U.S. Department of Energy Recognizes Fort Wayne Assembly for 30% Cut in Natural Gas Use

GM is being recognized by the Department of Energy for an innovative project that reduced natural gas consumption at the company’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly plant by 30%, against a 2019 baseline.

Today at the plant, Maria Vargas, director of DOE’s Better Climate Challenge, highlighted GM’s leadership in energy efficiency and toured the facility, which repurposes waste heat from gas-powered generators to heat the plant and protect the emergency sprinkler systems from freezing in colder months. GM is working to deploy a similar heat recovery system at St. Catharine’s Propulsion Plant in Ontario, which is expected to be operational next year. 

The project is part of GM’s effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 72% by 2035 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040. The assembly plant’s carbon reduction from the project is equivalent to the energy needed to heat 4,900 houses for one year, and the reduced use of natural gas and electricity saves GM $3.5 million annually.

“Together with GM’s energy team, the employees at Fort Wayne Assembly have developed an energy solution that helps promote carbon reduction in the assembly of our best-selling trucks,” said Kathi Walker, GM’s director of global sustainability strategies. “Whether we’re building electric or internal combustion vehicles, we’re committed to maximizing the sustainability of our manufacturing processes.”

Fort Wayne Assembly’s 4,300 employees last year manufactured over 292,000 of the best-selling Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks.

GM’s Indiana facilities together employ more than 6,200 people. According to a study by Oxford Economics, GM’s activities in Indiana support an additional 15,050 jobs from partners, suppliers and others. GM has operated in Indiana for nearly 90 years. Since 2013, we’ve announced more than $2.8 billion in investments in our Indiana manufacturing operations.

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