Ford Seeds San Francisco-Area Green Projects; Launches Fusion Hybrid, Focus Electric with Leading Use of Clean Technology

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Ford Motor Company is helping kick-start San Francisco-area environmental projects with green grants as it introduces this fall the new 2013 Focus Electric and Fusion Hybrid – flagships for a lineup of fuel-efficient vehicles featuring materials such as soybeans, recycled plastic bottles and denim.

Today, Ford announces five San Francisco-based finalists for its Community Green Grant, an award recognizing those local leaders and nonprofits that have demonstrated a commitment to sustainability, improving the environment and forward planning.

“Ford is a leader in developing fuel-efficient vehicles – from advanced EcoBoost® gas-powered models to all-electric vehicles – built with sustainable materials and technologies,” says Carol Kordich, lead designer of Sustainable Materials for Ford. “In every new Fusion Hybrid, Ford uses recycled denim – the equivalent of two pairs of blue jeans, 41.5 recycled water bottles and 31,000 soybeans to create a diverse set of features.

“Our Community Green Grant awards provide an opportunity to recognize and reward those organizations here in San Francisco that are providing that level of leadership in their community and building the type of sustainable efforts we need in a competitive 21st century economy,” Kordich adds.

Finalists for the Ford Community Green Grant in San Francisco include:

• All One Ocean: Founded in 2010, All One Ocean aims to install permanent on-site Beach Clean Up Stations (BCUS), which are receptacles with educational signage, local art and repurposed bags for trash collection. The BCUS also encourage people to use re-usable bags, bottles and food containers. In December 2011, with the help of local volunteers, businesses and the National Park Service, the pilot station was set up at Limantour Beach in Pt. Reyes National Seashore. In Spring 2011, All One Ocean was accepted as a subproject of the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute. Having demonstrated on the ground success, in Summer 2012, All One Ocean was accepted as a permanent project of Earth Island Institute.

• City Slicker Farms: Founded in 2001, City Slicker Farms' seeks to empower West Oakland community members to meet the need for fresh, healthy food by creating sustainable, high-yield urban farms and backyard gardens. Today, City Slicker Farms consists of five Community Market Farms, 170 Backyard Gardens, a Farm Stand, a greenhouse, and Urban Farming Education programs. Together, these activities repurpose urban green space for sustainable food production and environmental conservation, give low-income families support to grow their own food, engage residents in green job skills, and serve as a model for improving access to affordable, fresh, healthy foods low income neighborhoods.

• RE-volv: RE-volv incorporated as a non-profit organization in February 2011 collects donations for community-based solar projects and educates communities about RE-volv's solar services. RE-volv utilized pro-bono services from Milbank, a highly regarded law firm with renewable energy expertise, to develop a customized solar lease contract. Using this contract, RE-volv has submitted three formal solar lease proposals to communities in San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley and forged partnerships with solar installers Sun Light and Power, Black Rock Solar, and Sunwork. RE-volv is working closely with these companies to identify ideal community organizations for RE-volv's solar lease services. RE-volv has also formed collaborative partnerships with a series of non-profit environmental organizations including World Wildlife Fund, 350.org, and the National Audubon Society. 

• The Organic Fund: The Fund began in 2011 as an outlet for residents of Richmond, California to save and collect compost locally. A person collects compost in the iron triangle, drops it off at 3 urban gardens in Richmond, California as an informal exhange for free fresh organic vegitables which are shared among retired seniors in the area. As demand for their service is expanding, local business are beginning to donate their compostable waste as a method to reduce costs and give back to the community that supports their businesses.

• Plant*SF: Plant*SF was founded in 2005 to create sidewalk gardens to replace excess pavement to divert storm water from the city’s combined sewer system. The gardens help reduce the volume of rain water that enters the sewer system, increasing the amount of untreated sewage that’s able to be processed at municipal wastewater facilities. The organization is responsible for enabling and popularizing sidewalk gardens city-wide. Since coauthoring the permit process with the SFDPW in 2006, Plant*SF has created dozens of demonstration gardens across San Francisco in neighborhoods such as the Mission, Sunset, Bayview and Marina, representing tens of thousands of square feet of excess pavement removed.

A Ford Community Green Grant would be used for the creation and execution of a large-scale mural as part of a green public park being built in the Mission District of San Francisco. The community-generated park plan includes new garden beds for public use, an arbor, a greenhouse, and space for water conservation and habitat education projects. This is an exciting community project designed to re-envision urban space as green space and offering a rare opportunity to create green education opportunities in the heart of the city.

The proposals from the five finalists announced Friday, Nov. 2 will be on hand at the Ford Pavilion at the SF Green Festival Nov. 10 through 11, where attendees will be able to vote on the proposal they feel should be awarded the $5,000 grant. Online voting will also be available today starting Monday, November 5 at 9:00 a.m. EDT to Friday, Nov. 9 at 11:59 p.m. EDT at http://www.greenfestivals.org/fcgg-san-francisco-2012/.

The company’s relationship with the SF Green Festival also gives Ford an opportunity to outline its sustainability efforts beyond automotive production. John Viera, global director of Sustainability and Vehicle Environmental Matters at Ford, will deliver a presentation at the festival to discuss the company’s green and sustainability efforts, and open a dialogue with local residents about how Ford along with its customers can work together to improve the environment.

Ford will announce the winner and award the grant the evening of Sunday, Nov. 11.

More information on the Ford Community Green Grant program can be found here: http://www.action-marketing-group.com/greengrant/.

Eco-conscious solutions

Ford’s “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle” commitment is part of the company’s broader global sustainability strategy to reduce its environmental footprint while at the same time accelerating the development of advanced, fuel-efficient vehicle technologies around the world.

Ford vehicles are approximately 95 percent recyclable at end of life. By using recycled content in its vehicles and ensuring its parts are recyclable, Ford is a leader in auto recycling efforts.

In 2009, Ford mandated fabric suppliers use a minimum of 25 percent recycled content for all 2009 and beyond model year vehicles. Since then, 37 different fabrics meeting the requirements have been developed and incorporated into Ford vehicles.

Examples include soy foam seat cushions and head restraints, wheat straw-filled plastic, castor oil foam in instrument panels, recycled resins for underbody systems, recycled yarns on seat covers and natural-fiber plastic for interior components.

Second chance for water bottles

Ford, through the use of REPREVE^® seat fabric made from a hybrid blend of recycled plastic bottles and post-industrial waste, plans to divert about 2 million post-consumer plastic bottles for use in the new Fusion Hybrid, Focus Electric and other vehicles for the 2013 model year.

Each Focus Electric interior contains the equivalent of about 22 recycled plastic bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), while Fusion hybrids feature nearly 42.

“Ford is committed to delivering vehicles with leading fuel efficiency while targeting at least 25 percent recycled content in seat fabric across our lineup,” says Kordich. “The Focus Electric highlights this commitment as Ford’s first gas-free vehicle, and the first in the automotive industry to use branded REPREVE.”

More with 40

Ford will offer eight vehicles that deliver 40 mpg or better by year-end – double its number versus 2011 and more than any other full-line automaker. In fact, Ford’s eight-vehicle tally is more than the number of 40-mpg-plus vehicles Toyota and General Motors offer combined.

Ford also is tripling its electrified vehicle production capacity by 2013, growing its electrified vehicle lineup to six models. By the end of 2012, Ford will have launched these electrified vehicles in North America:

• Focus Electric (production began late 2011; most fuel-efficient compact car with 110 MPGe; can be recharged in four hours – nearly half the time as Nissan Leaf)

• C-MAX Hybrid (available now; EPA-rated at 47 mpg city, highway and combined – up to 7 mpg highway better than Toyota Prius v; America’s most affordable hybrid utility vehicle)

• C-MAX Energi plug-in hybrid (coming this fall; expected 550-mile total range and 20-plus-mile electric-only range, more than triple EPA-tested electric-mode range of Toyota Prius plug-in hybrid; C-MAX Energi is America’s most affordable plug-in hybrid vehicle)

• Fusion Hybrid (available this fall; expected to beat Toyota Camry Hybrid by 5 mpg highway)

• Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid (begins production by end of the year; aiming to be the most fuel-efficient midsize car in the world with more than 100 MPGe)

• Lincoln MKZ Hybrid (coming later this year; 2013 MKZ Hybrid is projected to remain the most fuel-efficient luxury sedan in America)