At Tsutsumi We're Building a Better Tomorrow
Sep 21, 2009 By Toyota Australia.
Around the world, businesses and fleet operators are working on ways to make their operations more economically and environmentally sustainable. Toyota's business also faces the same challenges.
A great example of how Toyota is tackling this complex task is in how the All New 3rd Generation
Prius is manufactured. The plant where Prius is built sets the highest standards for clean operations and the use of renewable energy sources.
The state-of-the-art Tsutsumi Plant in Japan is one of five Toyota global Eco-Factories designed to minimise environmental impact and develop best practices that can be adopted elsewhere in the Toyota network. It has held the ISO14001 'green standard' for environmental management since 1996, pioneering innovations in energy saving, waste management and recycling.
The Tsutsumi Plant is virtually self sufficient when it comes to electricity and uses a 50,000m[sup]2[/sup] array of solar panels that can generate 2,000kW of energy an hour to meet half its daily electricity requirements. The rest of its energy demands are met by an on-site efficient gas co-generation system.
Using the same principle as the Tsutsumi Plant, the All New 3rd Generation Prius i-Tech (tm) model also uses solar panels in its roof to power a fan to cool the cabin when parked in direct sunlight. Keeping the cabin cool, conserving energy and maximising fuel economy.
Did you know that the paint you choose for your building can make a difference to the local environment? 22,000m[sup]2[/sup] of the Tsutsumi assembly plant is covered in photocatalytic paint that reacts to sunlight by releasing active oxygen into the atmosphere, helping break down harmful substances such as nitrogen oxides (N[sup]2[/sup]O).
It's just one more example of how Toyota is continually working on more sustainable ways to make vehicles for your fleet.
Building Cars, Planting Trees
Not only is production growing to new heights at the Tsutsumi Plant, Toyota workers and people from the local community joined forces to plant 50,000 trees around the factory site last year to help offset CO[sub]2[/sub] emissions. Planting trees is something Toyota Australia supports through the Planet Ark National Tree Day. It's something every business can get involved in.