Research Center on Environment and Energy (SU)

Director: Yoko Wake (Professor, Faculty of Business and Commerce)

Main Campus: Mita

Environmentally symbiotic facility system design, distributed energy, sustainable architectural design, resonance between environment and economy, cost of introducing innovative technologies, world trade models, Asian networks, adaptation networks, environmental human resource development, etc.

The challenges facing humanity regarding environment and energy boil down to the task of "creating an environmentally symbiotic human society"—that is, how to build a society that can harmonize with the natural (global) environment. Based on the shared multi-disciplinary research outcomes from the previous fiscal year, during the preparatory period of this fiscal year, we aim to "build and disseminate an interdisciplinary jitsugaku (science) that values human resource development." To this end, we will expand our organization, exchange information and collaborate with related organizations within Keio, including the Global COE program, and work to secure funding for our activities. Specifically, we will contribute to the creation, evaluation, and construction of an environmentally symbiotic human society characterized by the global-scale cyclical dynamism of water, energy, people, information, transportation, economy, and more.

From the research perspective of Asia's sustainable development trajectory, we will actively engage in international collaboration centered on Asia. For example, in collaboration with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India, we will create various future scenarios for the introduction of low-carbon technologies. We aim to build a Japan-India dynamic input-output model as one tool for structurally analyzing the temporal transitions of each technology's production capacity, each sector's production volume, employment, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions for each scenario, taking into account economic interdependence. We plan to form a research platform for this purpose.

Furthermore, we will promote the dissemination of information at international policy gatherings such as COP16 and provide informational content to the general public. In addition, based on the previous fiscal year's environment and energy evaluations and simulation results for Keio University, we plan to work on creating a green campus at Keio University, taking the initiative ourselves.

One of the Center's main themes is the "evaluation of the impact of introducing new innovative technologies on the global environment, the load from by-products, energy efficiency, and, as a social aspect of technology, the impact on employment and income distribution." As a first step, in the load analysis of by-products, we conducted research linking business establishment distribution with input-output tables using data from the Recycling Promotion Division of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), and reported the results at the International Input-Output Association conference in Brazil. Furthermore, as an approach to environmental and energy issues in major developing countries, joint research was initiated with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India, and we produced the most detailed estimates of input-output tables for environmental analysis of the Indian economy, including energy use and CO2 emission tables. The task of dividing these tables into rural and urban sectors and adding employment and land use coefficients is a world-first endeavor.

In connection with environmental education, we established an information-providing space for the general public and students at the Kyoseikan Collaboration Complex on Hiyoshi Campus, enabling the dissemination of visual information, including art and architecture, from an environmental and energy perspective. As research practice, we obtained simulation-based verification results for policy options toward a post-global warming society, energy reduction scenarios, architectural and urban environmental assessments, forest management, environmental education, acquisition of actual measurement data for renewable energy, environmentally symbiotic facilities, prediction of energy consumption in residences, and analysis of carbon dioxide reduction and energy demand through energy interchange at Keio University, among others. Regarding domestic and international collaboration, we promoted cooperation with domestic regions such as Yusuhara Town, and with countries including China, Indonesia, and Vietnam through joint research supervision and invited lectures. Additionally, members from this center participated in the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) held in Copenhagen in December 2009, where they observed overseas activities related to environment and energy and exchanged information.