Page 271 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Transportation Industries 247

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Toyota does not view hybrids as a
transitional stage towards electric or fuel cell vehicles; rather, hybrid
technology can be used with diesel and alternative fuel engines, as
well as fuel cell technologies. Toyota is developing a fuel cell vehicle
with hybrid technology and is also working on plug-in hybrids,
which require higher battery capacity but could dramatically reduce
GHGs. Looking to the future, Toyota is beginning to collaborate with
other automakers to share technologies and promote the widespread
adoption of hybrid systems.

DuPont: Eco-Efficient Automotive Paint
DuPont is one of the world’s leading chemical companies and has
incorporated sustainability principles into its product development
efforts (see Chapter 13). One example is in the automotive paints and
coatings business. Traditional coating processes use significant amounts
of solvent and energy to apply paint to automotive vehicles, and the
resulting volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions are regulated
toxic substances. DuPont introduced a breakthrough, water-based
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coating system called EcoConcept , which combines both product and
process innovations to reduce production costs and energy usage,
increase speed and productivity, and lower VOC emissions. These
benefits have been confirmed by Volkswagen at its Puebla, Mexico and

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FIGURE 12.4 Robotic application of EcoConcept primerless automotive paint.