JGA's Activities for the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit In connection with the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit held from July 7 to 9, JGA organized various activities to encourage greater use of combined heat and power (CHP) systems by urging, jointly with the International Energy Agency (IEA), that the widespread use of CHP systems including residential fuel cell systems should be included in national energy policies, and to distribute information on gas utilization technologies to overseas visitors to the Summit.

Zero Emission House and Fuel Cells The Zero Emission House is a near-future model of a residential house built by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry next to the International Media Center. In cooperation with the New Energy Foundation (NEF), JGA installed a foot bath in the house using the heat produced by the actual residential fuel cell system which includes other fuels. (See other related articles: JGA News, "City Gas Symposium 2008" and "ENE-FARM Chosen as the Unified Brand Name for Residential Fuel Cells".) The foot bath was visited by many people including national leaders and first ladies of the G8 countries, their attendants and press corps, who learned about fuel cells while soaking their feet in the bath.		Foot bath and fuel cells

Natural gas vehicles Four CNG-fuelled shuttle buses were used to transport the national delegations and press teams to help demonstrate maximum care for the environment in the preparation and organization for the Summit. These buses operated around the Windsor Hotel and Rusutsu Resort where the International Media Center was based. JGA supported the operation of these buses, such as by providing portable fuel chargers. (CNG: Compressed Natural Gas)		CNG-fuelled shuttle buses for transportation between Summit venues

CHP/DHC International Symposium On July 4 (Friday), just before the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit from July 7 (Monday) to 9 (Wednesday), the International Symposium on CHP and DHC was held at the Sapporo Prince Hotel to discuss the subject of "Global Technology Perspective and the Role of CHP/DHC in Global Warming Prevention" JGA supported the organization of the symposium by serving as the secretariat of the CHP/DHC Promotion Consortium of Japan, which organized the symposium. In the first half of the symposium, Dr. Peter Taylor from the IEA presented a proposal document titled "Energy Technology Perspectives 2008" that the IEA had prepared for the Summit for making suggestions on global warming prevention strategies, and spoke on the roles of various technologies that may help halve GHG emissions by the year 2050. Then, Mr. Thomas Kerr from the IEA spoke on the role of CHP and DHC in preventing global warming and the need to promote the use of such systems. The second half of the symposium featured a panel discussion and responses to questions from the audience. There were active discussions on how the widespread use of CHP and DHC systems might help curb global warming. The symposium was attended by 358 persons including about 30 visitors from countries abroad such as the United Kingdom, South Korea and Taiwan etc.		Panel discussion

DHC Study Tour In connection with the CHP/DHC International Symposium, a tour was arranged in the afternoon of July 3 (Thursday) and in the morning of July 4 (Friday) to visit the DHC plant of the Sapporo Station Minamiguchi Energy Center run by Hokkaido Heat Supply Corporation. A total of about 85 Japanese and foreign visitors visited the Energy Center to tour the entire plant facilities including the high-efficiency gas turbine CHP system, the exhaust gas boiler that runs on the exhaust heat from the CHP system, and the steam absorption refrigeration system. Mr. Nakagawa, Center Manager, and Mr. Hirasawa of Hokkaido Heat Supply Corporation explained to the visitors the background of the decision to build the DHC plant along with descriptions of the systems. The total of about 85 visitors included about 20 foreigners, including Dr. Peter Taylor from the IEA.		DHC Study Tour

Operations Conference The American Gas Association (AGA) held an Operations Conference from May 14 to 16 in Phoenix, the United States. In the AGA Environment Matters Committee meeting that was held concurrently with the Conference, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Deputy General Manager of the JGA Environment Department, made a presentation titled "Initiatives of the City Gas Industry to Combat Global Warming," which was followed by active discussions on GHG reduction strategies of Japan and the United States. >>> Initiatives of the City Gas Industry to Combat Global Warming

Gas Industry Micro CHP Workshop 2008 Marcogaz, IGU and GERG jointly organized a workshop on Micro CHP in Paris from May 29 to 30. This workshop, attended by key persons from gas companies, gas appliance manufacturers and European regulatory organizations, was intended to develop strategies for the gas industry to promote the development and deployment of Micro CHP as an essential technology for maintaining gas demand in the residential sector. From Japan, Kunihiro Nishizaki (Senior Manager, Fuel Cells, Planning Section, Technology Planning Dept., Tokyo Gas) made a presentation titled "The Japanese Experience in Micro CHP for Residential Use" and responded to questions from the audience, who showed great interest. >>> The Japanese Experience in Micro CHP for Residential Use

City Gas Symposium 2008 JGA held City Gas Symposium 2008 in Tokyo on June 10. This symposium is held each year to exchange information among city gas utilities and related companies through presentations on the latest trends in city gas business and the latest results of city gas technology development. This year's symposium featured 26 oral presentations, 43 poster presentations, 17 technological award exhibitions, 3 lectures by the essay award winners and special lectures. The symposium was attended by more than 1,000 persons from JGA's member gas utilities and the associate members. City Gas Symposium 2009 will be held in Tokyo in June 2009. Links to three of the papers presented at the symposium that may be of particular interest to readers of JGA Newsletter are given below. Source: "City Gas Symposium" handouts >>> Report on Development Status of Next-Generation Model of "ENE-FARM" Fuel Cell for Residential-Use >>> Research and Development of a Next-Generation Solar-Assisted Water Heating System >>> Development of a New Model of PA-13A/12A High Calorie Gas Portable Generators

The Third Symposium of the WITH GAS Club The third symposium of the WITH GAS Club was held at Belle Salle Kudan (Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo) on June 12. The WITH GAS Club is a consortium formed by four industrial organizations of Japan representing gas utilities, house builders, kitchen/bath related manufacturers and gas/kerosene appliance manufacturers, for jointly developing ideas on how to improve the living environment. This year's symposium addressed the theme of the Future Environment and Residential Houses, and featured a keynote speech by Prof. Takao Kashiwagi (Integrated Research Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology) titled "Toward the Realization of a Low Carbon Society - Developing the Post-Kyoto Framework" and a special lecture by Prof. Takashi Saito (School of Arts and Letters, Meiji University) on the subject of "Housing Environment and Communication." Fumio Murazeki, General Manager of the JGA Business Operating Department, reported on the activities of the WITH GAS Club.

Kitchen Stoves with Intelligent Si Sensor as an Industrial Standard Since April 2008, it has become the industry's standard practice in Japan to install intelligent safety sensors to each gas burner of a kitchen stove. This is in response to the fact that, while 261 fires were caused by the combustion of cooking oil in 2006, no such fire was caused by a cooking stove burner equipped with the safety sensor of Fry-Look, which is called "AGE-Look" in Japanese (cooking oil overheat prevention device). From October 2008, a ministerial order will require all gas cooking stoves manufactured or sold to be equipped with a cooking oil overheat prevention device, Fry-Look, and a pilot safety shutoff device for all burners. Ahead of that, gas utilities and gas appliance manufacturers in Japan made these devices a part of the standard specifications in April. In addition to the above two safety functions, all gas cooking stoves manufactured in Japan since April are equipped with another safety feature, an automatic gas shut-off device that extinguishes the flame even one forgets to turn off the gas, and a convenient feature of preventing premature shut-off for controlling the bottom temperature of the pan without extinguishing the flame. Gas utilities and gas appliance manufacturers of Japan decided to call such gas cooking stoves equipped with these devices "Si sensor equipped cooking stoves" and to promote the use of such stoves by unifying the naming and logo across the industry. "Si" stands for "S" of safety, support and smile, and "i" for intelligence.

ENE-FARM Chosen as the Unified Brand Name for Residential Fuel Cells On June 25, the Fuel Cell Commercialization Conference of Japan (FCCJ), formed by fuel cell manufacturers, gas utilities and other related institutions, chose "ENE-FARM" as the unified brand name for residential fuel cell systems. This name emphasizes the concept of producing energy at one's own farm. In Japan, five manufacturers (Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toyota Motor Corporation, Ebara Corporation, Eneos Celltech and Toshiba Fuel Cell Power Systems) manufacture fuel cells, and they will use the same brand name of ENE-FARM for their fuel cell products which will be released on a major scale from April 2009.

Gas Facts in Japan 2007

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