Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Green Culture, Honda, South/Latin America, USA



Honda is broadening its green credentials on two continents, building a trial "smart home" in Northern California and embracing wind-power for its Brazil factory.

The Japanese automaker this year will build a home at University of California, Davis, that, among other things, will be powered by solar energy (which will charge a Honda Fit Electric in the garage, of course), use energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning systems and be constructed with sustainable materials.

Honda built a demonstration "smart" home in Japan last year and is now looking to help California meet a state goal of having new homes be energy-neutral (i.e. making as much electricity as it consumes) by the end of the decade. Honda calls it "Zero Net Energy."

Meanwhile, a little further south, Honda's Brazilian division is building a wind farm in the southern part of the country that's slated to be completed by September 2014. With nine turbine windmills, the farm will produce 85,000 MWh of electricity a year and cut CO2 emissions by more than 2,200 tons annually. Honda, which has been building cars in Brazil since 1976, is investing about 100 million Brazilian réais (US $50 million) in the project.

Check out Honda's press release on the Brazilian wind farms and a presser on the UC Davis smart home below.Continue reading Honda gets "Zero Net Energy" Smart Home in CA, goes for wind power in Brazil

Honda gets "Zero Net Energy" Smart Home in CA, goes for wind power in Brazil originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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