Toyota Develops New Flower Species To Reduce Pollution

teko_teko writes "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."

Comments

Plants eventually die

[Anonymous Coward]

That's great but it may be a surprise to some people to learn that cherry sages do eventually die, and decompose and thus re-release that which they have absorbed.

Carbon offset, one of the greatest scams in history. Pay us to plant some trees, which we can later cut down and sell.

Re:Plants eventually die

[Anonymous Coward]

Only in places experiencing significant subsidence (think of the Mississippi delta), where plant materials at the surface will eventually be deeply buried. The fraction of plant material that does ultimately get buried for the long term is minuscule compared to the amount that gets promptly recycled by decay processes, right back into the atmosphere. The chances the scenario you describe is happening at the site of a Toyota plant are small indeed unless it is built on a subsiding swamp.

The part I don't get is "while the gardenia's leaves create water vapour in the air" What? Don't ALL plants produce water vapour in the air?

Planting *any* plant would have the rather minor effects they describe. Getting rid of a lawn and allowing a genuine forest to grow might have a net positive effect, but only to a limited degree (as it grows). It's a fluff piece. The only thing innovative here is their public relations department.

Re:Plants eventually die

[Ginger Unicorn]

Wouldn't the nitrates in the soil act as a fertilizer for plants, as opposed to leaving it floating in the air for humans to breathe in?

Re:Plants eventually die

[Anonymous Coward]

The time aspect isn't quite right. While it is correct that *much* coal comes from rocks of the Carboniferous, there is plenty of coal in rocks that are younger. For example, much of the coal in India and Australia is Permian in age, and there are vast Cretaceous and Cenozoic coals in much of the western USA and Canada. Much of the "brown coal" (lignite) in Germany and other parts of Europe is Cenozoic. Post-Devonian, there's always coal being deposited somewhere in the world, although some time periods were more prolific than others, and there are places today that will probably result in coal deposits down the road.

Your basic point is still valid, though. This isn't likely to happen at a car plant in Japan.

Re:What?

[Yo_mama]

And if they release MORE water, does that mean they increase the dependency on reservoirs and the environmental impacts of dams and water shortages?

Re:Nothing can go wrong here!

[Sparr0]

Kudzu is trivial to get rid of. Just let a herd of goats loose. Not only do they eat kudzu, they PREFER it, and will eat it before almost any other human-desirable plants. There are companies that rent out goats specifically for this purpose.

If you think Kudzu is bad, read up on Cogon Grass.

Availability

[Sarten-X]

Ignoring naysayers for now, and assuming this plant is the benefit the article claims: What about me?
Does Toyota plan to release these plants for sale at my local garden store?
Can I get a nice slow-growing lawn that I don't have to mow?
Can I get some extra-cold flower gardens?

Re:FRAUD ALERT -- Slashdot sucked in again?

[jgardia]

Plants cannot metabolize nitrogen directly. You need some nitrogenated molecules to allow them to absorb the nitrogen. This job is typically done by bacterias in the soil. Why do you think you put nitrogen fertilizers to plants, if the atmosphere is > 70% nitrogen?

Re:If they want to reduce pollution

[Totenglocke]

Environmentalists could do with a lot more pragmatism and a lot less "durr I'm going to vehemently oppose anything short of ceasing all pollution overnight".

It could also do with a lot more of the primary environmental figures actually practicing even .001% of what they preach. The worlds worst polluters are the very people screaming about how we need to cut down on pollution (just take a look at Al Gore's massive homes and electricity usage - I read once that he uses something like 14 times more electricity than the average US citizen - not to mention how much pollution is caused by flying around in private jets all the time).

While I am all for reducing pollution, the environmentalist lobby group is one of the biggest scams in history.

Re:What?

[TheRaven64]

Note that plant water doesn't need to be particularly clean, just desalinated. You can water plants with drain water in a lot of situations. Japan isn't a desert, the only water shortages that they are likely to have will come from overloaded processing and treatment plants, not from supply of rain.

Our New and Improved Toyota Prius

[Kreeben]

...with virtually no impact on environment!* * except for huge fields of Toyota Gardenia (TM), and who doesn't like gardenias?

Re:Nothing can go wrong here!

[Anonymous Coward]

Again.. Ask Africa...

Hypocritical bastards!

[fugue]

So they can claim to be "green" while still producing 4Runners and worse. Assholes.