon.
And even electric vehicles have CO2 emissions when the power is coming from traditional U.S. power plants. In fact, the result is that the emissions from a Ford Fusion Hybrid equals that of an electric vehicle, according to Viera.
Sustainability, it seems, demands balance. For more info on Ford’s Blueprint for Sustainability, click here. Read the story here.
— Joe Boomgaard, Managing Editor
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