Green means green

Go to any grocery store these days and the organic food area, which used to be contained to one shelf hidden in the produce area, now covers a good chunk of the floor space in the entire store. In the grocery business, green is good for profits.
How about in the automation industry, does green mean more green?
Ask Toyota. Their Prius just went over 1 million sold across the world. First off the assembly line in Japan 10 years ago, Toyota said the Prius has resulted in 4.5 million metric tons less of global warming gases compared to a standard vehicle.
While it has taken 10 years to reach this mark, Toyota has plans to sell a million hybrids annually shortly after 2010.
Of the more than one million Prius sales worldwide, nearly 592,000 sold in North America and 315,000 in Japan, Toyota said.
The latest Prius gets 48 miles a gallon (20 kilometers per liter) in city driving and 45 miles a gallon (19 kilometers per liter) on highways. Unlike standard cars, hybrids generally provide better mileage in stop-and-go city driving.
Toyota, though, is not the only automaker on the green front.
Nissan Motor Co. now plans to charge up its effort to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan by 2010. Nissan’s chief executive, Carlos Ghosn said the car company decided to accelerate development of battery-powered vehicles because of high gasoline prices and environmental concerns, not just because of the need to meet stricter fuel-economy standards.
Mitsubishi Motors and Fuji Heavy Industries are testing versions of electric cars, and General Motors and Toyota are working on battery-powered vehicles that have small gasoline engines for recharging. G.M. plans to start producing the Chevrolet Volt in 2010, while Toyota expects to offer a plug-in hybrid around the same time.