Toyota Goes Green Essay Example for Free

Toyota Goes Green Essay With the high costs of fuel and the environment dwindling. Companies have started going green to help reduce cost and find alternative to the natural burdens of the economy by using eco friendly services and products. Car companies like Toyota have gone green to look for another alternative to rising fuel prices and better gas mileage. With their introduction of the Prius, Toyota has become the world’s leading car manufacturer. The Prius also helps out by being environmentally friendly. Hybrid cars like the Prius are designed with an electric motor that is mixed with a gasoline engine that lets drivers get above average gas mileage. â€Å"Existing models get 47 to 60 miles per gallon, depending on where youre driving. Toyota claims you can drive its 2004 Prius from Detroit to Washington on a single tank of gas â€Å"(U. S. A Today, 2007) Toyota has not only made cars to prove that they are going green but they also incorporate ways to save money and save the environment. In an article in the Times magazine it states â€Å"What matters more than one car model,† says the article, â€Å"is the efficiency Toyota brings to all aspects of its business a corporate philosophy that strives to exterminate waste†. Toyota can use a single production line to make several car types, which means it has cut energy use by 30 per cent since 2000. †(Times, Jan 11) Toyota has made a huge financial impact by choosing to design and sell economic friendly products. â€Å"In Toyotas case, green also refers to the color of cash; this month the carmaker announced that between December, 1997, and May, 2007, it sold more than 1 million hybrid cars worldwide. †(Janna, R) The auto industry has made a major impact by producing these hybrids. Toyota is not the only maker of hybrids like the Prius. Honda started the craze by being the first car company to produce the Hybrid vehicle which was called the Honda Insight. The Honda Insight was introduced in 1999 and provided lower gas emissions. Soon Toyota caught on to the craze of hybrid vehicles by making the Prius, the Highlander, and now even the new Camry is a hybrid car. Other car companies like Ford and General Motors have noticed the financial impact and are said to roll out new hybrid vehicles with in the next three years. The environment has been effected tremendously by companies going green. Like the car companies that have gone green other companies have also gone green by trying to find other alternatives for rising fuel costs. It is not only the rising prices of fuel for cars that the economy is focusing on. Energy companies have also joined the cause to go green and fight the rising cost of fuel for electricity. Energy companies are trying to save money while expanding their markets by using less fossil fuel and making products and services that are more economically friendly. â€Å"With energy prices trending higher, the threat to the bottom line continues to grow. That’s made the motivation for conserving fuel more compelling. Some 65 percent of U. S. companies think that escalating energy prices pose a potential roadblock to their companys growth over the next 12 months, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers in the fourth quarter of 2005. †(MSNBC, 2007) Other companies such as Cargill which is in the global food processing business have started to use their waste into new energy. Using meat scraps they have been able to develop a methane gas that has allowed the company to save money by replacing the high cost of natural gas. Electricity companies have started to use alternatives such as ethanol and wind energy to power the world’s energy. â€Å"U. S. ethanol production hit nearly 4 billion gallons last year, according to the U. S. Energy Information Administration. Nearly 100 ethanol plants are in operation, another 33 are under construction and nine are being expanded, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. â€Å"(MSNBC, 2007) â€Å"Wind energy is also getting a lift. Though it makes up just a half a percent of U. S. energy consumption, its the fastest growing sources of renewable energy in terms of usage and capacity. One big reason is the dramatic cost per kilowatt of producing electricity with wind making it much more competitive with fossil fuels. †(MSNBC, 2007). I can not make any recommendations on what should have been done since I think the rising new technology and the eco friendly products and services are helping cut costs while helping the World clean up the environment. I look forward to the new innovation since these costs are sky rocketing every day. I can only hope that average people like us get the much deserved break that we need. (2007) â€Å"Companies going green with energy alternatives â€Å"Retrieved on November 27, 2007, from http://www. msnbc. msn. com/id/12040418/ (2007). Times Magazine Jan 11†Going green is natural for some† Retrieved on November 28, 2007, from http://www.timesonline. co. uk/tol/life_and_style/career_and_jobs/graduate_management/article1291095. ece U. S. A. Today, Block, S Your Money (2007)†Going green with car can save you some green at tax time† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www. usatoday. com/money/perfi/columnist/block/2004-01-13-ym_x. htm Reena, J (2007) â€Å"The business benefits of going green† Retrieved on November 29, 2007, from http://www. businessweek. com/innovate/content/jun2007/id20070622_491833. htm? chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_green+design.