Frontier of Research

Vol.1
A comprehensive evaluation of the environmental impact and the relationships between environment, society and economics

Environmental Systems Laboratory Professor Koji Amano

[2013/10/01]

As long as humans are living, resources and energy will be consumed, water and the atmosphere will be polluted, and garbage will be produced. It is important to think about how we can strike a good balance between human and environmental needs.
Environmental issues are complex, and it is often said that we cannot help one without harming the other.
As we are facing extraordinarily serious problems, we need to take a comprehensive look at the whole world: how we should balance the mitigation of global warming caused by fossil fuels with escaping our dependence on nuclear power, as well as the balance between environmental protection and economic growth.

The stages of a life cycle

Environmental management based on life cycle assessment

For many of these problems, it’s important to think about the life cycle (from cradle to grave, so to speak), in its entirety, and do a comprehensive evaluation, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). It is necessary to be able to have debates about these issues. For example, if we give preventing global warming the highest priority, would it be ok to ignore the current air or water pollution? Who should pay the cost to maintain an economy that can co-exist with environmental conservation? To what degree should they pay?

Is it possible for the popularization of solar power generation and the liberalization of the electricity dealings to reconcile environmental conservation with economic growth?

We have been building up basic data to predict the behavior of electricity consumers like households and (distributed) electricity providers in the electricity wholesale market. We estimated the total area of places where solar energy generation devices for houses can be placed to 100-meter-grid detail in the Kansai area by using GIS (Geographic Information System) data and population and household statistics. We also predicted climate conditions, and then predicted power supply-demand curves by the hour and by the month, considering weather condition changes in a small area range. From these results, we could better understand the power supply-demand balances in a small area range. By this, we can quantify the predicted data such as power surplus or deficit in a small area. This can be a principle for power buying and selling action for a solar energy generation device owner.

Self-sufficiency in power generation by season

Electricity supply is insufficient in urban areas with large electricity consumption needs. There is an abundance of electricity in mountainous regions where wind power is produced.

The catchphrase is “The convenience store of the environmental issues”

Our type of research is characterized by including all disciplines that can inform us, regardless of our expertise in them, and attempt to understand the true nature of economics and society. Even a superficial understanding of various disciplines can inform and enable us to actively discuss a wide range of fields, and understand the priority in which environmental issues should be solved.

An experiment replicating power exchange markets virtually using computers

Professor’s profile

Environmental Systems Laboratory - Professor

Koji Amano｜あまのこうじ

Professor Amano graduated from the Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo in 1982, and went on to post-graduate studies researching how to predict river water quality using numeric models.
After finishing his master's degree in 1984, he went on to work for the National Institute of Environmental Studies, researching water quality analysis in rivers and lakes.
Starting in 1992, he was on the Fulbright Program for one year as a visiting researcher in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the University of Colorado in the United States studying water environmental decision support systems.
In 1994, when the department of Environmental System Engineering was established, Dr. Amano became a professor at Ritsumeikan University. He studies environmental system analysis broadly as follows: analysis and evaluation of environmental data in connection with water pollution, waste, etc. and the Life Cycle Assessment which comprehensively evaluates the burden on the environment, and material flow analysis.
Professor Amano has contributed the results of his research to society, not only at academic conferences (the “academic route”), but also at his lectures at university, so that graduates can understand newest information in environmental studies.
In particular, it is important that not only students who will be engaged in work related to the environment issues will understand, but also that students entering into business fields not directly related to environmental issues will understand.
During his transition to Ritsumeikan from a National Research Institution, Dr. Amano was strongly conscious of the importance of a university’s role in educating society of the results of research.
Our top priority is to develop talented people who can understand not only what individuals can do to prevent pollution, but also teach people the dynamism of the system and empower them to be able to create real and effective policy.

http://research-db.ritsumei.ac.jp/Profiles/36/0003554/profile.html http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/se/rv/amano/

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