26th World Gas Conference in Paris The 26th World Gas Conference was held at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, from June 1 to 5. There were around 3,500 attendees from nearly 100 countries and regions worldwide, including about 170 people from Japan. The conference's theme was "Growing Together Towards a Friendly Planet," with each day focusing on a different sub-theme based on the four pillars of the International Gas Union's French triennium (2012-2015): 1) Natural gas for a sustainable development, 2) combination with renewables and electricity, 3) natural gas available everywhere, and 4) human resources for the future. What is more, 350 exhibitors took part in the exhibition held in conjunction with the conference, presenting a wide variety of elaborately designed booths. The Japan Gas Association (JGA) had its own booth, which was visited by around 2,200 people over the course of the exhibition. The JGA booth featured 16 panels presenting an overview of Japan's gas industry along with information on various topics such as energy policy trends, gas sector initiatives, the status of LNG imports, use of gas equipment in ordinary households, and initiatives to promote advanced use of natural gas, including fuel cell systems and smart energy networks. The details of each panel can be viewed by clicking on the link to the panel data at the end of this article. JGA booth at WGC2015 Panasonic, in collaboration with Viessmann, a German-based international leading manufacturer of heating system, provided the JGA booth with a mockup of a fuel cell system for residential use that is now being sold in Germany. The 27th World Gas Conference is scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., from June 25 to 29, 2018. >>> JGA booth exhibition panels

JGA Hosts City Gas Symposium 2015 On June 10, the JGA hosted the City Gas Symposium 2015 in Tokyo. This symposium is held every year in order for city gas utilities and related parties to share information through presentations on the latest trends in the city gas industry and cutting-edge technological developments. As Japan moves toward full liberalization of its gas and electricity retail markets, the city gas industry is going through a major transitional period; it needs to adapt to changes in the industry environment, create new value, and further improve safety and convenience. Accordingly, the main theme of this year's City Gas Symposium was "Technological Development in an Era of Reform: Technologies That Provide Continued Support and Open Up New Possibilities," featuring a program that covered a wide variety of fields and perspectives. The symposium included 29 presentations, a panel discussion (on the future lifestyle that will be created by the combination of ICT and energy), and an exhibition of 68 posters and the JGA's 2 technology grand prizes and 12 technology award winners. It was attended by a total of 1,695 people from city gas utilities, supporting members, and so forth. This fiscal year, the event started with a keynote speech delivered by Mr. Ichiro Hazama, the general manager of the JGA's Corporate Planning Department, who presented the current state of regulatory reform of the gas industry in Japan by referring to full liberalization of the city gas market and the unbundling of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, and Toho Gas's pipeline and retail departments in near future as well as related future approaches. This was followed by presentations selected by the JGA, beginning with reviews of Tokyo Gas initiatives such as the development of new equipment that lowers costs and improves performance with the Ene-Farm, a residential use fuel cell system, and examples of the use of earthquake disaster prevention-related infrastructure technology for the purpose of enabling safe, disaster-resistant gas supply. After this, presentations were made on the effects of distributed energy using fuel cell systems at the NEXT21 experimental apartment housing project being undertaken by Osaka Gas (energy saving and CO2 reduction, electricity conservation and peak shaving, etc.) as well as methods being used to speed up and optimize technological development through collaboration between various companies in the Osaka Gas group. In addition, Toho Gas presented results relating to co-operative control of fuel, solar, and storage cells used for tests as part of a next-generation energy and social system trial being conducted in Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture. There were also presentations and poster displays focused on the latest trends in technological development.

City Gas Sales in FY2014 (April 1, 2014 - March 31, 2015) FY 2014 domestic gas sales (by 207 city gas utilities) totaled 37,099 million m3 (41.8605 MJ/m3), up 1.1% from the previous fiscal year. The total sales rose for the fifth consecutive year to post a new record high again. By sector: - Residential sector gas sales increased by 0.3% to 9,581 million m3. The residential sector sales reflect the increased demand for hot water as the temperature in summer season was lower than that of last year (rise for the first time in two years). - Commercial sector gas sales decreased by 3.5% to 4,315 million m3. The commercial sector sales reflect weaker demand for air conditioning because the average temperature in summer season was lower than that of last year (down for the second consecutive year). - Industrial sector gas sales rose by 3.2% to 20,253 million m3. The sales increased with higher operating rates at customer facilities and efforts of developing demand (rise for the fifth consecutive year). - Miscellaneous sector gas sales (hospitals, public facilities, etc.) decreased by 2.9% to 2,948 million m3 (down for the first time in three years). By region: - The changes in annual gas sales from the previous fiscal year by region were as follows: +0.2% in Hokkaido, -1.6% in Tohoku, +3.8% in Kanto-Koshinetsu, -0.7% in Chubu-Hokuriku, -3.2% in Kinki, -1.7% in Chugoku, +3.1% in Shikoku, and +1.1% in Kyushu-Okinawa.

Information: >>> Gas Facts in Japan 2014

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