Green Machines | UK car manufacturing cleans up its act as F1 innovates on particulate pollution

• UK car plants increase their renewable energy mix
• Audi puts weight behind on-street particulate filter innovation

Green energy powers UK car manufacturing

As the kids in England go back to school we’ve been mopping up some of the summer sustainability stories, including the annual report on such matters from industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This is the 27th such sustainability report from the SMMT, and comes at an important moment with the arrival of a new Prime Minister and hoped-for focus on green energy from his fresh appointees.

The good news? On-site renewable energy generation at UK car manufacturing plants is up a third in a year, and now equals a fraction over 80GWh for a saving of 14,000 tonnes of carbon – equivalent to the energy demands of 32,000 homes according to SMMT claims. Those solar panels and wind turbines at British manufacturing sites are more than just greenwashing as well, given they save the companies operating them money and help them operate more efficiently.

The SMMT points out car manufacturers can’t do it on their own, though, and the wider grid they also depend on needs to build on its proportion of renewables, keep a lid on costs and improve connections to industrial sites if local production is to prosper. While the UK figures are improving they still lag behind Europe, according to the SMMT.

“The UK automotive industry is investing significant amounts to try and remain competitive, innovating to decarbonise from well to wheel and creating greener factories for greener vehicles in every nation of the UK,” says SMMT chief Mike Hawes. “But ambition alone cannot deliver sustainability at the pace needed. Manufacturers need faster connections, more low-carbon power and energy costs that are internationally competitive. With the right conditions, industry can go faster and further, delivering investment, jobs, economic growth and decarbonisation for generations to come.”

Audi’s F1 team turn street sweepers

Proving there’s more to sustainability than cutting carbon emissions Audi has been making noise about its support of ‘smart’ filters designed to capture the harmful particulates from tyres, brakes and the like which can be washed from the road and end up in the water supply.

A non-profit subsidiary of the manufacturer, the Audi Environmental Foundation helps fund and promote eco-friendly innovation like the Urbanfilter concept developed with the Technical University of Berlin and tested on the streets of the German capital and in Copenhagen.

With the motorsports governing body the FIA Audi has also supported the introduction of the Urbanfilter system at racetracks where its F1 team now compete, starting with the home of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. A test installation at the circuit apparently captured 99 per cent of the particulates washed from the track surface by rainwater.

“We are proud that the FIA is providing this important issue with a global stage and a testing ground under extreme conditions through its involvement in Formula 1,” said Sven Veit of the Audi Environmental Foundation. “Motorsport is once again proving that it can serve as a technological role model.”

Fair to say no numbers have been put to the Audi Environmental Foundation’s support of the Urbanfilter system but raising awareness of the issue of particulates and a possible solution through the lens of Formula 1 is a good start, and builds on Audi’s determination to make its participation in motorsport as sustainable as it is successful. To those ends its engine development plant in Germany has been awarded a top ranking for sustainability by the FIA for its use of renewable energy and heating.