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as fossil fuels rise in price and consumers’ tastes evolve, the smart money is for more of these new cars to roll out, in part, manufactured thanks to the energy technologies of the future….

Why automakers are the new renewable energy investors, As the industry recovers from the financial crisis, firms such as General Motors and Ford have set up renewables projects. Leon Kaye , guardian.co.uk,  6 October 2011 The automobile industry, on life support during the global financial crisis, has recently been catching its breath. In America, many reasons are behind the slow resurgence: improved design and performance, painful restructuring, and new technologies such as hybrid or electric vehicles that push innovation.

Meanwhile, America’s auto competitors across the pond hold their own. But while tecchies and green transport mavens marvel or mock new developments in hybrid, EV or alternative fuelled vehicles, another business trend is changing how automobile manufacturers are conducting business, running their operations and planning long-term strategies.

Companies including General Motors, Volkswagen, and Ford now invest in renewable energy projects. Most are small and experimental considering the size of these corporations; others are aggressive and reach the scale of Google’s investment in energy projects. Some schemes fall in line with the development of an infrastructure for electric vehicles; others look towards the future to guarantee energy security or to meet regulatory pressures.

Volkswagen by far has been the most aggressive company on this front. With a goal to overtake General Motors and Toyota as the world’s largest automaker by the end of the decade, renewable energy is now part of the firm’s strategy. Its €1bn (£862m) investment in two offshore North Sea wind farms is a step to meet the company’s renewable energy goals, hedge against future volatile energy prices and score some corporate social responsibility points

Across the pond, American automakers are making small yet notable investments in renewables. Earlier this summer, the General Motors (GM) subsidiary GM Ventures announced an equity investment of £7.5m in Sunlogics, a solar energy systems company that will install solar panel charging canopies at GM facilities and Chevrolet auto dealerships….

As companies develop more automobiles that run on technologies other than the internal-combustion engine, it is only logical that they design, assemble and market these cars in facilities that are powered by energies other than fossil fuels….

as fossil fuels rise in price and consumers’ tastes evolve, the smart money is for more of these new cars to roll out, in part, manufactured thanks to the energy technologies of the future….

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sustainable-business/automakers-new-renewable-energy-investors-sustainable-cars?newsfeed=true