Environmental Impact Assessment (LCA and GHG Protocol)

Our measurement and analysis technology contributes to reducing GHG emissions throughout the supply chain
We contribute to the achievement of a carbon neutral society by promoting energy management through the development and provision of EMS specialized for research and development facilities.
Energy management is an initiative to visualize and understand the status of energy use in factories, buildings, and other facilities, as well as in the community as a whole, in order to achieve optimal energy use.
EMS (Energy Management System) supports these initiatives, enabling comprehensive energy management that starts with visualization of energy usage and continues with management, analysis, and control.
Energy use in R&D facilities is easily affected by frequent changes in the content of R&D experiments and development schedules, requiring energy management optimized for non-routine facility operations that differ from those in factories and offices, which focus on steady-state energy use.
For example, our R&D facilities face the same challenges.
In order to achieve carbon neutrality, there is a need to improve the management system to optimize the use of all energy, including electricity and heat generated during power generation. In particular, unlike offices, factories, and other facilities that operate on a regular basis, R&D facilities face challenges in visualizing, standardizing, and optimizing energy use due to the increasing complexity and diversity of tests and experiments conducted on a non-routine basis.
To address these issues, HORIBA established the "Social Collaboration Course in Environmentally Harmonized Energy Systems" (note: the title is literally translated based on the original Japanese) with the University of Tokyo's Graduate School of Engineering on April 1, 2022.
In this course, we aim together to innovate, build an optimal energy management system (EMS), and implement it in society as a business by combining the strength of University of Tokyo's world-class prediction and diagnosis technology using Artificial Intelligence, with HORIBA's strength in equipment control technology and the platform technology to monitor R&D facilities and the measurement big data gained there.
In the future, we aim to develop a energy simulation system to predict energy usage in a virtual space and propose optimal equipment from the preliminary stages of constructing research and development facilities.
HORIBA's automotive test facility E-LAB, which is capable of conducting complex tests ranging from individual units such as batteries, fuel cells and internal combustion engines to a complete vehicles, has full functionalities as an optimal testing site for automotive R&D. By combining HORIBA's data management system STARS Enterprise, which centrally manages the measurement data from the analysis and measurement devices and ancillary equipment in E-LAB, with the University of Tokyo's prediction technology, we aim to efficiently visualize data such as CO2 emissions, electricity consumption and heat generation in the test facility.
Support as a supply source to the power grid
In the energy-balancing market where electricity is traded, there is a need to shorten the response time (the time required to reach a specified output value) for "adjustment power", to match supply and demand. With a view to utilizing the surplus energy generated as "adjustment power" in the power grid, we are working to enhance scalability to respond flexibly to the evolution of the energy market.
[Elemental technologies to be developed]
Responding to measurement and analysis needs for the realization of a hydrogen society
The facilities in E-LAB will be utilized and expanded to meet the needs for analysis and measurement of the latest technologies to achieve carbon neutrality, such as hydrogen engines and hydrogen production by water electrolysis. We will promote demonstration and experiments with an expanded scope of coverage.
The experimental data accumulated through the above will be compiled to build an energy management system that optimizes the supply of electricity and reuse of waste heat in response to various operating conditions at the R&D facilities.
By continuous exchange through joint research, we will together lead the R&D of energy management and cultivate high-level talents of next generation. Furthermore, we utilize our accumulated know-how and link it to new industry-academia collaborations, thereby expanding the circle of "wisdom" and developing sustainable technological innovation.
We will commercialize the energy management system developed in this course and widely deploy it to R&D facilities in the automotive and other industries, proposing an R&D environment that minimizes CO2 and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
We will apply the system established in 1. and evolve it to a function that enables simulation of energy use using only software in virtual space. Develop into a more advanced business as a cyber-physical system (CPS) that proposes optimal facilities from the preliminary stage in the construction of R&D facilities.
Outline of the "Social collaboration chair for environmentally harmonious energy systems
Representative faculty member: Professor Akiko Kumada, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Establishment period: April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2025 (3 years)
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