A green house, a green mind
Posted by Colin Hensley on June 29, 2010 in 360° approach, Clean Operations
We are very happy to announce our first guest blogger: Christopher Barrow, Environmental Affairs, Toyota France
A few days ago Toyota France participated in the opening ceremony of our first Sustainable Retailer in La Rochelle in the west of France. This is the result of more than 5 years work between Toyota Motor Europe, Toyota France, Toyota Financial Services, the dealer group Toys Motors and his architectural team.
I have had the chance to follow this pioneering project from the very beginning, acting on behalf of Toyota France as contact person for the BREEAM auditor in the UK, BREEAM being the certification method that has been adopted to evaluate the “greenness” of the build. As the construction design team can confirm, the tough BREEAM criteria require a high level of innovation and as a result an amount of documentation that would not usually be required for a conventional build - but in the end this is what makes our Sustainable Retailers so special, and we are not afraid of challenges!
The initial idea for a Pan-European programme of “greening” the dealership network came as a natural progression of our continuing efforts to improve our design, manufacturing and distribution processes so as to reduce our environmental impact. Mr. Chabot from Toys Motors shares this philosophy and was therefore happy to build a flagship dealership.
I still remember how it all started. The project began with the land selection in a commercial zone just outside Aytre, to the south of La Rochelle, on which was positioned an old council workshop. From the very outset an environmental ethic was adopted with the nomination of an Environmental Coordinator, whose team ensured that what was written down was carried out! Recycling and reuse was even applied to the deconstruction of the council building so as to minimise waste and avoid landfill.
As soon as work started on the build, each involved company signed an environmental chart so as to ensure that their engagements were respected, with regards to such things as waste sorting, materials selection, optimisation of deliveries even going as far as car sharing!
So it was a proud moment to see the result at the opening. The dealership has become a masterpiece of technology ranging from Building Management Systems, CO2 sensors, rain water harvesting, geothermal heating, photovoltaic panels and even a green roof. The design team has implemented a considerable number of measures so as to ensure that the building’s impact on the environment is limited as well as ensuring that the working environment is as comfortable as possible. Coordinating between the auditor BREEAM and the design team, I was amazed to see how the environmental construction standards pushed the design team to find new solutions when the existing solutions were not sufficient to achieve the criteria. This has led to an unconventional building design in the field of automotive dealerships, the adoption of increased use of recycled aggregates, innovative insulation and even recycled cladding materials.
The facility is now officially open and I hope that all the efforts result not only in the highest possible “excellent” rating by BREEAM, but also in a bright future for the dealer, all his staff and equally for all those involved in the project at every level .
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Comments(0)Every day is “sun”day at the Toyota Parts Centre
Posted by Colin Hensley on April 13, 2010 in Uncategorized
I was recently lucky enough to be on vacation in the mountains. While I was riding up the mountain on the ski-lift with some friends I noticed that there seemed to be a lot fewer trees affected by acid rain as compared with my recollection of some years ago. If this is true, then I hope it has a lot to do with the wider use of electricity from renewable sources. We believe this is a very important step to take to have a more sustainable business.
It’s for precisely this reason that TME, in partnership with Blue Planet Solar NV have installed an 80,000m² solar panel array on the roof of our parts centre, TPCE, in Diest. This installation is one of the largest thin-film solar panel rooftop installations in Belgium and will produce between 15% & 20% of the annual electricity requirements of the facility, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions and huge savings on the energy bill.
On the 24th March we held an inauguration ceremony where the Flemish Minister for Energy, Ms Freya Van den Bossche symbolically pushed the button to start the collection of energy from the panels. Ms Van den Bossche also joined our partners and the other VIP guests in a trip to the roof to see the 12,800 panels. It was hugely impressive, covering the equivalent of 16 football pitches, the panels just seemed to go on and on as far as you could see. Even here in Belgium, which isn’t noted for it’s sunny climate, the panels should generate somewhere between 15% and 20% of the annual electricity needs of TPCE (the rest of the electricity also comes from renewable sources).
This also means a reduction in the CO2 emissions of about 1700 tonnes/year for TPCE. So now as well as being able to offer lower CO2 cars, we can also address emissions during the rest of the product lifecycle.
Spotlight on the new full hybrids – made in a plant near you soon!
Posted by Colin Hensley on September 29, 2009 in 360° approach, Clean Operations, Green Technologies
Sunday saw the closing of the doors of IAA in Frankfurt for another two years. It’s probably one of the biggest motor shows in the world. I don’t know if it has the largest number of visitors, but it is definitely, geographically, huge! I just measured it on Google Earth (50° 6′40.39″N, 8°38′43.52″E), and it’s more than a kilometre across, which goes a long way to explaining why my legs still ache following our 3 days of activities. Anyway, it was a very exciting show for us, as we had two cars on the Toyota stand and one on the Lexus stand that were being seen for the first time ever, anywhere!. Perhaps the best part of this is that all three are hybrids. As most people don’t get the chance to go on the IAA exercise programme, let me just do a bit of product PR, and give a few details on these cars.
Our locally produced highlight is the Auris HSD Full Hybrid Concept. It’ll be made in the TMUK plant starting next year. I hope to have the chance to visit the plant during the preparations for the production. After visiting Tsutsumi earlier in the year, I can’t wait to see one of our European Sustainable Plants producing this new full hybrid.
The Prius Plug-in Hybrid Concept also proved to be of great interest to the visitors. Our target for CO2 emissions for this car is under 60g/km with a 20km range. One of my colleagues who drive the car recently in Japan raved about the seamless acceleration up to100km/hr in EV mode.
On the Lexus stand we had the LF-Ch concept, which was displayed in an amazing yellow colour. This is the first concept in the C-segment, and should be a stylish and practical option for people.
Finally, I’d just like to say congratulations to the source of many great blog topics, Karen from TMUK, who just celebrated her marriage to Darren; have a great eco-life together.
Enjoying clean Swiss air - the show must go on!
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 08, 2009 in 360° approach, Design, Green Technologies
Those of you that follow our Twitter will know that I’m just back from the Geneva Motor Show. We had a very busy time at the show, for a number of reasons. Firstly because the industry is under intense scrutiny at the moment, as we are doing our best to weather a really tough crisis. Secondly, we launched the new Prius into Europe at our event last Monday evening, alongside the new Verso, (C-segment MPV.)
It was great to have a chance to meet Akihiko Otsuka, who is the Chief Engineer of the Prius, and to talk to him about his hopes, aims and anecdotes of when he led the team that developed the car. When I wrote a few weeks ago about the Prius and about the new engine, I couldn’t reveal that the CO2 figure for the combined cycle in Europe is just 89g/km. I also didn’t know all of the efforts that were made in so many areas of engineering the car to do everything to reduce the fuel consumption during real-life driving. I did know the CO2 figure on Monday, and that motivated me to really pick Otsuka-san’s brain. Next week, I’ll write a bit more technical blog on that, but for today I’ll leave you with one little gem. When developing the new Prius, Otsuka-san researched loads of things, even including large ships, which are know for running on highly efficient internal combustion engines. We can learn from everywhere, we just have to be unafraid to look.
