Laden...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Japan for Sustainability Newsletter #185
------------------------------------------------------------------------
January 31, 2018
Copyright (c) 2018, Japan for Sustainability
Japan for Sustainability (JFS) is a non-profit communication platform to
disseminate environmental information from Japan to the world, with the
aim of helping both move onto a sustainable path.
See what's new on our web site: http://www.japanfs.org/en/
E-mail: info@japanfs.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------
In the December 2017 issue of the JFS Newsletter:
- Healthy Living through Improved Air-Quality and Environmental
Protection: Programs to Prevent Health Damage from Pollution
- "We Sell Services, Not Products": Using LCA to Measure the
Environmental Benefits of Nihonkai Gas's Heater Rentals
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Healthy Living through Improved Air-Quality and Environmental
Protection: Programs to Prevent Health Damage from Pollution
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id036000.html
Japan's economy grew rapidly after World War II and its industrial
productivity improved dramatically. While bringing Japan affluence, it
caused serious problems in society. Environmental pollution increased
due to smoke and wastewater emitted from factories, leading to health
damage from pollution.
The Japanese Government improved pollution prevention laws to establish
relief and compensation systems for people suffering from health damage.
After environmental pollution was reduced through strengthened measures,
a new system was introduced to prevent health damage from pollution, in
addition to providing conventional compensation to individual sufferers.
This month's newsletter reports on Japan's programs to prevent health
damage from pollution (hereinafter called "the Prevention Programs").
These Prevention Programs introduce a new system that focuses on local
citizens, helping them maintain their health by promoting measures to
prevent health damage from air pollution.
How the System to Prevent Health Damage from Pollution Evolved
The Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency of Japan (ERCA)
promotes the Prevention Programs under the jurisdiction of the Ministry
of the Environment. ERCA is an independent administrative agency that
efficiently and effectively conducts needed, highly public projects for
citizens on behalf of the national government.
First, we want to discuss how the system has evolved, from its
beginnings in providing relief to victims of health damage, through its
involvement in compensation and prevention.
Since December 1969, when the Act on Special Measures concerning Relief
of Health Damage Related to Pollution was enacted, medical costs of
officially acknowledged patients have been covered. The Pollution-Related
Health Damage Compensation Act came into force in September 1974. It
obliges factories and other workplaces with facilities emitting more
than a certain amount of sooty smoke to pay a pollution levy.
The compensation system brought enormous improvements to air pollution
prevention measures. It resulted in compilation of a report on asthma
onset that noted, "The effects of air pollution are not always the major
cause of the disease, but the possibility that air pollution at present
is affecting our health in some form cannot be denied." These changes
in the understanding of air pollution resulted in partial revision of
the Pollution-Related Health Damage Compensation Law. It came to
advocate not only continued compensation to sufferers of health damage
but also promotion of comprehensive health protection measures.
Finally, the Prevention Programs were launched in March 1988 with two
main thrusts: health protection programs and air-quality improvement
programs.
Framework of the Prevention Programs
How are the Prevention Programs run?
Among the health protection programs, those for the prevention of asthma
onset and restoration of health are run as projects on health damage
arising from the effects of air pollution. Within the air-quality
improvement programs, steps are taken to deal with the traffic
environment and tree-planting to purify air, to complement
administrative measures. These programs can be divided into two groups:
direct programs controlled by ERCA and subsidized projects implemented
by municipalities provided subsidies by ERCA.
Direct Projects
1) Scientific Research
The health protection programs focus on health guidance for patients,
helping them manage their daily lives, since medical treatment of asthma
is currently improving; while the air-quality improvement programs focus
on major research into measures for dealing with automobile-related
issues and fighting PM2.5 pollution as needed for the changing
atmospheric environment.
2) Dissemination of Knowledge and Information
Through the health protection programs, ERCA undertakes various programs
such as providing via brochures and periodicals basic information on
asthma and on self-management steps asthmatic patients can take in their
daily lives, having specialists hold lectures and workshops. It also
organizes swimming meets for children trying to recover from asthma.
Through its air-quality improvement programs, the agency prepares and
disseminates educational brochures on the atmospheric environment and
holds seminars on measures to improve air quality.
3) Training and Seminars
The agency conducts training sessions and seminars to provide knowledge
and skills to people engaged in the Prevention Programs in local
governments. The health protection programs provide health guidance
seminars and trains staff to educate asthma patients, while the air-quality
improvement programs hold seminars on measures to improve air quality.
These training sessions and seminars also provide participating local
governments a chance to exchange information and views with each other.
Subsidized Programs
ERCA offers subsidies to local governments for their prevention programs.
Its health protection programs aim to promote health counseling,
physical checkups, functional training and provision of needed medical
equipment. Its air-quality improvement programs include plan-making for
air-quality improvement and tree-planting for air pollution reduction.
Examples of Programs
We attended two events that were held under the Prevention Programs.
Air Quality Improvement Seminar (by ERCA, air-quality improvement programs)
A seminar on improving air quality was held on December 14 and 15, 2017,
with about 60 participants consisting of local government staff engaged
in air quality improvement and tree-planting programs. The Ministry of
the Environment, together with specialists and local governments,
presented the latest information and examples on measures to control
vehicular pollution (first day), and measures to improve air quality
(second day). We attended the seminar on the first day, when three
lecturers spoke.
A Ministry of the Environment representative provided up-to-date
information on measures to reduce vehicular air pollution. To promote
the use of eco-friendly cars, the ministry will introduce regulations on
existing cars in large cities. Under these regulations, automobile
inspection certificates cannot be renewed if the vehicle fails to meet
emission control standards. Exhaust gases from special-purpose vehicles,
such as construction vehicles that do not run on public roads, are also
regulated by the Act on Regulation, Etc. of Emissions from Non-road
Special Motor Vehicles. In addition, a variety of other measures are
being taken, such as promoting next-generation cars, building cities
where automobile transportation is unnecessary, eco-driving and car
sharing.
After that, a professor from Waseda University specializing in
next-generation vehicles spoke on future technologies for controlling
traffic pollution. He discussed three different perspectives: technical
improvement of existing vehicles, development of new power systems and
fuels, and smart use of vehicles. According to him, hybrid car
technology can achieve a much better fuel efficiency than conventional
engines, but reductions in cost and weight will be essential for
promoting widespread use. Concerning the development of electric cars
and fuel cell vehicles, the growth in demand for electricity these will
entail needs to be dealt with and the fuel supply infrastructure needs
improvement. Thus, it is necessary to review and revise the existing
transportation system and our use of vehicles, in addition to overcoming
technical difficulties.
Finally, a municipal official from Kawasaki gave a presentation on
measures to control traffic pollution. The city is undertaking various
measures to improve the traffic environment. For example, they have a
subsidy program to encourage the purchase of low-emission vehicles, and
an eco-transportation program in which businesses request their carriers
and suppliers to use environmentally friendly transportation.
Furthermore, the city has a traffic control scheme that discounts the
tolls on a section of the coastal expressway located away from
residential areas and on less-congested expressways to encourage drivers
to take those routes.
After each lecture, the participants actively took part in a
question-and-answer session, showing a high level of environmental
awareness. They looked especially interested in cutting-edge
technologies and the initiatives of other local governments.
Parent-Child Music Therapy Workshops (subsidized program among the
health protection programs)
Tokyo's Kita Ward held a parent-child music therapy workshop on December
18, 2017 for children three to nine and their parents. Nearly 10
child-parent pairs attended the workshop for training in abdominal
respiration, which is effective at easing asthma attacks. They could
learn the technique while having fun singing.
Asthma patients have repetitive attacks, or difficulty breathing, due to
narrowing of their airways. When they have an attack, patients struggle
to inhale more and often panic, leading to shallower breathing.
Abdominal respiration training enables patients to breathe deeply in a
conscious way.
Prior to the workshop, a music therapist certified by the Japanese Music
Therapy Association played a piano to forge a cozy atmosphere in the
room. The therapist kept an eye on the children as she made her
presentation so that they never got bored during the program, which
lasted nearly 90 minutes.
Slow, long exhalation is important for abdominal respiration. When the
children prolonged the last tone while singing a song or playing a pitch
pipe, they could exhale from their abdomen.
Abdominal respiration requires thoracic muscle strength, which can be
improved by stretching exercises. Music is useful for that purpose. To
encourage a musical mood, many percussion instruments had been brought
in and arranged on a table and the children were allowed to choose their
favorite one. They took delight in holding them overhead to accompany
the tune of Jingle-Bells.
When the children first entered the room and saw the instruments, they
were filled with curiosity. During the break, they gathered around the
table, happily picking them up and playing them. It was an impressive
scene.
Ninety minutes passed rapidly with a lot of smiles. We thought such
training could be introduced into daily life for fun, with effortless
continuation.
Future Prospects
ERCA collects information on regional air pollution and the needs of
patients and residents. It uses this information to improve its
activities. It also evaluates and analyzes the effects of its activities
based on objective data, and compiles and distributes information giving
examples of effective municipal services. This contributes to more
effective services.
As asthma treatment advances, patient categories have changed and the
need to support self-management has increased. Mitigation of air
pollution has brought about differences too, making it more important to
promote information diffusion locally and develop human resources. We
expect effective activities to continue based on accurate understanding
of the changes.
Written by Yuuka Anzai and Nobuhiro Tanabe
------------
What can we learn from these efforts?
Please share your ideas and leave comments!
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id036000.html#comment
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"We Sell Services, Not Products": Using LCA to Measure the Environmental
Benefits of Nihonkai Gas's Heater Rentals
Nihonkai Gas's PaaS Model Fan Heater Rental Service
In our July 2017 issue, we introduced the story of Nihonkai Gas Co.
practicing a business model known as "Product as a Service" (PaaS),
which promotes the "circular economy" concept of selling services,
rather than products.
Selling Services, Not Products: 15 years of Efforts and Achievements by
Nihonkai Gas
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035860.html
Nihonkai Gas, based in Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, is active in a
broad range of business areas including selling gas appliances, in
addition to its main business of producing, supplying and selling a
variety of gas products. The company also sells fan heaters as one of
its gas appliance products.
Besides selling fan heaters, the company offers a new service, a heater
rental program that responds to the needs of customers who want warmth
during wintertime. By renting out fan heaters, the company really is
selling only "warmth" as a service. In the "circular economy," this
approach of selling the service provided by a product, not the product
itself, is called Product as a Service (PaaS).
The PaaS-style gas fan heater rental service was launched by the
president and CEO, Hachiro Nitta, in September 2001. A cumulative total
of 21,622 fan heaters was rented to date in the 17 years since the
service started.
The company has a high ratio of repeat customers, as they are attracted
to the services of delivery and collection, cleaning and maintenance,
while they don't need any storage space for the units in summer and they
pay almost no initial purchase costs.
The Nihonkai Gas heater rental program results in a longer product life
cycle for fan heaters thanks to having the maintenance work done by
trained personnel, and this helps reduce the resources and energy
consumed in manufacturing.
The fan heater rental service appears to be environmentally friendly
because of the extended product life cycle of the heaters. But how good
are they really for the environment? The company conducted a project to
estimate the effects of the service in collaboration with experts in
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). This article reports on the LCA project for
the fan heater rental service.
Measuring Environmental Impacts with a Life Cycle Assessment
An LCA is defined as a quantitative evaluation technique for environmental
impacts (carbon dioxide emissions, metal consumption, water consumption,
etc.) generated throughout the life cycle of products and services. As
with human beings, products and services also have life stages "from the
cradle to the grave." Specifically, the cycle starts from the procurement
of raw materials and goes on to include manufacture, transportation, use
and disposal. The magnitude of environmental impacts varies with the
life cycle stage of a product or service, so LCAs are done by stage.
The LCA was first introduced by Harold Smith when he reported his
calculation of cumulative energy requirements for the production of
chemical products at the World Energy Conference in 1963. Then in 1969,
the Coca-Cola Company commissioned the Midwest Research Institute to do
a study on beverage packaging, laying the foundations for today's LCA
techniques.
In Japan, major manufacturers pioneered the use of LCA, and nearly all
industries use these techniques now. These days, corporate reporting,
including corporate social responsibility (CSR) and annual reports, use
the carbon footprint to indicate how much CO2 has been emitted and the
water footprint to indicate the use and consumption of water throughout
the lifecycles of particular products or services.
How can an LCA be useful? To begin with, an LCA can help one understand
the magnitude of environmental impacts of a product or a service. For
example, producing 1 kilogram (kg) of pork consumes 6,000 liters of
water. That's 6,000 times the weight of the meat actually produced.
Water Footprint Network
http://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/product-water-footprint/water-footprint-crop-and-animal-products/
Thus, by understanding their environmental impacts, business owners can
strategically manage the risks related to their businesses. For example,
an LCA for a product produced in an area of high water stress might
reveal that the water use is much greater than expected, which might
make the business owner see business risks not previously noticed and
think about how to manage those risks.
Businesses can also compare environmental impacts before and after
changing their raw materials and manufacturing processes, for example,
leading to greater environmental efficiency and optimization at the
product, process, or organizational level. Take an automobile for
example. A manufacturer that tries out lighter but stronger materials
might realize how much it can improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2
emissions and other environmental impacts, leading to improvements in
raw materials and manufacturing processes.
Lastly, as the magnitude of the environmental impacts can be shown in
numbers, LCA can also be useful for communications. By using the LCA for
communicating with governments, investors, markets and consumers on
environmental issues, businesses can promote their products as being
environmentally friendly and improve brand image, which, in turn, can
attract investors that prioritize environmental, social and governance
(ESG) criteria. It is worth a look at Ecoleaf, a made-in-Japan
environmental labelling system that shows environmental information for
all life cycle stages of a product using the LCA methodology.
Ecoleaf
http://www.ecoleaf-jemai.jp/eng/
In the LCA project for the fan heater rental service of Nihonkai Gas,
two scenarios (rental versus purchase) were developed for different
household configurations (single person, workers stationed in Toyama and
living alone away from family, married couple, or family with children),
housing type (detached or attached), and the number of days of use
(weekdays and/or weekends). For each scenario, environmental impacts
were calculated by LCA methods and the effects were estimated.
The LCA calculation involves the collection of basic data on what is
used or consumed and how much, then multiplying this with a
corresponding coefficient of environmental load, to produce the total
environmental load.
Figure 1. Concept for estimation of environmental loads
https://www.japanfs.org/en/files/nl_180215_01_en.jpg
In this assessment, environmental loads cover not just greenhouse gases,
but 79 items in total, including metal consumption.
After calculating 79 environmental loads, each load is converted to a
figure representing environmental damage and then integrated (Figure 2).
By converting to a monetary amount for damage, different types of
environmental loads can be integrated into one measure and represented
in monetary terms.
Figure 2: Integration of environmental loads
https://www.japanfs.org/en/files/nl_180215_02_en.jpg
The basic data used were actual measured values and available
statistical values. Environmental load conversion coefficients were
calculated using an IDEA database and the Life-cycle assessment Method
based on Endpoint modeling (LIME) developed to evaluate LCA in Japan.
Findings
The LCA estimate found that Nihonkai Gas's PaaS (rental) service for the
past 17 years generated a benefit by avoiding environmental impacts
evaluated at about 2 million yen (about US$17,699) compared to the
purchasing scenario (Figure 3).
The biggest environmental benefit for the PaaS service was savings in
resource consumption (610,000 yen, about US$5,398), followed by climate
change (420,000 yen, about US$3,716), and waste (350,000 yen, about
US$3,097). Urban air pollution and ecotoxicity (atmosphere and
hydrosphere) showed significant benefits as well. Thus, the PaaS rental
service resulted in beneficial environmental impacts, especially in the
areas of resource consumption and climate change.
Figure 3: Components of integrated environmental load
https://www.japanfs.org/en/files/nl_180215_03_en.jpg
Regarding differences among various family structures, it was found out
that the reductions in environmental damage per household of workers
living alone away from family were three times higher than for other
households. Among the users of Nihonkai Gas's rental service, 5,300
households consist of workers living alone away from family, with the
remainder being the 16,000 with other family structures. For the
households of workers living alone away from family, the reduction
effect is high although these households are not very large in number at
the moment. Therefore much further reductions in environmental load
could be achieved by approaching them more actively.
How about climate change? The assessment shows that the company's gas
fan heater rental service program reduced CO2 emissions by a total of
411,352 kg of over 17 years (Figure 4). Per household, the reduction
varies from 390 kg-CO2 (households of workers living alone away from the
family) to 130 kg-CO2 (all other households).
Figure 4. CO2 emission reductions (kg-CO2)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/files/nl_180215_04_en.jpg
The amount of this reduction so far is equivalent to the carbon
sequestered by 44,889 Japanese cedar trees, which absorb 9 kg of CO2 per
tree, according a report by Japan's Forestry Agency that provides
examples of CO2 emissions and carbon sequestration in forests (cedar
plantations). Thus, the PaaS service could be described as having the
same effect as planting that many trees.
In terms of metal consumption, the assessment found that the service
reduced metal usage by 42,402 mg over the 17 years. Metal consumption
reportedly causes not only environmental problems such as changes in
landform due to mining, as well as ecosystem degradation, mining
pollution affecting rivers and soils, but also social problems such as
labor under harsh conditions, including child labor and forced labor,
and health problems for communities affected by metal refining plants.
Thus, Japan as a metal importer is called upon to actively limit metal
consumption. From this perspective, the heater rental service could be
considered to be worthwhile as it does exactly that.
Conclusion
With this study, Nihonkai Gas estimated the environmental impacts of the
company's PaaS service for the past 17 years using the LCA framework. It
turned out that the environmental load of the PaaS rental service
scenario is less than the gas heater purchase scenario. The assessment
also shows that the PaaS service is effective in not only fighting
climate change but also reducing metal consumption, the latter being a
topic that has not attracted much attention so far.
Nihonkai Gas said "We will further improve our rental service business
based on these LCA evaluation results." The company is also expected to
utilize the results to attract ESG investment funds and improve the
corporate brand value by reporting the findings in CSR reports and other
publications as one of its activities related to the United Nations'
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We hope the LCA framework will be used more widely as it can lead to
further improvements and better communications by recognizing important
aspects of environmental activities and by quantifying environmental
impacts.
Written by Yuya Ono and Junko Edahiro
----------------------------------------------
[JFS Web Site Additions of the Month]
- This month's cartoon:
Giving things new life (2018/01/10)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/manga/manga_id035987.html
- JFS Newsletter No.184 (December 2017)
"Good Companies in Japan" (Article No. 1):
Valuing Employee Happiness and Trust(2018/01/23)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035984.html
Actions Toward 100% Renewable Energy in Japan(2018/01/12)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035983.html
15-Year Integrated Forest Environment Education in Shimokawa,
Hokkaido to Support Sustainable Forest Management(2017/12/28)
https://www.japanfs.org/en/news/archives/news_id035978.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Japan for Sustainability newsletter is a free monthly newsletter
to keep you up-to-date on the latest developments in Japan.
Japan for Sustainability bears no liability for the newsletter's
contents or use of the information provided.
This newsletter is sent only to those who have registered for it.
We do not rent, loan or sell this e-mailing list to any other party.
If you wish to subscribe, please visit
http://www.japanfs.org/en/newsletter/subscribe.html
To unsubscribe, please click the following link and fill in the form
E-mail Newsletter Unsubscribe:
Link
Back issues of the newsletter are also available.
http://www.japanfs.org/en/newsletter/index.html
We welcome your comments. Please send them to: info@japanfs.org
Twitter: http://twitter.com/japanfs
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/qXZr9t
linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/japan-for-sustainability
linkedin group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/2349194
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/japan.fs/
Copyright (c) 2018, Japan for Sustainability. All Rights Reserved.
We invite you to forward our articles or use information on the JFS
website and in your newsletters, as long as you also provide the proper
credit to "Japan for Sustainability, http://www.japanfs.org/index.html."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Laden...
Laden...
© 2024
