the volkswagen plant of chattanooga announced on december 1st that they are now the most efficient auto manufacturer in the world. from cooling their welding guns with collected rainwater from their roof to shipping nearly 600 cars out of the plant by rail, vw’s leed-platinum automotive manufacturing plant boasts to be the greenest.

the most unique process at the plant has to do with paint. the paint process is innovative in two ways. first, vw says that it cuts carbon emissions by 20% thanks to eliminating the primer coat. second, vw uses limestone powder instead of water to collect the sludge. the paint shop alone saves vw 50,000 gallons of water per day.