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Toyota Creates New Flower Species To Help Reduce Pollution |
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| By Michael d'Estries in Climate Change, Green Building, Pollution | November 3, 2009 | ||
To make the production of its hybrid Prius that much greener, Toyota has engineered two new plant species that absorb harmful gases and help take heat out of the atmosphere. It’s a move straight out of science fiction, but it’s not the first time the automaker has played God to help lower its carbon footprint. The grass around its Tsutsumi plant in Toyota City, Japan was developed to grow shorter — requiring cutting only once per year, compared with three times for the previous species. From Drive.com.au,
The flowers, derivatives of the cherry sage plant and the gardenia, were specially developed for the grounds of Toyota’s Prius plant in Toyota City, Japan. The sage derivative’s leaves have unique characteristics that absorb harmful gases, while the gardenia’s leaves create water vapour in the air, reducing the surface temperature of the factory surrounds and, therefore, reducing the energy needed for cooling, in turn producing less carbon dioxide (CO2).
Other green initiatives at the plant include roof-mounted solar panels, photocatalytic paint on exterior walls, reflective solar tubes that provide interior light, bathroom lights that automatically turn off, and reduced air conditioning.
Image credit: Drive.com.au
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Quand Toyota se prend pour Dieu ... - Buzzecolo said,
[...] en parle aussi : Groovygreen / [...]
Jasper said,
This developments has some similarities to the ‘artificial tree’ idea mooted by engineers in the UK. The suggestion is that the ‘trees’ would absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
There is an piece about it on the SolarUK weblog:
http://solarukweblog.wordpress.com/2009/09/11/chicken-feed/
These trees do of course trigger plenty of objections. For example, what about the carbon emissions involved in their construction?
Individual efforts to reduce fossil fuel consumption, through home insulation or a solar hot water system, are more useful in the long run than a measure which only tackles the symptoms. .