Kyocera grows 'green curtains'

Clean Technica. The company also grows 'green curtains' on trellises around its buildings “to shade windows and outer walls of manufacturing and office buildings at 19 locations in Japan”.

This, of course, cuts energy use in the buildings, since it keeps them cooler in hot summer months when people might be tempted to turn on energy-demanding air conditioners. The company also has a green curtains Web site that shows people how to grow their own green curtains.

Apart from keeping the buildings cool, reducing energy consumption, mitigating carbon emissions and providing a calming, shaded view for those working inside, the curtains also produce vegetables for use in the company's cafeteria, reports Inhabitat.

Kyocera grows cucumbers, peas, bean and goya - a bitter gourd which the company says is “rich in nutrients, [and] widely used as an ingredient for the prevention of fatigue in the hot summer months in Japan”.

The project to insulate and shade Kyocera's offices and manufacturing buildings began in 2006, as part of the company's energy conservation and global warming prevention activities. After just a few years, Kyocera became home to over 8 000 square feet of green curtains. The functional foliage is guided by netting, placed over the walls at an angle appropriate to its exposure to the sun.

Kyocera estimates the green curtains will absorb 5 981 pounds of CO2 each year.