Prius Gets Even Greener
The new generation 2010 Toyota Prius has the best fuel economy ever seen on a production hybrid. So how does it get greener? By manufacturing it in an eco-friendly factory. The production of carbon emissions and the consumption of fossil fuels occurs through all phases of the automotive supply chain. From the energy required to mine the metals to construct a car, to the energy required to transport it to a refinery, then converting it into a pliable form, further transportation to the manufacturing site, and then the actual production. In order to cut down on the environmental damage that is largely unseen by the driving public, Toyota is constructing the Prius in a manufacturing complex that extends the model’s green credentials.
The Tsutsumi factory, one of five such eco-friendly plants in the Toyota network, has a huge solar panel array for developing electricity. And it really is huge, measuring in at 50,000 square meters, which equates to about nine and a half football fields. The array produces about 2,000 Kw/h of electricity, which comprises about half of the plant’s needs. But it doesn’t end there. Another 22,000 square meters of the plant is covered in a photocatalytic paint. When receiving sunlight, this paint causes a chemical reaction that takes hazardous NOx emissions and breaks them down to their constituent parts, Nitrogen and Oxygen, the two most plentiful gases in the atmosphere.
Other systems that recycle water and reduce/eliminate the amount of landfill waste produced by the factory also helps to mitigate the production process’ envrionmental impact.
