City of Hiroshima Launches Environmental Info Monitoring/Display Project

Copyright Hiroshima City, Hiroshima City University

From February 4 to March 31, 2011, the City of Hiroshima conducted a verification test of displaying information on environmental conditions using digital signs installed at City Hall and inside Hiroshima Electric Railway streetcars in early February 2011, as part of an initiative to promote environmental awareness and action using information and communications technology (ICT).

In cooperation with Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co. and Hiroshima City University, the City was working on experiments, sponsored by Japan's Ministry Internal Affairs and Communications, to demonstrate a cloud computing service focused on the environment and establish a regional ICT system base aimed at reducing environmental impact. Once the system base was built, the partnering organizations started collecting data on energy consumption with the goal of stimulating awareness and promoting environmental impact reduction activities.

Students enrolled in the Hiroshima Municipal Motomachi Senior High school Sozo Hyogen course ("creative expression" course) at Hiroshima's Municipal Motomachi High School were in charge of content design aimed at raising awareness about reducing environmental impact. Meanwhile, the Internet Engineering Lab at Hiroshima City University was in charge of integrating the data into the environmental cloud service, a system used to help visualize the data, and a module linking to the digital signs inside streetcars, including their operating systems.

Another part of the initiative involves monitoring and displaying the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air on an LED display. Changes in LED color show CO2 density visually. The device was created by students at Hiroshima Municipal Technical High School as a learning tool, and is currently being distributed to primary and junior high schools where the CO2 sensors are installed.

Posted: 2011/06/07 06:00:15 AM