Automotive News - August 11, 2008 - (Page 36i) INSIGHT AUGUST 11, 2008 • 36I buildings for their environmental friendliness. The next generation of LEED standards will include a measurement of the efficiency of a building’s location, Deron Lovaas tells Automotive News. He is vehicles campaign director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group. But such considerations will come too late for too much land, says Charles Connall, a trustee of Adams Township in Decatur County, Ind. Some of Honda’s land is in the township. Connall, a former farmer and livestock feed salesman who now works at Wal-Mart, says he didn’t publicly object to Honda’s arrival because the site was not his land. But he says he hates to see farmland turned into “cement and pavement.” “We’re going to see the time when we are begging for food,” he says. “We’re seeing it already.” c PLANTS Many companies avoid brownfields continued from Page 36H Stopping sprawl To encourage wise development and land use and discourage sprawl, which contributes to greenhouse gases, Reid Ewing, a research professor at the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, suggests governments and automakers should ■ Direct development toward existing communities ■ Provide a variety of transportation choices ■ Mix land uses ■ Take advantage of compact building design ■ Preserve open spaces, farmland and critical environmental areas Source: Ewing; Smart Growth Network In the Greensburg case, Honda took great care to replant extensive areas and provide a series of lakes for natural management of surface water, spokesman Andrew Stoner says. But the automakers’ original site selection decisions “call into question the green claims of their facilities,” says Trip Pollard, director of the land and communities program at the Southern Environmental Law Center. The nonprofit group normally doesn’t fight individual projects, such as assembly plants, but it tries to change the public policies that encourage unwise land use, Pollard says. State governments compete vigorously for automobile plants. They then typically subsidize the new plants with tax breaks and other incentives, including upgraded or expanded rail lines and highways. The additions also encourage suppliers to locate nearby and help workers commute — generally one person per vehicle — to new factory jobs. So the sprawl effect is compounded, critics say. “There’s a whole nest of issues,” Pollard says. Kim Hill, associate director of the economics and business group at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., labels incentives for greenfield sites “kind of absurd” and the sprawling development they promote “unsustainable.” “Land use arguments are going to change dramatically because of climate change,” Sorensen says. LEEDing location Already, there are signs that it is occurring. Automakers, suppliers and dealers all boast when they get LEED certification for their facilities. The name stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a program of the U.S. Green Building Council. The program measures and certifies “DOWN-SIZING” OR “RIGHT-SIZING”? ACCORDING TO NEW STUDY, CAR BUYERS SAY “BOTH.” Acxiom’s Automotive Consumer Dynamics study helps marketers pinpoint target buyers. For a complimentary subscription, visit www.acxiom.com today. Innovative Technology The Brose Group is one of the fastest growing international automotive suppliers. Worldwide, more than 15,000 employees at 50 locations in 21 countries are engaged in the development and production of components and systems for automobiles. Today you can find a Brose product in every third vehicle produced worldwide. Better brown? Hill says essential infrastructure components such as highways, rail lines, utilities and sewer plants are already in place around many abandoned industrial sites, known as brownfields. Governments could attract new plants to brownfields if they had them prepared for redevelopment when site selection decisions are made and if they indemnified new owners for any on-site contamination that is uncovered, he says. “I’m a big proponent of reusing the land.” Of course, factors beyond land use are involved in site selection. Importbrand automakers try to mold their own work forces and avoid “contamination” from people who previously worked in other, unionized factories, Hill says. “It’s unfair,” he contends. For now, the attraction between nonurban areas and automakers is going to be difficult to break, says Bob Wagner, managing director of programs for the American Farmland Trust, a preservation group. For many economically struggling communities surrounded by open spaces, “the loss of farmland is not an immediate or acute issue,” he says. But the organization says that cropland is not as plentiful as it seems. Only about 3 percent of the Earth’s surface remains good for growing food. In the United States, more than 1 million acres are lost to development every year. Ann Sorensen, the Farmland Trust’s assistant vice president for research, says the promise of good jobs trumps concern for farmland, but the fight against global warming may alter the debate. Brose technology helps make day-to-day motoring of millions of car drivers safer and more pleasant. 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Capacitive sensors detect the position of the head and adjust to the correct height and distance accordingly - another example of Brose's dedication to finding solutions for the comfort and safety of vehicle occupants. Brose North America 3933 Automation Ave. Auburn Hills, MI 48326 Phone: (248) 339-4000 Fax: (248) 339-4099 Internet: www.brose.com The Brose Group Germany Belgium Brazil Canada China Czechia France Great Britain Hungary India Japan Mexico Portugal Slovakia South Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Turkey USA http://www.acxiom.com http://www.acxiom.com http://www.brose.com http://www.brose.com
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