Toyota issues 2009 North America environmental report

Toyota announced significant environmental accomplishments over the last year in its ninth annual North America Environmental Report released on December 7. The report is an update on progress toward the goals and targets in the company's 2011 Environmental Action Plan.

The 2009 North America Environmental Report details Toyota's efforts in six key areas: Energy and Climate Change, Recycling and Improved Resource Use, Substances of Concern, Air Quality, Environmental Management and Cooperation with Society.

“Like many other companies, we faced a difficult business climate over the last year,” said Dian Ogilvie, senior vice president of Toyota Motor North America. “But even with this challenge, we accomplished a great deal. We made reductions in energy consumption, water use and waste generation that will benefit us greatly in the future. Our commitment to operating in harmony with the environment and our vision for sustainable mobility is as strong as ever.”

Below are a few highlights from the 2009 North America Environmental Report:

• Introduction of the third-generation Prius, with an innovative, optional rooftop‑mounted solar panel and improved fuel efficiency.
• Introduction of the Lexus HS 250h, which includes Ecological Plastics in approximately 30 percent of the combined interior and luggage areas.
• Installation of the second-largest solar panel array in the U.S. at the company’s parts center in Ontario, California.
• Reduction of 16 percent in energy consumption at Toyota’s plant in Georgetown, Kentucky.
• Installation of water-borne paint systems at the company’s plants in Princeton, Indiana, and Woodstock, Ontario, which lessen emissions of volatile organic compounds.

Other accomplishments cited in the report include:

Advanced vehicle technologies

• Toyota has sold more than two million hybrids worldwide since the first Prius was introduced in 1997. The company has a goal to sell one million hybrids a year by mid-next decade and offer a hybrid version of all passenger vehicles by the early 2020s.
• Beginning in late 2009, Toyota will start delivery of 500 Prius plug-in hybrid vehicles, powered by first generation lithium-ion batteries, for a global demonstration program.
• Toyota announced that it will bring a full electric vehicle (EV) to market in the 2012 time frame.
• Fuel cell hybrid vehicle research continues with the University of California’s Irvine and Berkeley campuses as well as New York’s John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports. Toyota aims to bring a fuel cell vehicle to market by 2015.

Operations

• Energy improvements at Toyota’s U.S. plants have reduced CO2 emissions by almost 150,000 metric tons since the FY2002 base year and saved over $18 million annually.
• Toyota’s Georgetown, Ky., plant held a competition to encourage employees to reduce energy consumption throughout the plant. The winning team reduced energy use in the plastics shop by 83 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
• Toyota’s plant in Huntsville, Alabama, was the first Toyota plant and the first business in the area to install a photovoltaic system. The five-kilowatt solar panel generates enough energy to light over 16,000 square feet of floor space.
• The Toyota parts center in Ontario, California, installed the second largest single-rooftop solar array in North America. The 2.3-megawatt system is expected to produce more than 3.7 million kilowatt-hours per year, providing up to 58 percent of the electricity needed at the facility. The system contains over 10,400 panels and covers a surface area of 242,000 square feet.
• Toyota logistics carriers drive over one million miles per day, transporting parts and vehicles across North America. Toyota and its carriers conducted research on improving fuel efficiency of the trucks through aerodynamic improvement equipment such as boat tails and side skirts. Installing this equipment on 18 long route trucks resulted in a 6 percent improvement in fuel economy.

Partners

• The Lexus of Las Vegas dealership went from recycling less than 5 percent by volume of their waste stream to well over 75 percent and achieved a 97 percent reduction in the volume of waste sent to landfill.
• TogetherGreen, an alliance between Toyota and the National Audubon Society, has produced significant results in its first full year, including $1.4 million in environmental grants, 40 environmental leaderships fellowships, and nearly 43,000 hours of volunteer time to benefit the environment.

To view the 2009 North America Environmental Report, visit http://www.toyota.com/environmentreport. This year, for the first time, the full report will only be available electronically, further reducing Toyota’s environmental impact.