Research Center on Environment and Energy (SU)

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

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, Asia network, adaptation network, 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"—how to build a human society that can harmonize with the natural environment (global environment). Based on the sharing of research results from various fields obtained in the previous fiscal year, we aim to "build and disseminate an interdisciplinary jitsugaku (science) that values human resource development" during this year's preparatory period. To this end, we will expand our organization, exchange information and collaborate with related organizations within Keio, including the Global COE, and secure activity funds. Specifically, we will contribute to the creation, evaluation, and construction of an environmentally symbiotic human society characterized by the global cyclical dynamism of water, energy, people, information, transportation, economy, and so on.

With the sustainable development trajectory of Asia as our research perspective, 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 of the models to structurally analyze the temporal transitions of each technology's production capacity, each sector's output, employment, land use, and greenhouse gas emissions for each scenario, considering 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 information content to the general public. In addition, based on the previous year's environmental and energy assessments and simulation results for Keio University, we plan to take the initiative in creating a green campus at Keio University.

One of the main themes of this center is "evaluating 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 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Recycling Promotion Division, 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 with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) of India has begun. We have estimated, in the greatest detail, an input-output table for environmental analysis of the Indian economy, including energy use tables and CO2 emission tables. The task of dividing this into rural and urban areas and adding employment coefficients and land use coefficients is a world first.

In relation to environmental education, we established a space for providing information to the general public and students at the Kyoseikan Collaboration Complex on Hiyoshi Campus, enabling visual information dissemination from an environmental and energy perspective, including art and architecture. As research practice, we obtained simulation 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 renewable energy data, environmentally symbiotic facilities, prediction of energy consumption in residences, and analysis of carbon dioxide reduction and energy demand through energy interchange targeting Keio University, among others. Regarding domestic regional and international collaboration, we promoted cooperation through joint research guidance and invited lectures with domestic regions such as Yusuhara Town, as well as with China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Additionally, members from this center participated in the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Copenhagen in December 2009, where they observed overseas activities related to environment and energy and exchanged information.