No. 136: BEMS is spreading among medium-sized companies (November 1, 2012)

Business trend:

The building energy management system (BEMS) is spreading among medium-sized companies. Orix, that is a multi business company, started to introduce a BEMS into a medium-sized company without an initial cost. Orix installs a power monitoring system in buildings, shops, and facilities at its own expense, and pays monthly communication cost. Orix collects investment from part of the value that a building saved. It pays up to 80% of the saved value to the client as a reward. In the case of a facility that uses 16 million yen for electricity annually, saved value is 3,200,000 yen if electricity is saved 20%. In this case, Orix collects 640,000 yen, while the remaining 2,560,000 yen is the cost that the client reduced with the help of the BEMS. Because it takes long to collect all the introduction cost, the client cannot cancel the contract for five years in principle.

IBM Japan will launch a service to reduce power consumption of buildings jointly with AEON that is one of Japan’s leading supermarket chains. In the initial stage, the two companies plan to install the system in AEON’s 180 outlets across the country. Toshiba will market a system that monitors power consumption for 24 hours utilizing the elevator monitoring system it has accumulated. Toshiba’s system starts at one million yen. Hitachi will also market a small BEMS to small facilities. Tokyo Gas works with its groups companies to control power consumption at a peak period and offers six different kinds of BEMS products and services.

  

Building Energy Management System (BEMS)

No. 135: Utilizing electricity generating microorganisms to the treatment of plant effluent (October 29, 2012)

Technology:

Tokyo University started the research to develop a system that utilizes electricity generating microorganisms for the treatment of effluent from plants in alliance with Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Panasonic, and Sekisui Chemical. The system will generate power necessary to run the facility while treating organic substances in the effluent. It is expected to reduce the power consumption by up to 80%. They are scheduled to start the substantiative experiment in 2014 and put the system into practical use in 7-8 years.

Several microorganisms that emit electrons stored inside exist in the natural world. Kazuhito Hashimoto of Tokyo University and Kazuya Watanabe of Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Sciences built a fuel cell using several electricity generating microorganisms. They applied microorganisms to the metal surface of the negative electrode and immersed it in the effluent to generate electrons. In the experiment, they used one liter of effluent and eliminated 80% of organic substances in six hours, and generated electricity of 80-500 milliwatts. The research team plans to develop a system that can treat one ton of effluent in 24 hours by enlarging the size of a cell and improving the generation efficiency through modified combination of microorganisms and upgraded electrode.

The new system does not need equipment to mix effluent because the microorganisms used in the system can live without oxygen. At the same time, the new system creates about one third of the existing effluent treatment facility because the propagation of microorganisms is rather small. The same kind of research is under way in the U.S. Australia, Great Britain, and Korea. Kazuhito Hashimoto of Tokyo University predicts that an independent effluent treatment system without energy supply may be viable. The new system will solve the energy-saving problems that advanced countries have in common and create a big market in developing countries in need of improving electricity infrastructure.

The new system for the treatment of plant effluent utilizing electricity generating microorganisms. It does not need equipment to mix effluent because the microorganisms used in the system can live without oxygen.    

No. 134: EnerNOC comes to Japan (September 17, 2012)

Business trend:

EnerNOC of the U.S. starts developing the market of demand response in Japan in alliance with Marubeni. The two companies measure power consumption of companies and plants and install smart meters to provide the system called demand response. EnerNOC operates the power saving system using its the server in the U.S., and Marubeni markets the service to Japanese companies. EnerNOC has a total of 12,000 customers worldwide and achieved power saving of 8 million kW equivalent to 8 nuclear power plants around the world. Marubeni will sell saved power it gets from its customers to electric power companies, and Marubeni and customers split the revenue.

As the first project in Japan, the two companies got an order from Kansai Electric Power and constructed a system to control power demand. They provided the system with control devices to about 10 buildings in the Kansai district for free. Hitachi and Toshiba are also in the middle of the substantiative experiment of their demand response systems. Because electric power companies maintain equipment to satisfy the peak demand, there is room to reduce the maintenance cost by decreasing power demand in peak time. 

 Demand response by EnerNOC

No. 133: Increasing the number of quick charging facilities for e-vehicles to 4,000 nationwide (September 6, 2012)

Business trend:

Nissan, Sumitomo Corp., and JX Nippon Oiland Energy ally to increase the number of quick charging facilities for e-vehicles to 4,000 by 2020. At present, there are 1,300 quick charging facilities in Japan. Because there are 40,000 gas stations in Japan, the industry source reckons increasing quick charging facilities to one tenth of gas stations in number will strongly stimulate the sales of e-vehicles. Japan Charge Network (JCN) financed by Nissan, Sumitomo Corp., Show Shell, and NEC will take the initiative in this project.

JCN has been offering free charging service to spread the rapid charging equipment, but it will make the service chargeable beginning in October. User can get quick charging for 420 yen each time using the special card issued by JCN. The cost to install quick charging equipment is between 4,000,000 and 5,000,000 yen. It needs 8 hours to charge an e-vehicle by a household outlet, while quick charger can finish charging in 30 minutes. The automobile industry estimates that 500,000 EVs can reduce CO2 emissions by 450,000 tons annually. The competition between hybrid car, fuel-cell electric car, and electric car is growing more intense, and no one can predict the future of the competition precisely.    

Looking for a quick charging location inside Tokyo

No. 132: Government offers subsidies to spread very small vehicles (August 15, 2012)

Business trend:

The Japanese government will offer subsidies to companies and local governments that introduce very small vehicles beginning in fiscal 2013. The small vehicle is defined as a vehicle smaller than the light car that has an engine displacement of 660 cc. It will select 100 projects that promote sightseeing and home visit medical care in three years and pay half of the purchase cost of very small vehicles, each of which is estimated to cost between 500,000 and 1,000,000 yen. The number of very small vehicles subject to the subsidization is estimated more than 3,000 units in three years.

Very small vehicles are mostly one- or two-seaters. They are for the elderly and sightseers. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism will establish a system to certify a very small vehicle as a vehicle that can be driven on the public road this autumn, and establish a new vehicle classification for very small vehicles in 2015. Toyota already launched Coms for 660,000 yen. Other automakers are expected to follow Toyota. The Japanese government’s initiative to promote an environment-conscious society will stimulate the auto industry.

Toyota unveils its very small car Coms. 

No. 131: Software to analyze the influence of electric appliances on environment (June 8, 2012)

Technology:

Toray and Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry (JEMAI) jointly developed software that enables users to analyze the influence of electric appliances on environment through the Internet. Toray’s T-E2A and JEMAI’s Multiple Interface Life Cycle Assessment (MiLCA) will be integrated to be a new software program. It will be available both in Japanese and English. You can download the software free in this website by the end of June, though the website is under construction now.  

It will help companies select raw materials and new production methods thoughtful of environment in new product development. It contains more than 3,000 kinds of data including emissions of carbon dioxide and those of contaminants per energy of raw materials. If you input the amount of a raw material to be used for a new product, you can analyze the raw material from such viewpoints as “Influence on global warming,” “Consumption of mineral resources and water resources,” “Toxic risk,” and “Production cost.”

You can also get information on fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of such means of transport as truck and ship. For example, you can compare two cases: “A product produced an area inside Japan and shipped from there to Tokyo by truck” and “A product produced in China and shipped from China to Tokyo by ship.” Leading companies in such industries as auto, material, and electric appliance analyze the influence of their products on environment by themselves, but some small and medium-sized companies generally are not as advanced as leading companies. This software will be of great help to such small and medium-sized companies. 

No. 130: Constructing a system to recycle electric vehicle batteries (May 13, 2012)

Business trend:

Nissan Motor and Sumitomo Corp. will collaborate to recycle electric vehicle batteries. In September 2010, the two companies jointly founded 4R Energy with a capital of 450 million yen, of which Nissan paid 51% and Sumitomo 49%, that is currently conducting research on the performance of electric vehicle batteries. The two companies will increase the capital of 4R Energy on the current ratio to let it start the battery recycling business. It will be four to five years later that 4R Energy actually purchases used-up electric vehicle batteries.

An electric vehicle battery is nearly 2 million yen that accounts for nearly half of the price of an electric vehicle. Because a used-up vehicle battery can be used as an emergency power source of household, the three companies wish to construct a system to recycle electric vehicle batteries for further spread of electric vehicles. During the four to five years, 4R Energy will construct a network for collecting used-up batteries and accumulate know-how on their appraisal. 

No. 129: The Japanese government takes the initiative in building ocean liners powered by natural gas (May 11, 2012)

Business trend:

The Japanese government decided to subsidize domestic shipping and shipbuilding companies and carry out the plan to build ocean liners powered by natural gas in 2015. A natural gas-powered ship emits 25% less carbon dioxide and 40% less nitrogen oxide than a heavy oil-powered ship, and it does not emit any sulfur oxide at all. Although Norway uses small coasting liner powered by natural gas, Japan will supposedly be the first country that introduces natural gas-powered ocean liners like oil tankers for the first time in the world. The Japanese government wishes to increase the competitive edge of the Japanese shipbuilding industry in the world market.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism will recruit participating companies toward this summer to start the research on necessary technological development. The research team will study necessary technology for fuel tank and gas supply equipment and conduct simulation on steering. Beginning in 2013, it will subsidize part of the shipbuilding cost. A natural gas-powered ship costs 20% more than a heavy oil-powered ship, and it is supposed to cost more than 10 billion yen to build an ocean liner with a load capacity of more than 200,000 tons. The Japanese government will issue a draft report on safety criteria using the technological research results and submit it to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) with a view to effecting the amendments of the relevant treaties by 2016. IMO wishes to reduce emissions from newly built ships by 30% by 2025.   

  

An ocean liner owned by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines

No. 128: Japanese general contractors are busily developing the concept of a zero energy building (May 10, 2012)

Business trend:

The net zero energy building, or zero energy building (ZEB) for short, gets supplied with electricity from an electric power company, but it generates and stores electricity by itself to reduce purchase volume considerably. Because it can sell surplus electricity to an electric power company, the procurement volume of power comes out even.

Shimizu developed a design method to reduce energy consumption to virtually zero through self-support of electricity by employing windows with high heat insulating properties and utilizing natural ventilation. The company got an order from a religious institution for a low-rise office building for about 5 billion yen. The office building is scheduled to be completed in March 2013. This building will supposedly be the first ZEB in Japan. In addition to using LED illuminations and insulated windows, the company will introduce the latest building energy management system (BEMS) for full utilization of the electricity stored in battery.

Obayashi is developing a technology to construct a ZEB that conserves energy using earth thermal whose temperature remains the same throughout the year. Takenaka has been developing the idea of carbon-minus building that supplies surplus energy to other buildings. Toda plans to construct a ZEB by 2020. It costs 30-40% higher to construct a ZBE than a standard building. Shimizu is constructing its head office building in Tokyo that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by more than 60%.

In 2009, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry laid down a policy that newly buildings be a ZEB by 2030, and plans to appropriate a budget for subsidies to construct a building closed to a ZEB. The construction industry is busily occupied with the development of ZEB concepts because ZEBs are supposed to grow widespread in 2020. 

 

State-of-the-art technology from Shimizu for reducing CO2 emissions

No. 127: The smart appliance market is expected to grow fast in a few years (May 2, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (8/8)

Smart appliances

Electric appliances with the mechanism to optimize power consumption automatically in coordination with smart grids and smart meters are called smart appliances. Generally, they have such functions as utilizing night power effectively and controlling power consumption when the total power consumption of the power grid exceeds a certain level. It will supposedly not take long for smart appliance to start spreading gradually because of the spread of smart meters, ever-increasing energy cost, and improved interface with smart grids. It is generally expected that smart appliance shipments will exceed 24 million units in 2017.

The smart meter seems to be the key to the spread of smart appliances. It is the next-generation power meter that allows for interactive information exchange on power consumption wirelessly or by optical fiber. The power meter is up to now a device that the electric power company checks periodically for charging electric bill, but the next-generation smart meter gives consumers information on power consumption in real time for power saving. Consumers can optimize their efforts for energy-saving by communicating with the controller that manages energy consumption inside the smart house.

Tokyo Electric Power Company plans to replace the power meter of 17 million households, about 60% of all households to which it supplies power, with smart meters by 2018. Western companies are ahead of Japanese companies, but Toshiba and Fuji Electric are energetically chasing them. Toshiba acquired Landis+Gyr that is a leading smart meter maker in Switzerland and Fuji Electric is collaborating with GE of the U.S. 

Smart life proposed by Panasonic 

No. 126: Electric vehicle battery charger is also an important factor for smart house (April 26, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (7/8)

Electric vehicle battery charger

With the spread of EVs and PHVs, the market of electric vehicle battery charger has been increasingly rapidly. The market increased more than two times from about 4 billion yen in 2010 to 8.4 billion in 2011. It is expected to increase 54 times from the level in 2010 to more than 200 billion yen in 2020. The traffic infrastructure market that includes electronic toll collection system (ETC), beacon, dedicated short-range communication system (DSRC), vehicle detection center, electronic information bulletin board, battery charger, non-contact charging system, and battery exchange center will increase 3.6 times from 18 billion yen in 2010 to 62 billion yen in 2020 in Japan, and increase 7.4 times from 62 billion yen in 2010 to 460 billion yen in 2020 in the world.

In order to spread electric vehicle battery chargers among household, it may be necessary to introduce a subsidy system in addition to reducing production cost with a view to reducing the price from the current several hundreds of thousand yen to less than 100,000 yen. At the same time, it is necessary to make the unit smaller, improve designability, and improve user-friendliness. As for quick charger, installation cost is inevitably higher because power receiving equipment and high-voltage conductor are vital to get such a high output of 50 kW. In the future, the industry will construct a system to reduce the cost for rapid charging by a system to apply renewable energy and incorporate the storage function in the rapid charger.  

Battery charging in a parking lot

 

  Quick charging in a service area on the Tomei Express Highway
It costs 100 yen per charge. 

 

No. 125: The residential use heat pump market is growing (April 24, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (6/8)

Residential use heat pump

A heat pump is the technology to pump heat in the air and under the ground through refrigerant to utilize its heat energy efficiently. Aerothermal energy and earth thermal energy are considered important renewable energies in Japan as in Europe. In the Japanese domestic market, electric power companies and home electronics companies market heat pumps under the name of “Eco-Cute” that uses CO2 as refrigerant. With the spread of all-electric homes and growing concern over environmental issues, the heat pump market is growing. Companies involved in the business are developing heat pumps for cold districts, for housing complexes, with measures for salt damage, and with measures for well water. 

The residential use heat pump that utilizes aerothermal energy was first launched in 2001. It has successfully established the solid position as an energy-saving and highly-efficient energy utilization means among consumers. It is highly economical because it can utilize cheap night power and suitable to reduce power consumption in the peak time. Backed up by the energy-saving and power-saving demand, the market is growing steadily. The market is expected to increase 8.5% to about 157 billion yen in 2020, as compared with the market in 2011. 

Life with Eco-Cute

No. 124: Residential use fuel cell is advancing and growing (April 21, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (5/8)

Residential use fuel cell

The residential use fuel cell sales were about 16 billion yen in 2010, and they will grow about 85 times to 1,400 billion yen in 2025 in 11 major markets in Asia including Japan, Europe, and North America. The three countries that actively promote residential use fuel cell are Japan, Korea, and Germany, and Japan outpaces other two. It may be hard to establish substantial business in North America because energy cost is not high there. As the special measures to stimulate the spread of renewable energy, the central government allow electricity generated by renewable energy to be sold beginning in July in Japan. Currently, three companies of JX Oil and Energy, Tokyo Gas, and Osaka Gas are very active in the market, but other companies are going to participate in this market.

The large-scale generation inevitably wastes heat energy in time of generation even though generation efficiency is high. If a household is equipped with a residential use fuel cell, it can generate electricity for such applications as lights, hot water supply, and heating without waste. Depending on the materials to be used, the residential use fuel cell can roughly be divided into (1) Solid oxygen fuel cell (SOFC) and (2) Polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The residential use fuel cell is still expensive, and most consumers need to rely on the subsidy for introduction. It is urgent task for the industry to reduce production cost, establish a mass production system, and increase generation efficiency. 

Ene-Farm (residential use fuel cell) from JX Oil and Energy 

 

No. 123: Toyota builds a plant factory to grow paprika using waste heat coming from the adjacent car manufacturing plant (April 19, 2012)

Technology

Toyota and Toyota Tsusho jointly announced that they would build a plant factory to grow paprika in the land adjacent to a plant of Central Motor that is one of Toyota’s subsidiaries. The plant factory will utilize waste heat coming from the in-house power generation of CentralMotor and reduce the cost to heat the greenhouses by 25%. Vegi Dream, a Toyota Tsusho’s subsidiary, will borrow a 3 ha site and build a large-scale steel house with a growing area of 1.8 ha. The factory plant will be ready for production in January 2013, and will grow 315 tons of paprika per year.

Heat generated by the cogeneration equipment introduced by Central Motor boils water that is used for heating the greenhouse during nighttime. This project is part of Toyota’s “F-Grid Concept” designed for effective usage of energy inside an industrial complex. Vegi Dream already built three paprika farms with a total area of 5 ha. The new plant factory is the third one of this company.   

 Toyota's F-Grid Concept

No. 122: Solar heat application (4/8) (April 15, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (4/8)

Solar water heater

Solar heat application is divided into two methods: using calorie of solar heat, such as solar system and solar water heater, and using energy of solar heat by converting it as electricity energy, such as photovoltaic generation and solar battery. The solar water heater is divided into the natural circulation type and the controlled circulation type solar system, and the applications have expanded from hot-water supply to heating and cooling. In particular, the solar collector called solar wall was highly praised by the United State Department of Energy.

Devices using solar heat have a high degree of energy conversion efficiency, and the installation cost is relatively low. In addition, they maintain high cost efficiency. Japanese solar heat application devices enjoy a high popularity in the world thanks to their high in performance and durability. Generally, a household creates hot water using a solar water heater and applies the water to heating, bath, and kitchen work. Because one third of household’s carbon dioxide emission is from water heating, solar water heater is an excellent idea. 

Popular solar heat application: 

Water in the container is heated by sunlight, and hot water is used for heating, bath, and kitchen work. 

Water heating system using sunlight

Players in solar heat application

No. 121: The smart house market grows responding to ever increasing demand for energy-saving houses (3/8) (April 1, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (3/8)

LED and organic LED

LED plays a very important role in the smart house business, and LED producers are busily expanding production capacity. Mitsubishi Chemical is building a plan to produce gallium nitride substrates. LED illuminations currently on the market are based on sapphire substrate, but gallium nitride substrate consumes 50-70% less power and is more resistant to high power than sapphire substrate. The new plant will start producing gallium nitride substrates for 100,000 LED bulbs per month starting in coming October. The company plans to increase LED-related sales including sales of gallium nitride substrates from 21 billion yen in 2011 to 100 billion yen in 2015. The company president said, “Organic solar battery, lithium-ion battery materials, and gallium nitride substrate will become the three sacred treasures for the growth of his company.”

Sumitomo Chemical focuses on organic electroluminescence. It has a high degree of energy efficiency because it emits light by itself. In addition, as the lighting fixture can be as thin as several centimeters thick, it is possible to create a ceiling that emits light. The company plans to increase the brightness and decrease the price comparable to a fluorescent lamp toward 2015. According to a research company, the domestic LED market is estimated at 140 billion yen, of which 93 billion yen was sales of LED lamps, in 2011.  

A railway station in Tokyo illuminated by organic electroluminescence lighting

No. 120: The smart house market grows responding to ever increasing demand for energy-saving houses (2/8) (March 27, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (2/8)

Storage battery

With the development of the smart house concept, it will become possible to realize self-support of required electricity, sell surplus electricity, share electricity between house and car, and make life in house more convenient. Accordingly, a device to store electricity will grow indispensable to our daily life.

A research firm conducted interviews with major players of the storage battery market and found that the market would increase 40 times over the level in 2011 to 935 million WH. The market was about 23,000 WH in volume and 15,600,000 yen in value in 2011. Of the total shipments, lithium-ion battery accounted for 75%, lead 24%, and NA 1%. Lead battery accounted for 55% of storage batteries for new residential houses. Portable storage battery accounted for 55.8%, followed by stationary battery with 30.4%. A total of 21 types of stationary battery were shipped in 2011, of which five used lead battery and 16 employed lithium-ion battery. The average cost of WH was 427,000 yen for lead battery and 512,000 yen for lithium-ion battery.

Housing companies are introducing houses equipped with storage battery one after another, it is well expected that the market will grow substantially beginning this year. 

 NEC's storage battery system for smart house

No. 119: The smart house market grows responding to ever increasing demand for energy-saving houses (1/8) (March 25, 2012)

Business trend of the smart house market (1/8)

Photovoltaic generation

Facing power shortage due to the March 11 disaster in the Tohoku district, Japan is required to work out measures for an even more energy-saving society. Supported by IT technology, the smart house market is growing rapidly and expected to reach 12 trillion yen worldwide in 2020. It covers a wide variety of industries including generation, energy-saving equipment, sensors, and management systems. This article is the first of the eight articles on various industrial fields involved in the smart house market. It focuses on the photovoltaic generation business and the relations of companies involved in the business.

According to a research firm, the smart house business excluding housing structure was 2,708 billion yen in 2011 and it will grow to about 12,000 billion yen in 2020 worldwide. Japan is the largest market, accounting for 30% of the world market. The business model of smart house has not been established, but it will ultimately be a smart community that can supply energy for itself even in a time of disaster through the collaboration of such distributed power sources as photovoltaic generation, wind generation, and generation using waste heat and waste materials. In a sense, efforts for faster recovery of the areas devastated by the March 11 disaster facilitate the growth of the smart house business in Japan. 

No. 118: Using food residues and sludges for power generation (March 18, 2012)

Business trend

The idea of utilizing biomass resources like food residues is supported by the Ministry of the Environment thought its policy to stimulate the introduction of nonprocess waste energy. Environment renaissance, an environment business company in Tokyo, will start a project that combines agriculture and methane gas generation using wastes from food plants. The project tries to integrate methane gas generation, apiculture, and feed production through algae culture. It plans to build methane fermenters and algae culture tanks in a 10,000-square-meter area. Food residues and sludges from food plants will be fermented to collect methane gas that will be used for power generation.

In the case that food residues and sludges received are 9,000 tons a year, the projected plant will be able to supply electricity to 200 households, and collect 1,935 tons of composts and 7,222 tons of liquid fertilizers from the fermenters. In addition, the project will address apiculture and culture algae. The project plant is scheduled to start running in 2013. The company is receiving inquiries from other local governments inside Japan and abroad, and planning to expand business in Vietnam and Indonesia in the future.

No. 117: Separating and collecting carbon dioxide from coal-fired thermal power by physical absorption (February 25, 2012)

Technology

J-Power is currently separating and collecting carbon dioxide by chemical absorption that uses amine solution for ion binding. Chemical absorption cannot be free from a certain limit because the amount of carbon dioxide increases with the absorbed amount. Physical absorption applies a high pressure to carbon dioxide and dissolves it in a special alcohol solution. That is, physical absorption is better than chemical absorption if the process grows higher in temperature and pressure. The company is constructing a test plant for physical absorption that is scheduled to be open shortly. Because the test plant is conducting tests of chemical absorption, it is the first test plant in the world that has test facilities both for chemical absorption and physical absorption. It plans to accumulate data and knowledge of physical absorption until 2013.

J-Power is working on the substantial experiments to generate electricity by driving a turbine using flammable gas collected from coal. At the same time, it is conducting experiments on the shift reaction of gases to separate carbon dioxide and hydrogen for effective collection of higly-pure carbon dioxide. Physical absorption will supposedly become widespread because increasing generation efficiency inevitably makes the process higher both in temperature and pressure. At the same time, physical absorption allows for desulfuration simultaneously because the degree of solubility of hydrogen sulfide is high in the alcohol solution.

No. 116: Growing industry-government collaboration for an energy saving society (February 24, 2012)

Business trend

Apartments featured by energy saving are selling well in the Tokyo metropolitan district. For example, an apartment complex that introduced an energy management system puts off lights in the common place automatically depending on the situation in summer, runs air-conditioners in the energy-saving mode, and has a large-scale photovoltaic generation on the roof. Each apartment is equipped with a terminal to know its power consumption. This apartment complex is part of the ongoing regional project under the initiative of Toshiba and Yokohama city to increase the efficiency of power consumption.

Saitama city is working with Honda to build an environment-conscious city. Honda will construct an experimental house before the front gate of Saitama University coming spring. In this experimental house, such Honda’s technology as photovoltaic generation, household gas generator, and collecting power form an EV in an emergency will be utilized fully. Tokyo metropolitan government and Mitsubishi Estate will start the experiment of smart grid and install smart meters in several buildings to monitor power consumption. Tokyo plans to ask real estate companies to introduce the model to be developed in the project in the future. In Chiba Prefecture, Tokyo University and Mitsui Fudosan are working together on a system to utilize photovoltaic generation, gas electric power generation, and bio generation using garbage. Power interchange between multiple facilities is also being planned.

The moves to create energy are also spreading. Tokyo will establish a fund of several tens of billion yen coming June to subsidize redevelopment companies that introduce the cogeneration system. Kanagawa Prefecture will build a large-scale photovoltaic generation plant to supply power to 518 households this fall.

According to a research firm, the infrastructure business to construct an energy saving society will grow 3.7 times over the level in 2010 to about 3,300 billion yen in 2020. With the background of this rapid growth, industry-government collaboration is expected become widespread.  

No. 115: Using carbon dioxide to grow vegetables in the plant factory (February 23, 2012)

Technology

Chiba University and Tokyo Gas are jointly working on the effective utilization of carbon dioxide. Hydrogen is the driving force of the fuel cell vehicle, and carbon dioxide is generated in the process to create hydrogen. Chiba University uses the generated carbon dioxide to grow vegetables in the plant factory it operates. The research team led by Associate Professor Toru Maruo tries to sweet vegetables, facilitate their growth, and increase their production by enhancing photosynthesis using carbon dioxide for the first time in the world. They liquefy carbon dioxide collected in the hydrogen station operated by Tokyo Gas and transport the liquefied carbon dioxide in cylinders to the plant factory. The research members supply 320 kg of carbon dioxide to tomatoes every month.

It is currently a widespread method to burn LPG and heating oil and send the generated carbon oxide into the greenhouse. Tokyo Gas buries the carbon dioxide in the ground. If the research members get successfully results, Tokyo Gas can reduce the disposal cost and Chiba University can reduce procurement cost. As proverb goes, it is like killing two birds with one stone. In the ongoing research, members try to increase the carbon dioxide concentration of the 1,000-square-meter greenhouse by 2.5 times to 1,000 ppm. The research is expected to increase tomato production by 20% and increase the sugar content by 0.5-1.0 degree. The cost to separate, collect, and transport carbon dioxide needs further study, according to the engineer of Tokyo Gas. The report of the joint research is scheduled to be published in March.    

No. 114: The scheduled largest environment city in the Tokyo metropolitan area (January 2, 2012)

Business trend

A plan to construct the largest environment city in a 170,000-square-meter land is in progress. This is a so-called smart city made up mainly of 1,500 apartments complete with commercial facilities and hospitals. It is based on such IT-based advanced technologies as photovoltaic generation equipment, a system to control power consumption of each household and street lighting, and car sharing. Nomura Real Estate Development and Mitsubishi Corp. will work together on this project. The 170,000-square-land is an old factory site of Asahi Glass. 

Each household will be equipped with the home energy management system (HEMS) that controls electric usage and warns about excessive usage. The city is divided into sections, each of which is connected through information network to manage and optimize power consumption. Each household will be able to purchase high-voltage power at a lower unit price as a package deal independently than the unit price it pays for low-voltage power. A photovoltaic generation system will be adopted to generate power for areas for community use. Mitsubishi Motors will help the project with the sharing system of electric vehicles. The East Japan Great Earthquake prompted companies involved in the energy business to draw plans for more efficient use of energy and formulate measures for emergency power demand.