Relationship with the Environment | Green Electricity from Biomass Power Producers

Green Power Certification System
Trading of "environmental value added" from CO2 emissions reductions creates a virtuous cycle for the environment

Global warming has become a pressing issue. Using power derived from renewable sources of energy provides a double advantage: the benefits of the power itself, and the "environmental added value" derived from reduced CO2 emissions and energy consumption. Japan's "Green Power Certification System" takes this "environmental value added" and converts it into a credit that can be traded.
The Japan Natural Energy Company, Limited ("JNEC") acts as a broker between clean energy producers and companies that purchase Green Power Certificates ("GPC"). Companies that purchase GPCs can use them to meet their emissions reductions targets.
Using a predetermined conversion factor, the amount of electricity noted on the GPC is converted is used to offset a corresponding volume of CO2 emissions. The GPC that JNEC issues to the company also states a power generation record and power generation period. The company pays an amount based on the power generation record, and that becomes a source funds for the clean power producer to generate "green" power. In short:

1) CO2 reductions and other "environmental value added" are split off and assigned a monetary value in the form of a GPC

2) companies purchase GPCs for a certain price

3) the funds raised from the purchase of GPCs are provided to natural power producers by JNEC

4) that producer uses the funds to produce more natural energy and therefore achieve further reductions in CO2 emissions

thus giving rise to a virtuous cycle. Another plus is that companies who purchase GPCs are given a "Green Power" mark, which they can display on their business cards, corporate brochures and website.
As of the end of March 2007 a total of 104 companies and organizations have signed GPC contracts, topping 100 forthe first time. The contracts cover a total of 70,309,000kWh of power a year (equivalent to the energy consumed by 19,500 homes), resulting in a reduction of 27,300 tons in CO2 emissions.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. has the largest GPC contract in the country, for 5,900,000 kWh of energy generated from biomass annually (as of 31 March 2007). All of the power consumed by the Takanawa Training Center and 50% of the Nihonbashi Headquarters building's is therefore "green" electricity.

Expanding the Application of Biomass - Energy Meiken Lamwood Corporation, Ltd.

Meiken Lamwood Corporation, Ltd.
Representative Director & President
Koichiro NakajimaOur company is located in Maniwa City in Okayama Prefecture, a region that produces Mimasaka hinoki cypress. It's also a collection and distribution area for wood products containing timber from all over western Japan. From the time our company was founded, we have believed that wood is both a superior material and a renewable resource.
We are heirs to the European tradition of using all of the timber from start to finish, from sawing to distribution and woodchip processing. Disposing of waste materials such as plane shavings and tree bark is costly. However, using these materials as biomass to generate electricity not only mitigates our disposal costs but also provides us with electricity and contributes to a sustainable environment by reducing CO2 emissions. After starting our own power generation project in 1984, in 1998 we completed construction of a full-scale power plant, which supplies 100% of our plants' power requirements. Since receiving a "Green Power Generation Facility Certification" in 2006, the electricity used in our factories has been certified as "green power", and our new business model of selling any surplus to electricity companies is doing nicely. Most of the power used in our factories has currently been allocated to a Green Power Certificate purchased by Nomura Holdings, Inc. A system which allows "green" electricity generated in Okayama to supply indirectly the energy consumed by a big company is just one small part of a sustainable model that promises much for the future. I would like to work at expanding the use of biomass energy, which would tie in with the wider growthof the Green Power Certification System.