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Billionaire industrialist Elon Musk is doubling-down on the ambitious vision he laid out in August 2006. In a blog post, Musk recently revealed his “Master Plan, Part Deux,” which extends beyond a corporate strategy for his electric car company Tesla, covering the breadth of the sustainable energy chain from generation and storage, to electrification of several types of vehicles, to the sharing economy.
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Toyota believes hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are more viable than electric ones — and it has brought three of its Mirai models to Australia to prove it.
The Mirai is already on sale in Europe, Japan and California and uses an on-board fuel cell to convert hydrogen into electricity. The small demonstration fleet will be accompanied by a portable refuelling station, which will allow the company to tour the vehicle around the country for maximum exposure.
When the Mirai’s hydrogen supply is running low, it can be fully refuelled in a matter of minutes — a stark contrast to the longer charging times of most electric vehicles. The Mirai can also travel roughly 500km before needing a refill.
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Ford Motor Company’s 2015-16 Sustainability Report highlights key environmental benchmarks and the ongoing work of the automaker, including its expanded focus beyond vehicle production to developing mobility solutions for the future.
The future of mobility
Earlier this year, the automaker created Ford Smart Mobility LLC, a new subsidiary to design, build, grow and invest in emerging mobility services using existing Ford innovations, products and technologies.
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General Motors has announced plans to invest $10m (£6.96m) in a Canadian plant as part of an effort to boost driverless technology and cold weather testing. GM will also hire 1,000 new workers in Ontario to focus on research for connected and driverless cars.
Canada, and particularly Ontario, has been promoting its car-making sector as it attempts to compete with Mexico. Canada has been fighting to keep carmakers in the country. Many have been lured to Mexico, where production is cheaper and the cars have the same tariff free access to the US market.Ontario's Premier called the investment a "vote of confidence".
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POWER PLAY
Toyota’s New Plano Campus Drafts Impressive Energy & Environmental Line Up
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The San Diego breeze rustles the palm fronds above the Mission Bay Patio - it's nice to be in an outdoor presentation space enjoying the Southern California climate.
The topic for the afternoon is innovation, and the panel brings a good range of perspective.
Carrie Majeske kicks things off by detailing some of Ford's initiatives under the tagline, "Driving change for a better world."
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Duck, Duck, GOOSE!
Toyota Tagged to Receive Keystone Leadership in Environment Award
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Toyota is Ready to Catch Some Rays in Plano
Toyota’s New Plano Campus Will Get 25 Percent of Power from the Sun
Plano, Texas and San Diego, Calif. (June 6, 2016) – It might not be the sunshine state, but Texas gets its fair share of sun. And when Toyota moves into its new North American headquarters next year, the automaker plans to “catch a ray.”
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On 20 May 2016, Radisson RED Brussels welcomed 75 international bloggers and journalists to stay at our world’s first Radisson RED - a new global hotel concept inspired by art, fashion and music.
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TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (May 31, 2016) — Importer/wholesale distributor Omni United Pte. Ltd.’s Timberland brand — the first tire line created in partnership with a leading global lifestyle brand — has been recognized for its collaborative sustainability efforts.
Timberland L.L.C. and the tire brand beat out Reformation, Levi’s and People Tree to win the WGSN Futures Award in sustainability design. Sagra Maceira de Rosen, a member of the advisory board of Omni United, and Nick Barber, director of apparel design of Timberland, accepted the award in London on May 26.
NEW METRICS -
A sustainability manager at a large auto parts manufacturer recently explained the company’s lack of interest in water management this way: “It's not worth our time. Water is too cheap and no one cares." Moreover, the executive acknowledged that even if they did care, they had no idea how to tackle an operational issue that is largely unseen and highly distributed. Doing nothing is a common response, and indicative of the second-class status water still has in much of the business world, including the boardroom.
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We had a very interesting finding from our Eco Pulse 2015 study that took us by surprise: the percentage of people who said they had stopped buying a product based on the environmental reputation of a manufacturer increased dramatically from 11% to 33%. That’s pretty significant, especially when you consider this same question has been asked for nearly a decade and the percentage has always been around 12%, give or take a few percentage points.
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Elon Musk finally rolled out his highly-anticipated electric vehicle for the masses – the Tesla Model 3.
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In less than four months, Maven, General Motors’ personal mobility brand, has grown to five markets: New York City, Ann Arbor, Mich., and today announced Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Maven members have driven more than one million miles, bringing them closer to the things – and people – they love.
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In celebration of Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, Toyota is pleased to announce that it awarded scholarships to 22 Asian Pacific Islander American (APIA) students for post-secondary education in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The annual scholarship is offered through a collaborative partnership between Toyota and the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund (APIASF), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing college scholarships to APIAs. The 2016 student recipients were each awarded $5,000 in funding towards a degree in a STEM field for their first two years of college.
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Ford Motor Company claims to be the first automaker to formulate and test new foam and plastic components using captured carbon dioxide (CO2) as feedstock. Within five years, the company expects to be using the new biomaterials in its vehicles.
Foams formulated with up to 50 percent CO2-based polyols have shown promise in ‘rigorous’ automotive tests, and could be used in seating and under-hood applications. The company claims that the CO2-derived foam will reduce the use of fossil fuels in Ford vehicles – potentially reducing petroleum use by more than 600 million pounds annually. Other plastic materials are currently under development.
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Ford recycles as much as 20 million pounds of aluminum stamping scrap per month using the closed-loop system at Dearborn Truck Plant, which builds F-150. That is the equivalent of more than 30,000 F-150 bodies in the largest configuration – a SuperCrew body including doors, plus hood, tailgate and 6.5-foot cargo box.
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General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into a new life: noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the Chevrolet Equinox engine. The bottles – collected from five of its Michigan facilities – are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless community.
Given its drive to zero waste, all of GM’s global facilities recycle their water bottles. However, the bottles collected at the five locations are now funneled into its “Do Your Part” project, where 11 businesses collaborate to give them a second life.
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Ford Motor Company today announces plans to transform its Dearborn facilities into a modern, green and high-tech campus to foster innovation and help drive the company’s transition to an auto and a mobility company.
The 10-year transformation of the company’s more than 60-year-old Dearborn facilities will colocate 30,000 employees from 70 buildings today into primarily two locations – a product campus and a world headquarters campus. More than 7.5 million square feet of work space will be rebuilt and upgraded into even more technology-enabled and connected facilities.
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German multinational automakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler are seeking larger shares of the U.S. urban mobility market. BMW has entered the car-sharing market with the launch of its ReachNow service in Seattle, Wash., while Daimler is merging its route-planning service with a mobile ticketing company to form a North American unit of its mobility services unit, moovel Group.