The electric car has a certain future. But greater attention to the environment is also needed in production processes. Czech manufacturer ŠKODA is pursuing carbon neutrality at its plants, investing in energy and efficiency improvements.
Cutting pollutant emissions at the exhaust is a fundamental step on the path towards ever-greater sustainability in the car industry. But it is not enough: it is also very important that the production processes of vehicles are environmentally responsible. This is an aspect to which the Volkswagen Group has paid great attention for many years, as demonstrated, among other things, by the ŠKODA components plant in Vrchlabí; a commitment also undertaken with the SEAT brand. Returning to ŠKODA, in recent weeks the company unveiled its first electric SUV – the Enyaq – and for several years now it has been committed to developing electric mobility through, among other things, projects to expand charging infrastructure.
The Vrchlabí plant is the first ŠKODA facility that will become – by 2020 – carbon neutral. This is a significant achievement, reached above all through the use of renewable sources for energy supply. In more practical terms, this approach has made it possible, from 2012 to the present day, to reduce CO2 emissions from an initial 45,000 tonnes per year to the current 3,000. The remaining 3,000 tonnes will be offset through additional measures and by purchasing CO2 certificates, through which ŠKODA will support various climate protection projects, such as renewable energy production in India and the conservation of rainforests.
But how does one go about reducing CO2 emissions fifteenfold (from 45,000 to 3,000 tonnes) in just 8 years? Energy saving comes first: 6,700 MWh (megawatt-hours) have been saved through the new heating system alone. A thermal camera, meanwhile, detects heat losses within the building and the heating system itself. A further 2,000 MWh of thermal energy and 1,800 MWh of electricity will be saved thanks to the twelve projects currently under way. These include closing heating circuits and linking the factory's lighting to working hours.
In addition to the results achieved so far, ŠKODA is announcing further actions: currently, 41,500 of the 47,000 MWh of electricity used annually by the plant come from renewable sources, representing a share of more than 88 per cent. The only fossil fuel still in use is natural gas, but from 2021 it will be gradually replaced by biomethane generated from carbon-neutral plants. The Volkswagen Group brand also encourages environmental initiatives within the company, such as tree planting: in the course of 2020, nearly 40,000 trees were planted near the Vrchlabí plant, a significant signal that the automotive industry is increasingly engaged with environmental and energy issues.