When going green, efficiency and re-purposing can go along way.
GM has followed that formula at its Pontiac Engineering Center in Pontiac, MI. They harvest excess energy from engine testing to power parts of the facility. The project began in 2008 with a facility renovation, and was built into the design from day one.
Dave Gunnels, engineering manager for Pontiac test facilities said that, “Pontiac was a brownfield project, which meant parts of it were in existence already, but other wings of the facility had to be built from the ground up…the benefit of building from scratch was that we were able to bake in energy efficiency aspects directly into the system, rather than trying to retrofit.”
The energy gathered is used to power climate control systems and lighting in laboratory areas. This increased electrical efficiency allowed GM designers to also reduce the amount of electrical infrastructure the building would need.
What about all those exhaust fumes created by those test engines, and how much energy has GM actually saved? GM cleans the exhaust with a bank of thermal oxidizers outside the plant before releasing the exhaust to the air, and the energy GM has produced since thee 2008 renovation has been about 26.7 million kilowatt-hours. That is enough electricity to power 2,300+ homes for a year.
Looks like you can fix just about anything with a GM small block.
