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How much can a financial company improve the global environment?
One Mitsubishi company is struggling with this matter in its own way. In addition to leasing and financing services that support customers installing energy-saving and environmental equipment, Mitsubishi UFJ Lease & Finance (MUL) offers services as an energy service company (ESCO).
The ESCO business involves planning energy conservation systems for entire plants, buildings and other facilities and performing the required work. |
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The ESCO operator guarantees the energy conservation benefits. The company provides all services in a single package required for ESCO services.
MUL has become a leader in ESCO services in Japan, and is now rolling out this business through its Global Service Center for Energy Saving. The center provides customers’ overseas affiliate with ESCO and other energy efficiency and environment-related business in cooperation with MUL’s overseas affiliate.
In addition, MUL will arrange carbon offsets not only for greenhouse gases released during |
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| the operation of equipment leased to customers, but for the entire greenhouse gas reduction target each customer has set for itself. |
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In August 2008, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) launched a wind power generation business in Bulgaria—the first investment into power generation in the country by a Japanese company. The electricity is sold to Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania EAD, Bulgaria’s state-owned electricity company, through Kaliakra Wind Power AD (KWP), a joint venture established with Bulgarian engineering firm inos Ltd.
The Kaliakra wind power project, located on Kaliakra Cape on the Black Sea coast, is intended as a Japanese-Bulgarian Joint Implementation (JI)* project, a mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol. Once approved by the Joint Implementation Supervisory Committee, the project will reduce CO2 emissions by some 85,000 tons annually compared with conventional thermal power generation, and help to promote renewable energy in Bulgaria. The project was financed by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Mizuho Corporate Bank through a loan of about ?37 million furnished to Bulgaria. |
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The wind farm itself, built by KWP, is the country’s first and consists of 35 MWT62/1.0 wind turbines with a total capacity of 35 MW, all manufactured at MHI’s Nagasaki Shipyard and Machinery Works and Yokohama Machinery Works.
MHI also coordinated the wind farm’s construction, and participates in its operation together with inos Ltd. and Mitsubishi Power Systems Europe, Ltd., MHI’s British subsidiary handling the power systems business in Europe.
*Joint Implementation (JI): Under the Kyoto Protocol, Joint Implementation initiatives allow so-called Annex B countries with emission reduction commitments to earn emission reduction units (ERUs) from an emission reduction project in another Annex B country. ERUs count toward the investing country’s emission reduction target, in Japan’s case 6% below the 1990 level by 2012. |
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The sultanate of Brunei, located on the north coast of Borneo, is working hard to diversify its economy away from over-reliance on its two primary natural resources, oil and natural gas. A significant part of this strategy involves diversifying the country’s energy supply by introducing renewable energy sources. Among these, solar power is seen as the most promising.
On August 14, 2008, Mitsubishi Corporation and the Energy Division of the Prime Minister’s Office (EDPMO) in Brunei signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding a large-scale solar power |
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demonstration project. This will be the first installment of a large-scale solar power system in the country.
The project, which will enter its three-year demonstration phase in 2010, entails the installation of a solar power system with a nominal power generation capacity of 1.2 MW, currently the largest in Southeast Asia, at the Seria Power Station in the northwestern Belait District.
Using this system, MC will together with EDPMO and the Department of Electrical Services evaluate the performance of several photovoltaic (PV) module types under the area’s specific weather conditions, and trial the connection of a large-scale solar power system to the national grid. The demonstration project also covers technical assistance, human resource development in the solar power field and a range of seminars on solar power and other renewable energy sources. |
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Strong interest in electric vehicles is prompting automakers and utility companies to work together in new ways. Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) has extensively tested the small, four-passenger Mitsubishi i MiEV electric vehicle over the past two years with seven major utility companies in Japan, and plans to begin sales in the Japanese market in summer 2009.
The i MiEV is a zero-emission, state-of-the-art electric vehicle, in which a durable 330-volt lithium-ion battery system powers a permanent-magnet electric motor. The 47 kW |
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electric motor offers quicker acceleration than a typical mini-car gasoline engine.
Advanced lithium-ion battery technology being developed by Lithium Energy Japan (LEJ), a joint venture established by Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi Corporation and GS Yuasa Corporation, promises up 160 km of zero-emission driving on a single charge.
MMC is now working to gather additional real-world driving data outside Japan. In the U.S., the company is collaborating with Southern California Edison (SCE) and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) on testing the i MiEV in California. Los Angeles-based SCE is one of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., and owner of the nation’s largest private fleet of electric vehicles.
In New Zealand, MMC will work with its local subsidiary, Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand, to test the vehicle as a step toward market introduction. The tests will be conducted together with state-owned electric power company Meridian Energy, which generates 100% of its electric power through renewable resources. MMC has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iceland’s Ministry of Industry, with i MiEV testing in the country to begin in 2009. |
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China’s booming economy has brought severe energy and pollution problems. To counter this, Mitsubishi Electric has launched a major drive to spread its wide-ranging environmental technologies and know-how in the country.
On March 17 and 18, 2008, 23 environmental managers from 11 bases in China received training in environmental laws and risk management at Mitsubishi Electric (Guangzhou) Compressor Co., Ltd. (MGC)—the first such training event outside Japan. MGC was chosen as the training site due to its ISO 14001 certification and high-level environmental facilities.
Turning to address a chilling example of energy waste, the fact that home air conditioning accounts for a reported 30% of China’s CO2 emissions, Mitsubishi Electric is also aggressively promoting inverter air conditioners, which save energy by adjusting motor speed in-line with room temperature. Most Chinese households use set-speed air conditioners, which use energy inefficiently by constantly switching on and off with temperature variations. The company is also promoting energy-efficient air conditioning for businesses, schools, hospitals and others, along with “total heat exchange” ventilation solutions that do |
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not lose thermal energy from heaters or coolers.
Mitsubishi Electric Group showcased these and other environmental innovations at the three-day Ninth China International Environmental Protection Exhibition in Shanghai. The Group’s booth, the exhibition’s largest, attracted more than 4,000 visitors, mainly businessmen.
Visitors showed particular interest in the “Ozonizer,” a system that uses ozone to clean water, and real-time energy consumption tracking devices. |
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