Archive for the ‘sustainability’ Category

Planning to plant plants at the plants: stories from Tsutsumi

Posted by Colin Hensley on November 12, 2009 in sustainability

There are sometimes stories that we don’t write about, that are actually of great interest to many people. This seems to have been the case with the plants that have been bred by TMC’s Biotechnology & Afforestation Business Division in Japan, and are used, amongst other places at the Prius plant. I have to admit I missed the significance of this when I visited Tsutsumi last June, but there has been a great buzz around the blogs about this.

What they have done is identified plants that have particular characteristics that can improve the environment. This includes absorbing pollutants, like NO2 or SO2 or emitting more water vapour to cool the air. Then through a breeding programme they were able to further improve the level of these characteristics.

Two types of plants that are used extensively around Tsutsumi are Salvias and Gardenias. The Kirsch Pink Salvia can control heat and absorb pollutants, while the Kirsch Red has fast early growth which fixes more CO2. These are used around the factory alongside the Gardenias that have similar properties, and can even grow in the dark!

There is also a special type of slow-growing grass that only needs mowing once a year and is planted on the roof, in between the solar panels, (I’d quite like that for my garden.)

Share: