A EU-Japan joint policy seminar on the theme of climate change took place at the office of the Delegation of EU in Tokyo on Jan 17. The event brought together European Commissioners, Japanese ministers
German Chancellor Angela Merkel held talks here on Sunday with former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and expressed skepticism over a U.S. initiative to halt the growth of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2025, Japanese officials said. Merkel was quoted as telling Abe that she is
The Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission ordered the municipal government of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Wednesday to pay some 4.88 billion yen to Tokyu Corp for land contamination. Tokyu purchased the land in Kawasaki in 1992 and sold it as a construction site for condominiums. But part of about 25,000 square meters of land was contaminated with trichloroethylene and lead as the local authority reclaimed the land with incinerated ash from the late 1960s to early 1970s, according to the decision by the state body.
The Fukuoka prefectural government said Tuesday it will start an experiment using fuel cells at 150 households in two housing complexes, which it claims will be the world's first example of setting up household fuel cell systems on such a scale, with 100 units in a single concentrated area. The experiment is aimed at proving the practicality of using environmentally-friendly household fuel cells for supplying electric power and heat, the prefecture said, noting that the experiment will be conducted jointly along with Nippon Oil Corp and Saibu Gas Energy Co. A single unit of the system will be able to cover about 60% of power supply needs and about 80% of hot water needs of an ordinary household, resulting in a reduction of energy consumption of roughly 30%, according to the prefecture.
