General Motors Sustainability Newsletter - May 2017

May 4, 2017 5:00 PM ET

General Motors Sustainability Newsletter - May 2017

Energy Efficiency

GM Earns ENERGY STAR® Award for Environmental Leadership
GM earned the 2017 EPA ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year — Sustained Excellence award for continued leadership in protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. GM’s commitment to reducing energy intensity saved $73 million in energy costs last year and avoided 388,000 metric tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to the electricity use of 57,000 U.S. homes.
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Greener Vehicles

Earth Week Guest Post: A GM Engineer’s Drive to Make Recycled Content Mainstream
For our annual Earth Week guest post series, we’re showcasing a variety of voices in the sustainability space. First up, Matthew Vandyke, a materials engineer at General Motors, offers tips on how to incorporate more recycled content into manufacturing.
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Bolt EV Owners Drive 4.5 Million Miles
Chevrolet reported that 3,492 Bolt EV owners in the United States have driven a cumulative 4,570,300 miles as of April 2, 2017 since the vehicle went on sale in December 2016. These all-electric miles have resulted in more than 175,000 gallons of fuel saved based on the average EPA-estimated 26 mpg for 2017 vehicles in the U.S.  
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Maven Debuts Elevated Car-Sharing Service in Baltimore
Baltimoreans and visitors to the city can now access new cars on demand for hourly or daily rates through Maven’s seamless mobile app. Maven is expanding its offerings in Baltimore from the Lyft Express Drive program to now include Maven City car sharing. 
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GM Announces More Than 1,100 Jobs to Expand Cruise Automation Self-Driving Operations in California
GM announced that it will add more than 1,100 new jobs and invest $14 million in a new research and development facility for Cruise Automation in San Francisco. These investments will allow Cruise Automation to expand development of self-driving technologies that will transform personal mobility. 
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Cadillac Super Cruise Sets the Standard for Hands-Free Highway Driving
The 2018 Cadillac CT6 will feature Super Cruise, the industry’s first true hands-free driving technology for the highway. Unlike other driver assistance systems, Super Cruise utilizes two advanced technology systems — a driver attention system and precision LiDAR map data — to ensure safe and confident vehicle operation.
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GM and SAE International Select 8 North American Universities for New Autonomous Vehicle Competition
At WCX 17: SAE World Congress Experience, SAE International and GM announced the eight North American universities who will compete in the upcoming AutoDrive Challenge. This new autonomous vehicle design competition is a three-year challenge to develop and demonstrate a fully autonomous passenger vehicle.
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Resource Preservation

GM Employees to Plant 25,000 Hardwood Trees in the U.S.
The national nonprofit Living Lands & Waters began its MillionTrees Project in 2007 by collecting and planting acorns. This year, 27 GM facilities in seven states are taking part, providing more than 25,000 oak trees to employees and their families for Earth Day and Arbor Day plantings.
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Employees Photograph Wildlife at GM Sites
From a parts warehouse in Talegaon, India to an Ontario assembly plant, many animals make GM lands their home. Employees take notice, capturing images for the company’s annual wildlife habitat calendar and photo contest. Last year, nearly 350 photos were submitted from sites certified by the Wildlife Habitat Council.
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Outreach & Impact

DoSomething.org and GM Team Up to Stop Texting and Driving
DoSomething.org is teaming up with GM to address texting and driving behavior in young people across the country through the Crash Text Dummy campaign. The program is designed to shift young people’s perceptions of how dangerous texting and driving is to increase their likelihood of intervening.
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General Motors Expands Take 2 Program for Those Resuming Careers
GM continues to expand its career reentry program, Take 2, which provides training and development opportunities for experienced professionals returning to the workforce after taking a career break of two or more years. 
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