59
Renet Japan has established partnerships with about 100 municipal governments
in 2 years after it started the service. These municipal governments notify their
residents about the company’s courier and collection service as part of their administrative services. In Kyoto City, about 10,000 personal computers were collected in
just 2 months.
Since the Small Home Appliance Recycling Act is a law aimed at promoting
recycling and lacks penal regulations, there are reportedly some areas where recovery of small home appliances has not progressed sufficiently. Although this is an
administrative service, the cooperation of the residents cannot be gained if it is too
troublesome to use the service, or there remain concerns about the handling of data.
It is precisely in this area that ideas that are unique to the private sector regarding
such services should be taken advantage of.
3.4.4 Expectations for Dissemination of Industrial Heat
Pumps
At monozukuri sites, ordinary boilers are generally used in processes where heating
is required. Among them, such applications as hot water supply, washing, drying,
and low temperature heating (fermentation, aging, etc.) require heating below
100 °C. In such cases, it may be possible to replace the boilers with heat pumps. In
the past, large-scale centralized equipment such as large boilers were used, but by
replacing them with distributed-type equipment such as industrial heat pumps, it
may be possible to achieve significant energy savings by reducing waste such as
piping loss and drainage loss.
Figure 3.16 shows an example of heat pump application. Conventional heat
pumps could be used for heating up to about 60 °C, but now that high-temperature
heat pumps have been developed, their use in the food sector has spread remarkably.
In addition, processes in which they can be used have increased in the medical,
chemical, and other fields.
Industrial heat pumps can be roughly classified into two types depending on the
positioning of the heat to be used.
One of them is the waste heat recovery type heat pump that effectively utilizes
the heat that used to be discarded. At monozukuri sites, waste heat is recovered and
utilized in various situations, but in some cases, the heat is irrecoverable and released
into the air. The heat pump can effectively use waste heat as a heat source for temperature zones around several tens of degrees that are difficult to use. In the case
where there is a time lag between the time when heat is generated and the time when
heat is used, thermal energy can be utilized without waste by installing a thermal
storage tank for storing the generated heat.
The other type is a heat pump that performs simultaneous heating and cooling.
Although there are not a few cases at food factories, etc. where both the cooling and
the heating steps are present, the heat pump is originally a technology in which heat
is removed from one side and emitted to the other side. The side from where heat
3.4 Low-Carbon Technologies for Monozukuri
Renet Japan has established partnerships with about 100 municipal governments
in 2 years after it started the service. These municipal governments notify their
residents about the company’s courier and collection service as part of their administrative services. In Kyoto City, about 10,000 personal computers were collected in
just 2 months.
Since the Small Home Appliance Recycling Act is a law aimed at promoting
recycling and lacks penal regulations, there are reportedly some areas where recovery of small home appliances has not progressed sufficiently. Although this is an
administrative service, the cooperation of the residents cannot be gained if it is too
troublesome to use the service, or there remain concerns about the handling of data.
It is precisely in this area that ideas that are unique to the private sector regarding
such services should be taken advantage of.
3.4.4 Expectations for Dissemination of Industrial Heat
Pumps
At monozukuri sites, ordinary boilers are generally used in processes where heating
is required. Among them, such applications as hot water supply, washing, drying,
and low temperature heating (fermentation, aging, etc.) require heating below
100 °C. In such cases, it may be possible to replace the boilers with heat pumps. In
the past, large-scale centralized equipment such as large boilers were used, but by
replacing them with distributed-type equipment such as industrial heat pumps, it
may be possible to achieve significant energy savings by reducing waste such as
piping loss and drainage loss.
Figure 3.16 shows an example of heat pump application. Conventional heat
pumps could be used for heating up to about 60 °C, but now that high-temperature
heat pumps have been developed, their use in the food sector has spread remarkably.
In addition, processes in which they can be used have increased in the medical,
chemical, and other fields.
Industrial heat pumps can be roughly classified into two types depending on the
positioning of the heat to be used.
One of them is the waste heat recovery type heat pump that effectively utilizes
the heat that used to be discarded. At monozukuri sites, waste heat is recovered and
utilized in various situations, but in some cases, the heat is irrecoverable and released
into the air. The heat pump can effectively use waste heat as a heat source for temperature zones around several tens of degrees that are difficult to use. In the case
where there is a time lag between the time when heat is generated and the time when
heat is used, thermal energy can be utilized without waste by installing a thermal
storage tank for storing the generated heat.
The other type is a heat pump that performs simultaneous heating and cooling.
Although there are not a few cases at food factories, etc. where both the cooling and
the heating steps are present, the heat pump is originally a technology in which heat
is removed from one side and emitted to the other side. The side from where heat
3.4 Low-Carbon Technologies for Monozukuri