Lamborghini Goes Carbon Neutral
Luxury automobile manufacturer Lamborghini have recently achieved carbon neutral status for their factory in the commune of Sant’Agata Bolognese in the Bologna province of Italy.
Lamborghini has been gradually reducing its impact on the environment over the years but credits its recent achievement to the commissioning of a new trigeneration plant. Trigeneration, or combined cooling heat and power (CCHP), simultaneously generates electricity, heating and cooling using natural gas.
Green Measures
Although their supercars are largely 5 litre V10 monsters that guzzle in the region of 12.5 litres of fuel over 10km, Lamborghini are committed to their sustainability and take their environmental responsibilities seriously.
Lamborghini’s trigeneration plant has a capacity of 1.2MW and can produce 9,800MWh each year, enough power for the entire city, whilst saving approximately 740 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.
Working alongside their new trigeneration plant Lamborghini also employ a district heating system that uses energy, that would otherwise be lost, from a neighbouring biogas cogeneration plant (located around 4 miles from the Lamborghini factory) to heat water. The hot water produced is distributed around the factory in cooler months via an underground network of pipes. This saves another 16,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.
Another measure that has helped Lamborghini to achieve carbon neutral status is the employment of one of the largest photovoltaic solar arrays in the area. The roof-top solar farm generates 1,582MWh of green energy per year, another 20% reduction in CO2 emissions.
Other efforts to offset carbon emissions have also been employed by Lamborghini including building a nearby park with 10,000 oak trees. The park also provides a research facility known as “Lamborghini for Biodiversity – Oak Forest Research Project”, an initiative to examine the relationships between plants, their density, the climate and CO2.
Along with being certified carbon neutral, in 2009 Lamborghini were also the first and only auto manufacturer in Italy to have earned EMAS environmental certification, further supporting Lamborghini’s commitment to protecting the environment.
What next?
Lamborghini plan to continue to reduce their impact on the environment, not just by providing an eco-friendly manufacturing process but by reducing the carbon emissions of the cars they produce as well.
They plan to switch to using biofuel to run the trigeneration plant by 2017 which is estimated to save an additional 5,690 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Automobili Lamborghini are also on track to having reduced their cars’ emissions by 25% by research and development in areas such as:
- Decreasing vehicle mass
- Improving combustion
- Reducing friction
- Start-and-Stop systems
- Hybrid drive train solutions
- Biofuels
More and more leading companies and manufacturers are heading towards carbon neutrality and are therefore doing their part to protect the environment. As well as reducing carbon emissions and being socially responsible, the measures taken will also help to drive down energy costs and protect against increasing fuel prices in the years to come.
