Wind Powered Diesel Engines
A significant part of Land Rover’s Responsible Manufacturing policy is an ongoing commitment to reducing emissions through the proliferation of renewable energy. So great is this commitment that Land Rover are now building diesel engines using wind power.
Every year, Land Rover’s Dagenham Diesel Centre produces 100,000 diesel engines. These engines find their way into a number of our models, including the Discovery, Defender, Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport. The energy behind these engine builds is harnessed from two 120m high wind turbine towers, which provide the Dagenham facility with 3.6MW capacity. That’s six million kilowatt hours of renewable energy every year. To put that another way, it´s roughly the equivalent to the electricity usage of over 2,000 homes.
The primary air pollutants in the UK are carbon dioxide (CO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Through the use of these wind turbines, the Dagenham Diesel Centre has significantly reduced the emission of these pollutants. The facility has cut 3,000 metric tonnes of CO2, 67 metric tonnes of SO2 and 20 metric tonnes of NOx each year.
Carbon emissions from the assembly of Land Rover’s vehicles at the two production facilities at Solihull in the west midlands and Halewood in the north west of England are also being offset. This offsetting process is managed by ClimateCare, with Land Rover’s Vehicle Assembly Offset Programme funding projects that either avoid or reduce CO2 emissions all over our planet. Thus, ensuring the amount that’s saved balances the CO2 emissions produced during the manufacturing and assembly process. Of course, all of the projects that are funded by Land Rover’s Offset Programme go through a rigorous process of verification and validation to ensure the CO2 emissions targets are achieved.
At one such project, wind energy and Land Rover’s CO2 offsetting come together in an effort to make a significant difference to carbon emissions for our planet. China’s economy is growing at an incredible rate and currently, the country consumes about 10% of the world’s power. This thirst for energy has resulted in what’s been reported as the commission of a new coal-fired power station every five days. The Land Rover CO2 Offset Programme supports 82 wind turbines in Hebei province, with the capacity to generate a total of 110GWh per year. This is a significant addition to China’s wind energy capacity and continuing aim to reduce the region’s consumption of fossil fuels. The planned CO2 emissions offset in this scheme are equivalent to those produced by 5,000 Discovery 3 TDV6s driving 45000 miles.
