F1 News: Racing Bulls on the road to carbon net zero with Cefla

Visa Cash App Racing Bulls has joined forces with Cefla, an Italian civil and industrial engineering company, with the goal of generating most of our Faenza facility’s electricity and heating needs in-house, while producing net-zero emissions.

This program is yet another step in the team’s push to reach its carbon-neutral goals, in line with Red Bull GmbH and Formula One’s commitment.

Cefla was established over 90 years ago in nearby Imola and is a leader in its field. The joint project aims to install a NOVA Solid Oxide fuel cell in the Faenza factory, running on sustainable fuel, employing a chemical process that is free of pollutant and noise emissions and does not require the use of water. The fuel cell generates electricity, while also recovering heat energy that can contribute to heating the factory. Electrical efficiency using this fuel cell technology is 20% higher than with conventional methods, while CO2 emissions will be net zero due to use of certified sustainable fuel.

Apart from the important benefits to the environment in reducing greenhouse gases, this technology, combined with the photovoltaic plant already installed in the factory, will result in the VCARB facility being self-sufficient and sustainable in terms of its electrical and heating needs.

“Having become operational in 2015, our Faenza factory is relatively new, and therefore complies with all best practice for a sustainable building”, commented Enrico Fastelli, Visa Cash App Racing Bulls Facility Management & HSE Director. “Therefore, energy saving was already on the agenda when it was built, incorporating high performance insulation, low energy lighting and heating and cooling. Since then, the topic of sustainability has become even more important and we went further installing photovoltaic plants, introducing best practice such as banning single-use plastic and encouraging the use of bicycles and public transportation for our staff. This joint project with Cefla to produce our own electrical power is a great step forward towards becoming carbon neutral because it will cover almost 80% of our current energy needs in an on-site and sustainable way.”

“We’ve been working on this project together with VCARB with the aim of producing sustainable electricity in the most efficient way possible,” commented Mario Gargano, Sales Director of Cefla’s Energy Business Line. “To achieve this, we are using NOVA by Cefla technology, a self-set Group goal for delivering heightened efficiency to its customers. It’s an honor to be able to do this for a company like Visa Cash App Racing Bulls with whom we share not just the same geographical area but also the same approach and future-focused vision this project exemplifies.”