Honda's continuing effort to minimize the environmental impact of its operations took a major step forward today as it opened a compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling station on its property in Marysville, Ohio.
The CNG station, which was designed, constructed and will be operated by Trillium CNG, is the first public CNG station located on a Honda property in North America. The fully automated station is intended both to provide service to those that have already adopted the use of CNG, and to encourage and facilitate suppliers and logistical partners to adopt and expand its use in the trucks used in support of Honda operations.
"Honda considers the environmental impact of every aspect of our operations and this new CNG station will help reduce the impact of the delivery to our plants in Ohio of more than eight million parts each day," said Tom Shoupe, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Honda of America Mfg., Inc. "For those carriers utilizing CNG trucks, and by encouraging more to do so, this new station will make a significant impact on emissions, and nicely complements the many environment efforts we make with our own manufacturing operations."
"We applaud Honda's global commitment to environmental stewardship and are proud to be their partner on this landmark project," said Joel Jansen, vice president of Trillium CNG. "Ohio remains a pivotal state in our infrastructure development plans due to its proximity to several major interstates and key shipping lanes. The station will feature our new proprietary fast-fill 7" Hydraulic Intensifier Compressor (HY-C). The new HY-C is capable of delivering more fuel than most conventional CNG sites, allowing multiple heavy-duty vehicles to fuel faster than ever across multiple lanes."
The CNG station is located at the interchange of Route 33 and Route 739 near Honda's manufacturing and R&D operations and is part of a strategy that has seen Honda reduce the CO2 emissions intensity of its parts shipments by more than 35 percent since 2009. The station will feature three Class 8 dispensers for over-the-road carriers and can also serve customers who drive CNG-fueled passenger cars as well.
"As part of our overall commitment to being an environmentally responsible company, we have continued to look for ways to reduce our logistics emissions impact," said Dana McBrien, Associate Chief Advisor - North America Logistics for Honda. "The use of CNG as an alternative fuel allows us to do that. We decided to look for ways to create our own CNG infrastructure and we are positioned to potentially expand our CNG network and help suppliers throughout our manufacturing network."
Through its "green factory" and "green purchasing" programs, Honda is working to minimize the environmental impact of its manufacturing operations, including the upstream impacts of producing and shipping parts for vehicles produced at Honda plants.
Over the past 13 years, Honda plants in North America have reduced waste sent to landfills by 91.9 percent; and in the most recent full fiscal year, ended March 31, 2013 (FY2013), CO2 emissions from the production of Honda and Acura vehicles in North America were down 16.2 percent. In addition, CO2 emissions from shipment of finished products have been reduced by more than 14 percent since 2008.
About Honda
Honda established operations in America in 1959 and now employs more than 39,000 associates in its North American sales, R&D and manufacturing operations with total capital investment in North America exceeding $22 billion.
Based on its longstanding commitment to "build products close to the customer," Honda operates 16 major manufacturing facilities in North America producing a wide range of Honda and Acura automobiles, automobile engines and transmissions, Honda all-terrain vehicles, power equipment products, such as lawn mowers, mini-tillers and general purpose engines, and the HondaJet advanced light jet.
Eight Honda auto plants in the region, including four in the U.S., have the capacity to produce 1.92 million automobiles each year. In 2014, more than 97 percent of the Honda and Acura automobiles sold in the U.S. were produced in North America. Those plants today manufacture 11 different models, including four passenger cars and seven light trucks using domestic and globally sourced parts. A fifth U.S. auto plant, the Performance Manufacturing Center, is under construction in Marysville, Ohio, and next year will become the exclusive global production location for the next generation Acura NSX supercar.
Honda also operates 14 major research and development centers in the U.S. with the capacity to fully design, develop and engineer many of the products Honda produces in North America.
About Trillium CNG
Trillium CNG is a leading provider of CNG to fleets, and also offers complete facility design, construction, operation and maintenance services. Our focus is on fueling heavy-duty fleets that require high-performance solutions. For more information, visit www.TrilliumCNG.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook as well as You Tube and Trillium CNG's blog. Trillium CNG is a business unit of WEC Energy Group (NYSE: WEC).
Photos are available upon request.
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