Toyota develops new flower species to offset CO2 at Prius plant

Pretty interesting article over on The Age about Toyota's efforts to decrease CO2 emissions at it's Prius plant in Japan.

Toyota has created a new plant species designed to offset the CO2 created by its Prius assembly operations. Toyota has created two flower species that absorb nitrogen oxides and take heat out of the atmosphere. 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). The two new plants are part of a wide-ranging plan to reduce the impact of Prius manufacture on the environment. Since 1990, the plant has reduced CO2 emissions by 55 per cent. ​

Toyota also keeps their office air conditioning set at 82 degrees in the summer to reduce CO2 output, and white-collar workers are allowed to wear short sleeve shirts and no ties to make up for sweating their butts off. Rest of the article here: The Age Photo from Jalopnik and is of the Prius marketing flower campaign, not the actual flower species Toyota created.