"3,000 Units of Natural Gas Vehicles Surpassed in Kinki Region". The number of natural gas vehicles in use in the Kinki region exceeded 3,000 at the end of July, according to a survey by Osaka Gas Co. The penetration rate in the Kinki region by business establishment was 28.4%, the highest among transporters, followed by 27.9% for Osaka Gas, 23.4% for general businesses, and 19.6% for local governments. Meanwhile, the number of gas stations has also increased to 36 in the Kinki region.

"3,000 Units of Natural Gas Vehicles Surpassed in Kinki Region". The number of natural gas vehicles in use in the Kinki region exceeded 3,000 at the end of July, according to a survey by Osaka Gas Co. The penetration rate in the Kinki region by business establishment was 28.4%, the highest among transporters, followed by 27.9% for Osaka Gas, 23.4% for general businesses, and 19.6% for local governments. Meanwhile, the number of gas stations has also increased to 36 in the Kinki region.
"Phase 2 Construction Begins in Kawasaki Waterfront Area". The second phase of construction of the "Zero Emission Industrial Park" in the waterfront area of Kawasaki City began at the end of July. The construction is scheduled to be almost completed in the spring of 2002. The core zone of the industrial park will be built by the Environmental Agency, a special national corporation, on a custom-made basis, and sold to companies that have moved into the zone. The total project cost is approximately 15 billion yen.
"Kokuyo Announces FY2000 Environmental Accounting". Kokuyo announced its environmental accounting for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001. Since the growth rate of sales of environmentally friendly products is higher than that of general products, Kokuyo independently calculates and announces the economic effects of its customers' evaluation of its environmental friendliness. The company's sales of environmentally friendly stationery products in FY2000 were 41.3 billion yen, an increase of about 31% over the previous fiscal year.
"Study Group Established for Emissions Trading". In September, Tokyo Mitsubishi Securities established a study group on emission rights trading, the "Study Group on Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Certificates. About 20 people, including business people and academics, participated in the study group. The purpose of the study group is to examine trading rules on the initiative of the private sector, with the aim of compiling a report by the end of 2002 to be reflected in policy. The method to be studied is called "base trading," in which the amount of greenhouse gas emissions reduced by investing in new wind and biomass power generation and energy conservation is traded as emission credits.
"Live Broadcast of Nature in Japan". The Ministry of the Environment has launched the "Internet Nature Institute" website. The centerpiece of the service is the provision of live images of nature throughout Japan. Fixed cameras installed in 43 locations around the country capture scenes of national parks and wildlife, and the latest images are distributed via the Internet. Footage will be taken on an hourly basis during the day. The institute has been developing the system with a supplementary budget for FY2000 (total project cost: 645 million yen).
"Report on FRP Recycling. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism's "Committee for Promotion of Advanced FRP Ship Recycling System" recently compiled a report on the results of its study on how to recycle FRP ships, including the results of a firing demonstration test of crushed fragments generated when FRP ships are dismantled, which showed that crushed fragments can be reused as raw materials for cement and other applications. The report also recommends replacing the deteriorated and damaged parts of FRP ships to extend the service life of the hull.
"Environmental Industry Support Organization in Shikoku". The Shikoku Bureau of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI Shikoku) has established the "Shikoku Region Environment-Related Industry Promotion Roundtable" with the aim of fostering environment-related industries. While there have been prefectural support organizations in the Shikoku region, such as the Eco-Design Council in Kochi, this is the first time an organization has been established for the entire Shikoku region. Not only industries, but also prefectures and universities will jointly discuss the future of environmental industries. Non-profit organizations are also welcome to participate. A dedicated page on the Shikoku Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry website will also be set up.
"Sea Level Rise Countermeasure Plan". The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) has begun full-scale planning to protect coastal and other facilities in anticipation of rising sea levels due to global warming, and has selected the Ise Bay region as a model area based on a scenario of sea level rise by 2100. The time and cost of raising breakwaters, relocating roads, etc. were estimated, and a maintenance schedule for the next 100 years was planned.
"71 Institutions Certified for Dioxin Inspection Contract Qualification". The Ministry of the Environment announced the final results of the screening for eligibility to receive dioxin contract inspections, with a total of 202 organizations having applied for the screening since April, and 71 organizations being certified. The screening was initiated in FY2001 to improve the accuracy of dioxin analysis and survey, and the Ministry of the Environment has qualified 71 organizations to receive the contracted inspections for each of the items to be measured, including soil, emission gases, incinerator ash, and breast milk. Those institutions that fail to qualify will not be able to participate in the bidding for analytical surveys ordered by the Ministry of the Environment in FY2001.
"Rooftop Greening Liaison Organization." The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will launch in September an organization to liaise and coordinate rooftop greening measures with municipalities in the metropolitan area. In Tokyo, Bunkyo, Shinjuku, and Shibuya wards have begun to mandate rooftop greening for business establishments above a certain size under their own standards based on ward ordinances, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been implementing a similar ordinance since April, ahead of the other wards. Through the liaison group, we will support efforts by wards and municipalities that lead to detailed monitoring and guidance.
"Status of Implementation of Sewage Treatment Facility Coordination and Improvement Project." The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, and the Ministry of the Environment have announced the status of the Sewage Treatment Facility Coordination and Improvement Project, which has been implemented since fiscal 1997. The project is a five-year, focused implementation of various sewage treatment facilities in the approved municipalities, and 28 municipalities have been approved as of FY2001. By the end of FY2000, three municipalities had newly adopted sewerage systems and two cities had newly adopted agricultural community drainage facilities.
The Ministry of the Environment's "Maintenance of Merged Septic Tanks Increases by 4.8%. The Ministry of the Environment announced the status of the development of combined treatment septic tanks as of the end of FY2000. According to the report, the number of people who use these tanks to treat domestic wastewater totaled 9.14 million, a 4.8% increase over the previous year. The ratio to the total population was 7.2%, up 0.3%. On the other hand, the construction of single-purpose septic tanks, which treat only human waste, has been discontinued since April 2001 due to many environmental protection problems.
Sewerage Penetration Rate: 62%". According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism's report on the status of sewerage system development as of the end of March 2001, the population served by sewage systems nationwide totaled approximately 7.803 million, an increase of approximately 2.55 million people over the previous year. The diffusion rate increased from 60% to 62%. The penetration rate by prefecture was topped by Tokyo at 97%, followed by Kanagawa Prefecture at 92%, Osaka Prefecture at 83%, and Hokkaido at 82%. The lowest rates were 10% in Wakayama Prefecture and 11% in Tokushima Prefecture.
Kitakyushu City announced that it will accept PCB disposal facilities. Kitakyushu City recently announced that it will accept a PCB treatment facility, which the Japanese government is considering establishing, in the Hibikinada area of Wakamatsu Ward, Kitakyushu City, on the condition that safety and other factors are secured. This is the first time in Japan that the city has announced its intention to accept the facility, including the construction site and safety measures. The city's safety measures include the use of a global positioning system to confirm the location of transport, leak inspections, sealed metal containers, and chemical treatment methods.
Urban Renaissance Agency to Build Biotope on Rooftop of Apartment Complex. The Urban Renaissance Agency has completed a meeting place with a biotope on the roof of its rental housing complex, Green Plaza Hibarigaoka Minami (Nishi-Tokyo City, Tokyo). This is the first time that the Urban Renaissance Agency has installed a biotope. The biotope covers an area of approximately 150 square meters, and 572 plants of approximately 40 species, including aquatic organisms such as cicadas and gingerbread, as well as medium-sized shrubs and grasses, were planted to restore a Musashino grassland and wooded area. The construction cost was just under 4 million yen.
The Group's own ISO system. Nakamura Kogyo (Ishinomaki City), a local general contractor in Miyagi Prefecture, has established its own certification system for quality control and environmental measures for its partner companies. After about six months of training in ISO-compliant knowledge and technology, the company grants certificates to its subcontractors and gives them priority in placing orders for construction and other work. The first certificate was recently issued. The company aims to enhance the technical capabilities of its subcontractors and increase orders for the group as a whole. The company will continue to hold training sessions for the second phase of the program to encourage the acquisition of its own certification.
Certification System for Global Warming Countermeasures On September 6, Keidanren announced that it is considering a plan to have industry associations and companies register their CO2 emission reduction targets and achievements with a third-party certification organization and disclose this information to the public in order to enhance the credibility of their voluntary action plans against global warming. The third-party organization is expected to be a private think tank. At present, the FY1999 results, based on voluntary reports from the industry and others, show a 0.1% decrease compared to FY1999.
International Conference on Mercury Pollution. The 6th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Environmental Pollutant will be held in Minamata City, Kumamoto Prefecture, October 15-19 to discuss issues related to mercury pollution. The topics of the presentations will include: mercury evaporation into the atmosphere in nature, mercury emission into the atmosphere due to industrial activities and its control methods, research on measuring mercury concentration in the atmosphere, and research on mercury contamination around mercury mines, gold mines, and chemical plants and its purification technology.
Orders for environmental equipment in July 2001 declined 38.2% from the same month last year to 74,701 million yen, the third consecutive month of year-on-year decline. This was the third consecutive month that orders for environmental equipment fell below the previous year's level. This was due to the fact that orders for waste treatment equipment, which accounts for almost half of total orders for environmental equipment, fell sharply by 58.3% y-o-y in reaction to the decline in orders in the previous fiscal year. The severe order situation is expected to continue due to the economic recession as well as the reactionary decline, with orders falling below the previous year's level.
The environmental crisis clock ticks forward 12 minutes. The Asahi Glass Foundation announced the results of its annual "Questionnaire on Global Environmental Problems and the Survival of Humankind. The Environmental Crisis Clock, which expresses awareness of the danger to the survival of the human race due to the deterioration of the global environment, was set at 9:08 (12:00 being the worst), 12 minutes closer to the crisis of the survival of the human race than the 8:56 set in the previous year's survey. The foundation believes that awareness of the crisis has increased due to the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention on Climate Change and other factors.
The amount of electricity generated from geothermal power is on a downward trend. According to the Japan Geothermal Research Institute, the total amount of electricity generated by geothermal power plants in FY2000 was approximately 3.35 billion kW-hours, down from a peak of approximately 3.76 billion kW-hours in FY1997. In addition to the lack of new power plants in operation, the study cited as reasons for the decline the reduction in steam production at existing power plants due to narrowing of pathways caused by mineral precipitation and other factors while the hot water underground rises, and the cooling of the surrounding bedrock by returning the low-temperature hot water underground after power is generated.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) has launched a construction waste information system on a trial basis in mid-August. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) began test operation of an Internet-based construction byproduct information exchange system in mid-August. The system allows construction contractors, waste generators, and recycling facility operators to exchange information with each other in real time, and enables users to search for locations where construction by-products are discharged and recycled materials are purchased. The system will first be launched in the Kanto Regional Development Bureau, and will be fully operational nationwide by the end of this year.
A group led by NASA and Boston University analyzed NASA satellite data on plant growth and found that from 1981 to 1999, the density of plants north of 40 degrees north latitude increased by 8 to 12% compared to other regions. The areas where plant density increased coincide with the areas where temperatures are rising noticeably due to global warming, and NASA believes that the increase is due to the global warming trend.
Solar Power Generation Market to Reach 200 Billion Yen in FY 2005. Yano Research Institute Ltd. has compiled a survey on the forecasted size of the photovoltaic power generation system market. It estimates that the current cost of 840,000 yen per kW of power output will drop to about 500,000 yen per kW of power output in FY 2005 due to economic effects and technological innovations. As a result, the market is expected to grow to 216.1 billion yen per year in FY 2005, approximately 2.3 times the FY 2000 level. The breakdown by demand is 189.6 billion yen for residential use and 26.5 billion yen for industrial and public use.
The Containers and Packaging Recycling Law has been effective. Yokosuka City, which changed its household garbage collection method from three separate categories to four following the full enforcement of the Containers and Packaging Recycling Law in April, has summarized the status of collection after the change (April to July). Burnable garbage" decreased 28% to 27,020 tons, "Cans, bottles, PET bottles" increased 377% to 3,150 tons, "Plastic containers and packaging" decreased 79% to 2,970 tons, and "Non-burnable garbage" decreased 79% to 1,620 tons. The amount of landfill waste decreased, while the amount of recycled waste increased significantly.
19.4% of respondents are considering rebuilding condominiums. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism compiled a survey on condominium reconstruction (targeting 448 companies including management associations and developers). The survey found that 19.4% of condominiums built more than 30 years ago are "currently considering rebuilding," and when "interested" and "have considered rebuilding before" are included, two-thirds are aware of the possibility of rebuilding. The most common problems with rebuilding are "some unit owners have difficulty bearing the cost of rebuilding" (71%) and "it is difficult to secure temporary housing during the construction period" (57%).
Trucks experiment using BDF mixed with diesel oil The Shiga Prefecture Trucking Association will conduct a commercial truck driving experiment using biodiesel fuel (BDF) refined from waste cooking oil starting in mid-September. Thirty trucks ranging from 2-ton to 13.4-ton trucks in daily use will be used. The company plans to receive 800 liters of BDF free of charge from Aito Town in Shiga Prefecture and to purchase 5,600 liters from a private fuel supplier.