Government Buildings Department

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Government Buildings Environmental Report 2005 Other Examples of Initiatives and Expert Opinions   Initiatives for Offices The department has established a system whereby the initiatives of individual employees are taken up by the Government Buildings Department as a whole and form part of the department's system of playing a leading role in energy conservation. The department has established a "Working Group for the Promotion of Energy Conservation," to which members are appointed and tasked with promoting the following three points. 1) Creating of opportunities and an environment in which employees can initiate actions 2) Establishing implementation plans in the Working Group for the Promotion of Energy Conservation 3) Evaluating progress periodically using easy-to-understand methods, so as to gain an understanding of the current status of initiatives The following are some concrete examples of actions that are underway.   Reducing the amount of paper used    ·  Copying and printing on both sides of the paper  ·  Setting a printer tray especially for reusing paper   Separating waste    ·  Ensuring that everyone knows how to separate waste   Reducing electricity use   Target: To turn off 90% of nighttime lights compared to 2003 levels. Actual: 67%  ·  Ensuring that all lights are turned off over the lunch hour  ·  Checking that unnecessary lights are turned off at night  ·  Trial removal of lights in areas such as above lockers  ·  Ensuring that all laptop computers are on energy-saving settings The Government Buildings Department conducted green assessments for the Nagano Government Buildings Office and three other facilities* under its direct control, and is working to achieve improvements in operation and other areas based on the results.   2001 2002 2003 2004 Rate of increase/decrease (2004/2001) CO2 emissions (Kg-CO2) 93,587 101,228 86,034 86,498  7.6% Fuel used by public vehicles (liters) 10,489 10,376 8,732 8,978  14.4% Paper consumption (kg) 2,638 3,049 1,987 2,489  5.6% Electricity consumption per unit area of office space (kWh/m2) 104.41 114.46 102.38 107.91 + 3.4% Fuel used in energy supply equipment, etc. (kl) 5.34 6.36 4.48 3.30  38.3% Use of clean water per unit area of office space (m3/m2) 0.56 0.66 0.52 0.52  7.1%  * The Shizuoka Government Buildings Office, the Nagasaki Government Buildings Office, and the Facility Management and Construction Supervision Office of Government Buildings Department of Kinki Regional Development Bureau   Building and Repair Technology Competition Since fiscal year 2001, the Government Buildings Department has held an annual Building and Repair Technology Competition for the purpose of cultivating planning skills among employees, improving technology, and contributing to the development of building and repair projects. The competition evaluates and judges wide-ranging projects, from planning to maintenance, design and technology that have been implemented by the Regional Development Bureaus, the Hokkaido Development Bureau and the Okinawa Development Bureau. Due to their importance in government facilities, environmental considerations are critical evaluation criteria in the Building and Repair Technology Competition.   On-site Courses The Government Buildings Department offers training assistance on request to administrative authorities, university students and the general public with regard to the provision of environmentally-friendly government facilities, specifically with regard to the planning and provision of the green government buildings that are being promoted as a means of combating global warming and the green assessments and renovations that evaluate the CO2 emissions associated with a building over its life cycle. Expert Opinion This environmental report compiled by the Government Buildings Department is, as far as I know, one of the first environmental reports to be issued by a national government body. Thus, I consider it to be very significant. The Government Buildings Department has long been engaged in developing measures to lessen the load on the environment, but this is the first time those efforts have been compiled. The report includes visual materials to introduce examples, making the report very easy to understand. However, compared to the environmental reports and other materials produced by private companies, it seems to me that there is not enough quantitative data on environmental costs and environmental protection results. I would hope that in the future more data of every kind is collected and reported in such a way as to allow year-on-year comparisons. In addition, I think that if the explanation of the PDCA cycle implemented with regard to environmental measures were more detailed, the citizens who read the report would find it easier to understand how the Government Buildings Department pursues its environmental strategies. In February this year the Kyoto Protocol came into effect, and in April the Kyoto Protocol Target Achievement Plan was established. The initiatives implemented in government buildings and elsewhere to reduce the load on the environment will continue to grow in importance. It is my hope that the Government Buildings Department will continue to be a strong engine driving the promotion of measures to reduce the load on the environment in public construction and play a leading role in the development of environmental measures. July 2005   Professor Shuzo Murakami   Department of System Design Engineering Faculty of Science and Technology   Keio University http://www.mlit.go.jp/gobuild/ Please send comments regarding this report to the contact address below. Address: Central Government Building No. 2 2-1-2 Kasumigaseki Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-8918 Issuing Department:   Environmental Affairs Office Building Equipment and Environment Division Government Buildings Department Minister's Secretariat Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Contact Phone: 03-5253-8111 E-mail: eizen@mlit.go.jp Issued: July 2005

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