Benchmark Study on Green Buildings - Royal Architectural Institute ...

leadership in the community through interactive collaboration on energy conservation
activities. The Program ran for 3 years and provided the following support: construction
of a network between participating schools, homes and communities; promotion of
energy conservation education in the classroom (provided textbooks and brochures, and
advertised the Energy Conservation Poster and Essay Contests); training sessions for
school teachers and community inhabitants and general capacity building for the spread
of energy conservation practices; and publication of various energy conservation
activities. The Energy Conservation Education Program lasted until 2003, and was run in
540 primary schools and 90 middle schools across Japan.
ECCJ Energy Conservation Republic Program:
Along the same lines as the Energy Conservation Education Program, the ECCJ has
developed the Energy Conservation Republic Program to be run mainly in primary and
middle schools. The aim of the program is to get children involved in the creation and
running of their school’s energy conservation policies so it becomes natural to them.
Targets are set and programs are developed for energy conservation, and then actions are
taken to reach these goals. The number of republics has grown steadily since the Program
was started in 1998 and by 2002 there were already 69 established republics across Japan.
Although the majority of the republics have been set up in schools, they can also exist in
community centres, clubs, sports teams, and other neighbourhood associations. To
enhance the nation-wide activities of the Energy Conservation Republics, the ECCJ has
held Energy Conservation Republic Summits since 2001. At the summits, republic
delegates come together to share their experiences, the results of their activities, and learn
from each other about how to improve the effectiveness of their own republics. At the
end of the summits, the attendees leave with new ideas and rekindled inspiration for their
own republics. The attendees of these summits have also recently been given the
opportunity to run a booth at the annual ENEX Exhibition, where the republic delegates
come together to promote the Program to the public. The ECCJ hopes that other countries
will adopt the Energy Conservation Republic Program, and plans to extend the summits
to the international level when this happens.
ECCJ appliance comparison website:
The ECCJ has also developed an information website that allows users to compare the
energy conservation performance of electric, gas and kerosene household appliances. The
database can be found at http://www.eccj.or.jp/seihin-kensaku/index.html (Japanese only).
The 13 product categories currently registered in the database include TV sets,
refrigerators, washing machines, lighting fixtures, electronic bidets, personal computers,
gas heaters, kerosene heaters, gas cookers, gas water heaters and kerosene water heaters.
The site also explains how to choose eco-friendly products that meet the user’s needs or
conditions, and briefly outlines the benefits of increased energy efficiency.
Hybrid-Z homes & solar panel information:
Japan is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuel, so efforts to move to renewable
sources of energy are increasing. To promote solar power, the government spends about
three billion yen a year, about $29 million Canadian, to help companies develop more
efficient solar technology. Since 1994, it has spent 116 billion yen ($971 million) on
86