Mitsubishi Monitor 0308 GREEN DIAMONDS


Mitsubishi Materials and the Osaka-based utility, Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc., have made an important breakthrough in their continuing joint work on fuel cells. They have developed a solid oxide fuel cell module that converts fully 40% of the energy potential of its fuel into electrical output.


	This module developed by Mitsubishi Materials and Kansai Electric could light up your life.

The energy conversion efficiency of 40% is a big improvement on the present global standard for compact solid oxide fuel cells. A conversion efficiency of 30% to 35% has been the highest commonly reported in connection with comparable systems.
   Mitsubishi Materials and Kansai Electric’s fuel cell module has a generating capacity of about one kilowatt. The core module, which runs on methane gas, is a low-temperature unit. Its targeted operating temperature is lower than 800 degrees centigrade. In contrast, comparable systems ordinarily operate at temperatures around 1,000 degrees centigrade. The Mitsubishi Materials-Kansai Electric module is also distinctive in that it requires no external heat source.

For the home, for the power station
Fuel cells generate electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen in the process of reverse electrolysis. The only byproduct is pure water. So fuel cells have the potential to become a clean source of electric power.
   Researchers have explored various means of supplying fuel cells with hydrogen. Mitsubishi Materials and Kansai Electric use a so-called internal reformer, which breaks down methane to obtain hydrogen in the fuel cell module. The reformer emits some pollutants, but less than would result from conventional generating systems.
   Mitsubishi Materials and Kansai Electric have been working together on fuel cells for three years. Researchers at both companies envision applications for their technology in small generating systems for individual homes, in medium-size on-site power stations and in large regional power stations.


This wind turbine installed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Okinawa is Japan’s biggest wind turbine for generating electricity.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries installed Japan’s biggest-ever wind turbine for generating electricity earlier this year in Okinawa. It developed the wind turbine in cooperation with Mitsubishi Electric.
The wind turbine, dubbed the MWT-S2000, has a generating capacity of 2,000 kilowatts. It will be able to supply more than 4 million kilowatt hours of power annually—enough for 1,000 households. And it generates that power without releasing any carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that figures in global warming.

Spinning overhead
Towering nearly 100 meters above the ground, the wind turbine has a rotor diameter of 75 meters. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries installed the wind turbine on the grounds of a power station owned by Okinawa Electric Power Co., Inc., the regional utility. The owner-operator of the wind turbine is Okinawa New Energy Development Co., Inc., which will sell the output to the utility. It began trial operation with the wind turbine in February and put the unit into commercial operation in April.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is a world leader in wind-power systems. The company has been especially successful in the U.S. market, and it has delivered 1,400 wind turbines for generating electricity there and worldwide. It manufactures wind turbines at plants in Japan and Mexico.

Diamond Lease is a Mitsubishi company that demonstrates that safeguarding the environment is a job for everyone. More than two years ago, it became the first Japanese leasing company to earn an ISO 14001 certification for environmental management. And its systematic commitment continues to affirm that even financial services institutions have a role to play in environmental protection.
A newly issued environmental report from Diamond Lease outlines measures for minimizing environmental impact in conducting office work, in carrying out marketing activities and in disposing of office machines and other lease assets.
The environmental guidelines for office work center on familiar efforts: turning out the lights when you leave the room, using paper judiciously and the like. Diamond Lease offers some environmentally attuned surprises, however, in its marketing operations. With environmental considerations in mind, the firm gives priority in marketing to assets that offer long useful lives or that promise to be reusable. It also goes out of its way to provide financing for environmentally beneficial assets, such as windmills for generating electricity. Diamond Lease also is a model for handling end-of-life assets in ways that promote recycling.