Volvo Trucks North America’s New River Valley assembly plant in Dublin, Va., is now carbon neutral thanks to a switch to renewable fuels to produce power.

“Today, our electricity is produced without any additional CO₂ contributing to an improved environment for our community,” said Franky Marchand, vice president and general manager of the plant. “The trash of the past is the methane gas that fuels our plants today.”

The assembly plant uses landfill gas to generate electric power and replaces fossil fuels that produced over 40,000 tons of carbon dioxide last year. Plant management also identified other ways to improve environmental efficiency at the plant and made adjustments accordingly.

An exterior wall of the plant now absorbs and captures solar heat to provide heating. They’ve also removed lighting from vending machines throughout the plant to save electricity. Combined with other changes, the initiatives are reducing energy intensity by 30%, according to Volvo Trucks.

The New River Valley plant assembles Volvo VNM, VNL, VNX, VHD and VAH trucks. The plant meets the U.S. Department of Energy's Superior Energy Platinum certification as well as the ISO 50001 international energy standard. 

(Updated Dec. 8 to correct, the entire plant is not carbon-neutral, only the electricity supplying the plant.)