The Japanese automobile giant, Toyota, is planning to build a power plant in California that turns the methane gas that is produced by cow manure into water, electricity, and hydrogen. The company’s project in the field of renewable energy was called the Tri-Gen Project and was revealed at this year’s Los Angeles Auto Show.
Source: Mototrend
The plant will be located at the Port of Long Beach in California, and will be the world’s first commercial-scale 100% renewable power and hydrogen generation plant according to USA Today. Toyota is expecting the plant to go online in 2020. It is expected that the plant is capable of providing enough energy to power 2,350 average homes and enough fuel to operate 1,500 hydrogen-powered vehicles daily. The company estimates the plant to be able to produce 2.35 MW of electricity and 1.2 tons of hydrogen each day. The facility will also be equipped with one of the largest hydrogen fueling stations in the world.
Source: USA Today
According to Doug Murtha, Toyota’s North America group vice president for strategic planning, the company “understand[s] the tremendous potential to reduce emissions and improve society.”
Toyota is currently investing in its hydrogen fuel cell technology. The cells are being used in the Mirai sedans and the company’s upcoming Project Portal semi truck. According to the company website, “Environmentally conscious motorists demand newer, cleaner forms of transportation. [The] Mirai fuel cell vehicle helps answer that demand alongside our other alternative fuel vehicles to power a better future,”
Source: Treehugger
The automobile maker’s goal is to heavily reduce the environmental impact of the company and its products. Toyota has been recently setting a goal to stop the production of traditional internal combustion engines by 2040 so as to reduce its vehicle’s carbon emissions by 90% by 2050. This new plant will serve as a proof for demonstration.
These efforts can go a long way in the field of cleaner vehicles and renewable energy. Many companies like Tesla are also making efforts and finding great success in their electric vehicles. Hopefully, soon other companies would follow suit and make clean energy be a more desirable alternative than fossil fuels.
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