Business | General
Japan showcases clean energy initiatives
Country seeks to assert global leadership in innovative new technologies that help reduce emissions.
- By Ramadan Al Sherbini, Correspondent
- Published: 00:04 July 10, 2008
Toyako: 'Environmentally friendly products available here', 'For a low-carbon planet' and 'Don't forget your eco-bag'.
These and other catchphrases are most likely to draw your attention wherever you go in Japan, as the country is trying to assert its global leadership in innovative clean energy technologies.
With an estimated 80 million conventional cars running on Japan's roads, the nation's major automakers are now developed next-generation vehicles.
"There are some 60 fuel cell vehicles [FCVs], which use hydrogen as fuel," said Hishashi Yano, the director of the Japan Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Vehicle Demonstration Project, an industrial research effort supported by the Japanese government.
"These cars cut carbon dioxide to about one third compared to the gasoline cars and emit only water while driving," Yano told Gulf News. "The FCVs significantly mark a shift from the fossil fuel-based society to the hydrogen-based society."
Yano expects the FCVs to be commercialised in 15 years' time. "It costs 15 million yen [around Dh510,000] at present. The challenge facing us is to cut the cost." According to Yano, some automakers, involved in the project like Honda, have started leasing this "eco-cars" for 60,000 yen per month.
Leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US - on Tuesday worked on a deal to fight climate change. Japan is seeking support for an initiative that could make its frugal energy levels the new standards for global industries, thereby increasing overseas demand for Japanese energy technology.
Target
Japan and the European Union have already agreed on a target of halving global greenhouse gases by 2050, but the US is reluctant to set any ambitious goals unless emerging nations, mainly China and India, agree to join the framework.
Capitalising on the three-day summit, Japan looks at pains to tout its energy-efficient technologies particularly in view of surging oil prices. Fuel cell and electric vehicles are used as shuttle buses for transporting guests between the summit-related events in the resort of Toyako on Japan's northern island. The G8 First Ladies were given the chance on Tuesday to test-drive the eco-cars. Their husbands will follow suit.
Green information technology (IT) is another innovative concept marketed at another Hokkaido exhibition. "This concept focuses on both energy-saving IT equipment and systems as well as on energy-sufficient society by IT usage," said Erika Takeshi, an employee of a Japanese maker of 'environmentally conscious' personal computers. "Our personal computers reduce carbon dioxide emission per year by 33 per cent and have a high power-saving feature."
Event
Eco-business is, meanwhile, the focus of the 'Environmental Showcase', an exhibition set up inside a major centre for media representatives covering the G8 gathering. "This exposition features Japan's latest technologies and efforts in addressing environmental challenges," Yasuko Yoshida, a guide at the exhibition, told Gulf News.
One of the key innovative technologies showcased is 'snow-and-ice cryogenic energy'. "More local and private businesses in Japan's snowy regions are utilising snow and ice stored in winter for air-conditioning and refrigeration in summer. Besides cutting the costs of cooling and refrigeration, this technology will optimally utilise snows, considered by residents of snowy areas to be a headache that prevents social activities during winter," she explained.
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