An "energy patrol" in action
The Peripheral Products Division (Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture) was selected for the Supreme Award in the businesses category of the “Fukushima Protocol” on February 7 of this year, and was presented with the prize from Fukushima Prefecture’s Governor during the awards ceremony on the 21st of the same month.
As part of its efforts in preventing further global warming, Fukushima Prefecture has set a goal for reducing CO2 emissions throughout the prefecture by 8% of 1990 levels by the end of 2010. In conjunction, the prefecture has drafted the “Fukushima Protocol” to activate environmental measures in schools, businesses and homes to help the global warming cause. Locations that wish to participate in the protocol define a self-set goal for CO2 emission reductions and sign it with the Governor. The locations also define how they will use less electricity and water to help achieve the reduced CO2 emissions. This fiscal year 1,763 schools and businesses participated in the protocol, including Alps Electric’s Peripheral Products Division and Communications Devices Division, and five companies from the Alpine Group also located in the prefecture.
Selected for the Supreme Award in the business category this year was the Peripheral Products Division, which aimed to reduce CO2 emissions for the 2008 October-November period by 10% of emissions over the same period in 2004. In order to achieve this goal, the division has adopted energy-efficient machinery used in high energy consumption processes such as manufacture and tooling, modified the lighting in its cafeteria and corridors to more energy-efficient models or to models attached with movement sensors, and has switched most of its company cars to low-fuel consumption vehicles. These initiatives have succeeded in a definite reduction of CO2 emissions.
However, the divisions also noted that results would only be seen when machine operators and other employees became more aware of preserving the environment and preventing global warming. Accordingly, the division promoted a “mini eco-action” campaign among its employees, which ultimately constituted core activity leading to certain emission reductions. The campaign included “e-learning” using the company’s intranet for employees to learn about the causes of global warming; an “eco-drive” seminar by a professional instructor; and “energy patrols” that check for inefficiencies throughout division departments. These educational initiatives have raised environmental awareness among employees who have now become accustomed to making sure they switch off computers and lights when not in use and saving electricity and water usage in other ways as well.
This “mini eco-action” campaign, the subsequent action of each individual and the many other environmental initiatives of the division were well recognized during the selection process for the supreme award and have resulted in the division taking the prize.
The Peripheral Products Division and the entire Alps Electric is committed to ongoing environmental activity in its role as a crew member of “Spaceship Earth.”
