WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Energy recently launched a $3 million prize to revitalize domestic solar panel manufacturing. The program will support entrepreneurs as they develop transformative ideas into concepts and then into early-stage prototypes ready for industry testing.

Daimler AG is developing a sustainable supply chain for its worldwide assembly plants. In particular, the automaker is strengthening enforcement activities that relate to human rights, including the responsible procurement of raw materials.

In the future, vehicles may travel down roads covered by overhead catenary wires and on highways paved with solar panels. Several experimental projects already exist in China, France and Southern California.

HAGERSTOWN, MD—Volvo Group has installed a 5,000-panel solar canopy in the parking lot of its power train assembly plant here. The canopy will produce 1.3 megawatts of electricity for the facility.

Manufacturers are pursuing a wide variety of “green” initiatives, such as energy-efficient lighting, landfill gas, recycling, solar panels and wind turbines. In fact, more than one-half of our 2014 State of the Profession respondents claim their plant has implemented green-related programs during the past 12 months. That’s a 3 percentage point increase over 2013 and 8 percentage points higher than 2012.

Rising energy costs are forcing manufacturers to seek innovative ways to optimize energy consumption.