Clean cars, now clean factories -- that is a good thing.

I hear that Volvo Trucks’ plant in Tuve, Sweden, will become the world’s first CO2-free automotive plant with five large wind power plants and a new biofuel plant generating electricity and heat that will eliminate the emission of carbon dioxide, the leading contributor to the greenhouse effect.

Volvo has also developed an environmentally friendly hybrid technology that uses electricity and a diesel engine to power its vehicles. The technology is designed to reduce fuel consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and noise pollution -- so why not apply the same principles to building the cars in the first place.

Can U.S. automakers be that far behind?

And maybe gadget makers will get on this bandwagon, too?