The Ministry of the Environment of Japan has launched a new program to promote model projects that reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent overall in an entire residential or office district. For fiscal 2006, two model projects have been chosen from four submissions.

The program supports private sector projects to build houses, condominiums or office buildings that result in lower CO2 emissions in an entire district, or to introduce equipment into existing office buildings that will reduce overall CO2 emissions by 20 percent.

Developers, landowners and local governments collaborate closely to implement the projects, and the ministry provides a subsidy to cover half of the additional costs incurred to effectively reduce CO2 emissions.

The two projects chosen by the Ministry this year are in Koshigaya Lake Town, Saitama Prefecture (CO2 emission reduction by installing a solar power supply system), and in Kitakyushu City, Kyushu Prefecture (Yawata Higashida Green Village in the Higashida Urban Residence Project, a development project that will efficiently use renewable energy such as solar energy and wind power, and use effective insulation and energy saving equipment).

http://www.env.go.jp/en/headline/headline.php?serial=214

Posted: 2007/02/05 09:13:13 AM
Japanese version

TAG Energy , Global warming , Government