Is Ford Legitimately Going Green?

It's out of the norm for me to praise car companies for their green efforts. Usually I am calling bullshit on "green" marketing efforts for automobiles, because if there is any industry that is unsustainable and problem causing it is the automobile industry.

I am, however, beginning to changing my tune when it comes to Ford. Talking to Adam Werbach the other day made me realize that even the most unsustainable industries can benefit from adopting sustainable practice and Ford's efforts are hard to ignore.

I'll start with their latest "green dealership program" which you can read about at TreeHugger and at the Rocky Mountain Institute (who is teaming up with Ford on this project). 


I agree that this voluntary program to make Ford dealerships more energy efficient is a smart step for Ford to make. As the RMI article talks about, this is going to be beneficial to these dealerships not only in terms of energy and $$$ saving but also as a touch point for green consumers looking to support a domestic car company when they buy a new car.

When it comes to sustainability, companies need to be thinking how they can be sustainable on a large scale and one effort is really not enough. But Ford seems to be making multiple efforts. Working with William McDonough, they designed and built world's largest green roof at their Kentucky facility.

They have begun retrofitting (and spending big $$$) their Wayne, Michigan plant in order to start producing "next-generation hybrids" and batteries to go with them. They have also made a serious effort to design car software in order to have a better infrastructure for plug-in electrics. Ford is also making an effort to increase the MPG of all their vehicles and is offering more fuel-efficient models than they ever have.

Other than their "green" efforts Ford has also made efforts to become more socially sustainable. They  famously declined to take bail-out money and have been moving a lot of production back to the U.S. This is creating jobs and helping to eliminate our high unemployment.

Ford, as the strongest of the American car manufacturers, is beginning to see that the future of the automobile industry is going to be much different from the past and are beginning to make efforts to embrace this new future.

I am of course not without my criticisms. Ford is talking a lot of "green" and are doing it a bit prematurely. They still produce their fair share of gas-guzzling SUVs and large trucks with low MPG and they are still a polluting car manufacturer. However, at least they seem to be making a legitimate effort to enact some sustainable changes. I hope that they will one day become a leader in green car production and will put the U.S.  on the map as a producer of better automobiles.