LANCASTER, CA—Construction has begun on a solar energy project at BYD’s Coach & Bus assembly plant here. When fully operational, the project is expected to save the factory more than $100,000 per year in electricity costs.

DETROIT—General Motors plans to invest more than $2 billion in its Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant to produce a variety of electric vehicles, including pickup trucks and SUVs.

BRUSSELS – Toyota Motor Europe recently announced it reached 100 percent renewable electricity use across all its European operations and facilities in 2019.

SANTA CLARA, CA—Sunpreme, a solar cell and bifacial panel maker, has announced plans to build a Texas manufacturing facility in 2019. Envisioned in two phases, the plant’s capacity will eventually ramp to 400 megawatts of production.

HOMEWOOD, PA—Thread International plans to recycle plastic bottles collected by workers in Haiti, Honduras and Taiwan into fabric and use it to manufacture shoes, clothing and a new line of high-end backpacks. The company's founder and CEO is Ian Rosenberger, who appeared on the reality show Survivor in 2005.