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Nikkei Ecology

March 2004 Issue

Cover Story

RDF, wind power generation and fuel cells.... Their safety is our new challenge


In the depth of “environmental accidents”

Part 1. The reasons for the overlooked safety in environmental projects
Risk of accidents in environmental projects is increasing, but they are treated as exceptions that do not require serious consideration on safety measures

Part 2. What safety standards should be set to prevent accidents?
Confusion surrounds the environmental and safety issues of food packages; what standards should be applied to the new “environment-friendly” materials?

Part 3. Fuel cells face challenge to establish their safety
The whole industry works on safety standards creation, seeking the answer to the “equation between safety and product promotion”

Report

Aiming to become a “biomass fuel nation,” Canada seeks innovative technologies to turn grain and waste lumber into fuels

Sake cartons can overcome the recycling obstacles; to increase the rate of paper recycling, the Law for Promotion of Sorted Collection and Recycling of Containers and Packaging needs to be reviewed

Vice-Rector Itaru Yasui’s “Eco Michelin”
Electric bicycles: Can switching from a motorcycle to an electric bicycle truly reduce CO₂ emission?

e!Communication between Corporation and Housewives
Transportation: Is the public transportation the best choice? The “eco-friendliness” of the footwork of housewives

Technology Frontline / Products
“Horizontal wells” can effectively purify the soil pollution even from the soil under the buildings

Technology Frontline / Elements
Silicon carbide (SiC) semiconductors are getting ready for general use, as mass production of substrates is within reach

Technology Frontline / Trend
Honda and Toyota develop new technologies for the direct-injection engines that can clear both the gas emission and the fuel efficiency issues

Technology Frontline / Academy
Takeshi Sako, professor of Shizuoka University, uses supercritical water for waste management

This Month’s Company
Masaki Envec (Masaki Environmental Engineering and Consulting Co., Ltd.) develops special soil for roof-top landscaping

Actions by Local Governments/ Ask the top management for the next step
Hiroya Masuda, governor of Iwate Prefecture, uses the nation’s largest illegal waste dumping incident as a springboard to develop the local industries

Environmental dialogue with top management
Masayasu Kitagawa’s “Frontline of Environmental Management” Part 9
Kunio Ishihara, president of the Tokio Marine and Fire Insurance Co., Ltd.: “In the renaissance of the ‘field-oriented policy,’ logics and passion help increase the corporate value”

Trend and News

Measures against hazardous substances
Canon and other corporations standardize their hazardous substance management, while seeking the realistic solution to cope with the European regulations

Recycling
Auto manufacturers move towards total recycling, while the 95% recycling rate obligation confronts them

Eco Car
Toyota and Honda act on the offensive against the U.S. in environmental technologies, while the Big Three stay behind in the hybrid competition

Wind Power Generation
Two leading wind power generation companies reach merging agreement, setting spurs to the oligopolistic market by the start of the giant corporation

Energy
Forcing the prearranged plan does nothing but put off the solutions; instead, feasibility of nuclear fuel cycle must be discussed

Fuel Cells
Japan, U.S. and Europe reach agreement in fuel cell issues, give hope for earlier practical application by “competition and cooperation”

Inside-out

The real story of the RDF storage explosion in Mie Prefecture; the hidden facts behind the fatal accident

The fatal accident exposes the discrepancy of the range-widening policy, suggests us to enforce preventive measures and to diverge from the incineration strategy

The explosion at RDF power plant in Mie Prefecture in August 2003 is an accident with an elementary cause; in its background, we can see the real picture of “environmental leader prefecture,” which places more importance on the economic efficiency than safety

Reports from Think Tanks Overseas

Environmental Finance
How are the ten new EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe going to use their unused quota of the emissions rights?

Rocky Mountain Institute
Car sharing scheme expands in the Western countries; what is their real value as an environmental measure?

Sustain Ability
Information on AIDS in corporate reports focuses more on after-the-fact measures than preventive measures

Wuppertal Institute
We have to reform the consumer and corporate consciousness towards the economic development by “dematerialism”

From WorldWatch
The hidden shame of the world industrial economy Part 1
The “extractive industry” brings about a substantial loss

Environmental Seminar

Easy-to-understand Environmental Law - Law for Recycling of Specified Kinds of Home Appliances / Recovery of CFCs for insulation is to be obligated by the law, which goes after the actions already taken in reality

How to read European Regulations - Domestic Law in France / The flexibility of French laws can easily accommodate WEEE and RoHS Directives

Understanding the Real Value of ISO - Eco Stage No. 5 (final of the series) / Active environmental communication is vital

Zero Emission Grade Report - Tokyo Sekisui Industry Co., Ltd.: Factories and construction sites of new buildings realize zero emission, while production costs are reduced by more than 10%

Global Warming Prevention Measures in Our Company - Aomori Prefecture / The prefecture aims to become a leader in the next-generation energy on the domain of nuclear, biomass and wind power generation

New Environmental Study - Disclosure of environmental information on the Web / The level of information disclosure varies greatly among the industries; many need to improve readability

Environmental Laws Q & A - Waste Management and Public Cleaning Law / Who is responsible for the management of general waste from offices?

This Month’s Environmental Law - Illegal damping of industrial waste / Ministry of the Environment publishes the figures from fiscal year 2002

Learn from This Environmental Report - Gunze Limited / “Smiley Face” signs show the achievement level of each item, increase the readers’ interest

Column

Kankan Gakugaku (Active Argument over Environmental Issues) - Risa Stegmayer, TV personality: “Daily recycling is more difficult in Japan than in the U.S.”

Eisuke Ishikawa’s “The Eco Industries in the Edo Period” - The forestry policy by the Shogunate fosters the lumber industry with local colors

Takashi Morieda’s Dining Room on Earth - How to start an ideal country living - A friend in the suburb of Fukuoka tells me tips about having good relationship with the country neighbors

Fieldwork Japan - A deep sea drilling survey ship aims at 7,000 meters below the sea bottom to survey the ancient environment of our planet

Pioneer - Naoki Matsuo achieves more as an independent advocate at the CDM frontline after leaving global warming prevention research institutes