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