GM Invests $7.5 Million In Solar Energy Company
General Motors has invested $7.5 million in solar-energy product maker Sunlogics, and will have the company install solar-charging canopies (above) at Chevrolet dealerships and GM plants, illustrating the U.S. automaker’s continued efforts to cut its carbon footprint. The automaker also vowed to double its solar-energy production during the next five years. General Motors Ventures’ equity investment in Sunlogics will allow the company, which builds rooftop solar-panels systems and solar-powered garages, to build corporate headquarters and a manufacturing plant just outside of Detroit and develop another manufacturing plant in Ontario. The investment will create more than 300 jobs in Michigan and Ontario.
GM also said it would double its annual solar-energy production to 60 megawatts of solar power, or the equivalent of the amount of energy it takes to power 10,000 homes, by 2015. “Not only does renewable energy make good business sense, it helps us continue to reduce the impact our facilities have on the environment,” said Mike Robinson, GM’s vice president of energy, environment & safety policy. The announcement continues GM’s public efforts to reduce its vehicles’ environmental impact through a combination of more energy-efficient plants and more fuel-efficient vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid vehicle and the Chevrolet Cruze.