There's more than one way to paint a car. We've featured models with cans and brushes, the option of going sans paint entirely and we've even seen electricity generated from leftover paint fumes. Of course, automakers strive for the highest paint quality possible. The processes they come up with are often very time-consuming and cover many different steps, so it's not all that surprising that Toyota would find a way to both streamline and green up the process a bit. At its Tsutsumi plant in Japan, which is already equipped with solar panels and a rooftop garden, the automaker is currently testing its new "3-Wet" system, which cuts down one entire drying oven. According to Toyota, a 15-percent reduction in energy can be realized using this new process, which is substantial, considering that it estimates as much as 24 percent of the total energy necessary to create one of its cars comes from the painting process.

[Source: The Detroit News]

Lori Harfenist, a really funny vlogger, was hired by GM to cover the Detroit Auto Show and she filed a report all about green stuff. You can watch Lori interview a GM's color and pigments designer, NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon, Designer: Project Runway winner Jeffrey Sebelia and Def Jam Founder Russell Simmons in the video above.

Indie singer Kat Parsons took a tour of the Toyota factory while on a trip to Tokyo. In the video below the fold, Kat takes a ride in a "self driving electric car" that tours the Toyota factory and passes by what may be an electric filling station. Seems Toyota has GM beat on the whole self-driving car thing.

The electric car looks like the Toyota E-Com which has a 60-mile range, charges in 2 hours and can go up to 62 miles per hour (electronically limited). According to this web page, E-Coms are currently in trials.

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[Source: YouTube]

Just what is "liquid-nanotechnology", and why would I want my car covered in it? First, "liquid-nanotechnology" is what Ecology Coatings calls their product. Second, because unless you are driving a Delorean or a future Citroën, your car is most likely painted, maybe a few times at that. So, if your car needs to be coated to keep it from oxidizing, why not use an eco-friendly paint? That is what Ecology Coatings is trying to accomplish. They say, "Since 1990, Ecology has been singularly focused on developing products that enable inexpensive mass production with atomic-level precision, using solid materials cured under UV light to create coatings that are not only viable but are also clean and efficient."

Their coatings are apparently 100 percent solids which require no carriers (water, chemicals) to get from the spray-gun to the substrate. Because of these properties, the coatings should be more environmentally friendly and safer to use.

[Source: Ecology Coatings]

There were lots of flashy cars at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show. Citroën C-Cactus concept was not the prettiest but it was well thought out with ideas that may soon go into production. The designer of the C-Cactus, Gilles Vidal, says "we wanted to look at the whole environmental question from dust to dust. We quickly realised we wanted a lighter car. There's a virtuous [sic] circle where you add some new technology, and before you know it you need bigger brakes to stop the heavier car, and weight just balloons. The C-Cactus is an attempt to get away from that."

Hypermilers will love the efforts to reduce weight in the C-Cactus like getting rid of the dashboard. We think the lack of a dashboard is a little too radical but the lack of a paint job on the side doors has potential. Conceivably, there are silver, gray, metallic, etc. paint jobs Citroën offers. What's the point if the car is already that color? We have never seen a car have the option of no paint job and think it might catch on like hard wood floors for homes. A Citroën spokesperson says it's possible that feature will be used on future production cars.

[Source: Auto Express News, Car Magazine]

While BMW is powering its Spartanburg S.C. paint shop with recycled methane gas, Ford Motor Co. has developed a fumes-to-fuel system which allows conversion of the volatile organic compounds (VOC's) given off by paint fumes into fuel that generates power, according to a Detroit Free Press article. Paint shops around the world produce nearly 70 million pounds of paint fumes, which are collected and burned in incinerators, a process which requires a fair amount of energy. The Rouge Center in Dearborn was the first to test the system back in 2004. Now, Ford is finishing a second pilot program at its Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, demonstrating how the concept works in day-to-day plant life, allowing engineers to work out any problems. Ford plans to roll out the system to other plants, as equipment is updated, with the Oakville, Ontario plant expected to receive the fumes-to-fuel system early next year.

[Source: Detroit Free Press]