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Volvo Launches World's First CO2-Free Automotive Plant

AB Volvo has decided to make Volvo Trucks’ plant in Tuve the world’s first CO2-free automotive plant. As a result of investments in wind power and biofuel, the plant’s electricity and heat will come from sources that do not emit any carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. “The Greenhouse Effect is a reality and the automotive industry has a specific responsibility for coping with emissions of carbon dioxide,” says Volvo’s Chief Executive Officer Leif Johansson. Combined with efforts to achieve energy savings of up to 20%, Volvo, in cooperation with Goteborg Energi is currently building five large wind power plants and a new biofuel plant adjacent to the Tuve plant. The five wind power plants alone will increase the amount of wind-power generated electricity in Sweden by 4%. When the plant does not fully utilize the produced electricity and heat, the surplus energy will be distributed to other customers via the district heating and electricity network. The wind power plants and the new biofuel plant are scheduled for completion during 2007. “This is not solely an admirable environmental effort,” says Leif Johansson. “We also expect that it will eventually be profitable on a purely commercial basis.” Volvo’s ambition is to make […]

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Zoltek in Deal for $50 million Financing Package

Zoltek Companies Inc. (Nasdaq: ZOLT), which makes components used for wind turbines and other products, has entered into an agreement for a convertible debenture financing package of up to $50 million in a private placement with a group of institutional investors. Zoltek will use the proceeds to support expansion, including the construction and start-up of nine new carbon fiber production lines at facilities in Hungary and the addition of new capacity at that plant for making acrylic precursor raw material used in the production of carbon fiber. “The new financing package is key to meeting rapidly expanding demand for carbon fibers, to increasing Zoltek’s sales and operating results in the near-term future, and to achieving our strategic objective of commercializing carbon fiber as competitive cost, high volume building material,” said Zsolt Rumy, Zoltek’s Chairman and CEO. “The financing package will enable us to almost double our capacity from what it will be at the end of this year — lifting rated carbon fiber productive capacity from 9 million to 17 million pounds a year. This is not a matter of build it (additional capacity) and they will come. All of new capacity that we are bringing on line will be […]

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