Ferrari goes solar? Yes (The factories, not the cars)

Ferrari this week unveiled a new photovoltaic system on the roof of its engine mechanical machining facility in Maranello, Italy. The flat-roof array is expected to cut Ferrari’s off-the-grid energy consumption by nearly 214,000 kilowatt-hours a year.

As part of an ongoing sustainability programme (could driving a Ferrari ever really be green?), the company also plans to install a trigeneration plant at its facilities that would generate clean electricity along with heating and cooling. Expected to go into operation mid-year, the plant would provide almost all of Ferrari’s needed electricity and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 25 to 30 percent.

Ferrari has moved forward with numerous green efforts in recent years, receiving ISO 14001 certification in 2001. Its Prancing Horse earned Integrated Environmental Authorisation in 2007, and the company has also expanded the amount of green space inside and outside of its facilities. It says it now has some 165,000 square meters of green space and has planted more than 200 trees on its grounds over the past six months alone.

As for the cars themselves? Well, the vehicles that  “no one needs and that go faster than anyone should” (according to TreeHugger) aren’t exactly in the Toyota Prius/Honda Insight market … although its 2009 candidate for Formula One, the F60, does sport a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) that taps braking energy for an added boost of horsepower.