On the road to zero emissions

The number of motor vehicles in the world will triple by 2050 - but carbon dioxide emissions from vehicle exhausts will have to halve in that time. A big ask? Yes, but it must be done, a Japanese motor industry expert tells Rob Maetzig .
When Michio Shinohara sat down to chat with the news media in Auckland last week, one of the first things he did was to bombard the journalists with some rather sobering statistics.

While the world's motor vehicle fleet is currently less than one billion, the trouble is that more than 60 per cent of that fleet is in developed countries.

Big growth is now taking place in the less developed countries including China and India, warned Mr Shinohara, who is the general manager and chief engineer of Honda Motor Company's environment and safety planning office.

This means that the worldwide fleet is expected to rise to 1.3 billion vehicles inside 20 years, and to two billion by 2050 - a massive increase.

But it is generally recognised that for the sake of the world's environment the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from vehicle exhausts will have to be cut by half during that same time, said Mr Shinohara.

"So this means that by 2050 the average fuel economy of the world's cars will have to be one- sixth of what it was in 2000," he told the journalists.

"Only that way will we be able to achieve the aim of reducing CO2 emissions to 51 grams per kilometre," he added.

It didn't take long for the journalists at the function to absorb the significance of that statement. A CO2 reduction to just 51 g/km is an extraordinarily big ask - after all, even the Honda ultra-low emission vehicles of today pour out considerably more than double that amount.

Not only that, but the next super-efficient Honda to go on the New Zealand market, the new Insight petrol-electric hybrid that is scheduled for launch here in August, will average 101 g/km of CO2. So quite obviously there's going to be a tremendous amount of research and development work required over the next few decades.

"It is a very difficult challenge," admitted Mr Shinohara.

"But we must meet that challenge if we are going to reduce fuel consumption to one- sixth of what it is now." Mr Shinohara was in New Zealand to be a keynote speaker at an Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority- organised biofuels and electric vehicles conference in Wellington.

He has an impressive CV. A Honda employee since 1982 when he joined the company's research and development arm as a mechanical engineer, he has been heavily involved in the development of new-generation petrol and diesel engines, and more recently in environmental and safety planning.

Now he is an integral part of a Honda initiative the company calls Blue Skies For Our Children, and which is researching a wide variety of means of reducing society's impact on the environment, particularly by the motor vehicle.

The future will see a major shift to what Honda describes as electromotive technology, said Mr Shinohara. This will involve continued development of various means of using electricity - either via petrol-electric technology, hydrogen fuel cells, or pure electricity via the use of battery packs.

And each has its challenges: Hybrids need to be made as affordable as ordinary petrol- powered cars, and their performance characteristics need to continue to be improved.

Fuel cell technology is currently far too expensive, so costs need to be dramatically reduced.

There's also a need for consumers to better understand how this technology works so it can become mainstream.

Battery-powered electric vehicles need to be developed so their performance is better, and their range on a single charge needs to be substantially improved.

Cost is a problem, because the price of even the smallest electric car is currently at least double that of a petrol equivalent. And there are also environmental issues over the need for the power source to be renewable. Mr Shinohara sees the immediate future - from Honda's perspective anyway - as primarily involving hybrid vehicles.

"In the long term it will be electric vehicles, because since they have no emissions there is no pollution. They are also quiet and smooth," he said.

"But it will take a long time and a lot of effort to switch to electric cars. So for the time being it will be petrol-electric hybrid vehicles that will be the mainstream. We see the hybrid as the obvious way to go in our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions." Honda has been producing hybrids since 1999, and so far has sold 488,000 of the vehicles and the sales rate is increasing. The Insight was launched in Japan and the United States last year, and already sales have passed 150,000.

Coming up are CR-Z and Jazz hybrids, and these will be followed by further hybrids, said Mr Shinohara.

"At the moment there are production capacity issues, but these will be overcome. We can expect much larger vehicles within the next two years." Meanwhile, research work will continue with fuel cell and full electric vehicles because they will eventually be the future of motoring, he said.

In fact, the fuel cell could represent the future of family living, Mr Shinohara forecast. One of Honda's research projects involves creation of a home energy station that would put natural gas through a reformer to do everything from supplying the hydrogen for the family fuel cell vehicle, to supplying heat and electricity for the home.

Theoretically, such a process could also use solar energy to meet the same ends, he added.

"We think it is possible to create a society where no such things as power lines will be required.

"Honda dreams such a dream of a sustainable society."

Source;
http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/business/3621811/On-the-road-to-zero-emissions

Honda Issues 2009 North American Environmental Report

10/20/2009 - TORRANCE, Calif. -
American Honda Motor Co., Inc., today released its fifth annual report on the company's environmental performance in North America. To help reduce the environmental impact of its environmental reporting activities, the company is releasing this year's report in electronic format only, and it has also launched a micro-site highlighting key elements of the report for stakeholders, consumers, and other audiences with an interest in Honda's environmental activities in the region. To view or download the complete report, go to the Environmental Report Web site or journalists can go to Honda's online media newsroom.

The 2009 North American Environmental Report covers the company's operations during the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009 (FY2009) and utilizes a lifecycle assessment (LCA) model to report on the environmental impact of Honda's R&D, manufacturing and sales activities in the North America region, encompassing the United States, Canada and Mexico. The report looks at the environmental performance of the company's automobile, powersports, and power equipment products, its 16 major manufacturing plants operating in North America in FY2009, and the corporate activities of 15 Honda group companies in the region.

The report also includes a detailed review of the various technology approaches that Honda is taking in its efforts to address the issue of global climate change as perhaps the most serious and far-reaching environmental issue facing society today.

"Despite the incredible challenges that our industry has faced over the past year, Honda remains committed to minimizing the environmental impact of its operations in North America," said Tetsuo Iwamura, chief operating officer of Honda's North American Regional Operation. "In fiscal year 2009, we took a number of significant steps to advance our environmental performance in both our products and production operations, including the introduction of the all-new Insight hybrid as the most affordable gasoline-electric car in North America, and the opening of two new zero-waste-to-landfill production facilities."

Following are highlights of the 2009 report:
Global Climate Change
Honda is working toward the achievement of voluntary targets for the reduction of CO2 emissions from its products and manufacturing operations on a global basis by 2010.
Honda is taking a portfolio approach to reducing CO2 emissions from its products, including advances to gasoline engine efficiency, expanded use of hybrid technology, deployment of advanced alternatives including natural gas- and hydrogen-powered vehicles, and new methods of alternative-energy production and distribution.

Honda and Acura Automobiles
American Honda's U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) for model year 2008 rose to 30.3 mpg, up 3.8% from the model year 2001 baseline.
Honda is working to reduce the use of substances considered harmful to people and the environment and is applying the most stringent global regulatory requirements, where technically feasible, to all of its Honda and Acura products worldwide.

Powersports Products
All model year 2008 Honda motorcycles and ATVs met California and U.S. federal regulatory requirements for exhaust emissions.

Power Equipment and Marine Products
Honda's full-line of general-purpose engines met U.S. EPA exhaust emissions standards, while all Honda outboard marine engines sold in FY2009 were certified below 2008 California exhaust emissions standards - 65% below (cleaner than) what is required by the U.S. EPA.

Manufacturing
New Plants: Honda began operations at two new North American manufacturing*1 facilities in FY2009, expanding the company's ability to produce fuel-efficient Honda and Acura vehicles in a more environmentally responsible manner. Both are zero-waste-to-landfill operations.

Production Efficiency: Despite ongoing efforts to improve the efficiency of production operations, Honda experienced an increase in per-unit measures of C02 emissions, energy consumption and water use in FY2009, due in large measure to the global economic downturn, which led to reduced capacity utilization and production efficiency.

Energy: per-unit energy consumed in automobile production rose 13.2% to 6.7 gigajoules (GJ), up from 6.2 GJ in FY2008, which was the lowest level in eight years.

CO2 Emissions: average per-unit CO2 emissions2 from automobile production of 747 kilograms rose 5.4% from the previous fiscal year, which was the lowest level in eight years.
Waste: total waste to landfills for all production activity was reduced 82.7% from FY2001 levels, substantially exceeding Honda's target of a 70% reduction. The company is targeting near-zero (less than 1%) waste to landfills for all plants in North America by FY2012.

Water: per-unit water consumption for automobile production rose 14.3%, to 800 gallons.
Air Emissions: emissions of volatile organic compounds from auto body painting (accounting for roughly 60% of all manufacturing-related VOC emissions) were down 2.5% from the previous fiscal year to 15.3 grams/m2, exceeding Honda's target of 20 grams/m2.

Product Distribution
CO2 emissions from the distribution of automobiles in North America were reduced 1,392 metric tons though the expanded use of more fuel-efficient Auto-Max rail cars.

Sales and Service
Honda implemented 47 projects in FY2009 to reduce packaging used in shipping Honda and Acura service parts, removing an estimated 970,000 pounds of wood and 653,000 pounds of plastic from the waste stream.

Product Recycling (End of Life)
Every Honda and Acura automobile sold in North America in FY2009 achieved a 90% or higher level of design recyclability3, helping to reduce inputs to the waste stream from a vehicle's disposal at the end of its useful life.

Green Building
Honda Aircraft Company, Inc.'s headquarters in Greensboro, NC, joined five other Honda facilities in North America that have attained Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Additional information on Honda's environmental performance outside of North America can be found in Honda Motor Company's Environmental Report, with a focus on the company's activities in Japan - available at world.honda.com.

Honda Web site: http://www.honda.comHonda Environmental Report: http://corporate.honda.com/environment/2009-reportHonda Multimedia Newsroom: http://www.hondanews.comHonda on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/hondaHonda on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alicia_at_hondaHonda on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/hondanews

1Honda and Acura products are produced using domestic and globally sourced parts2CO2 emissions from the consumption of electricity and natural gas, representing about 96% of total direct CO2 emissions from Honda's North American manufacturing operations.3Vehicle recyclability calculated using Honda's own internal methods, based on ISO standard 22628, titled "Road Vehicle Recyclability and Recoverability Calculation Method".

Source;
http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1097/releases/5232

Honda gets insightful for Earth Day

To reestablish itself as a leader in the environmental space, Honda is using the launch of its 2010 Insight hybrid to cut a swath through the greenwashing clutter with a campaign to keep the skies blue for the kiddies.

The "Blue Skies for Our Children" effort launches today, Earth Day, with TV, print, online banner and POS ads, elevator wraps and digital brochures, all part of a media buy by PHD. It looks more to the bigger environmental picture, unlike the Insight's US launch, which predominantly focuses on the vehicle and its attributes, minus the "Blue Skies" messaging.

The real cornerstone of the campaign story is its microsite, which is divided into three sections: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Each one offers a unique look at Honda's ongoing legacy of pioneering environmental innovation, as seen through the eyes of children, Earth's custodians in waiting.

Today draws focus to the 2010 Insight - "the hybrid for everyone" - as further proof of Honda's green-geared leadership, as well as some of its other, more surprising green products, like a hybrid snow blower. Tomorrow features interviews with kids, using their visions to symbolically illustrate the road that Honda strives to take. The web interviews ultimately provided the groundwork for the TV executions, so even the creative is green.

"We wanted to talk about these innovations through the lens of children because children are dreamers, children are optimists, and really, for us, embodied this 'power of dreams' notion, which is Honda's global tagline," explains Jon Finkelstein, partner, creative at Grip Limited, who developed the campaign. "They're not jaded, they don't have a sense of ennui and they do have the sense that anything's possible if you put your mind to it."
www.hondabluesky.ca

Source;
http://www.mediaincanada.com/articles/mic/20090422/honda.html