Blogs in English from a Consultancy in Japan

My name’s Simon Forrest and I’m the translator at PTM and responsible for the English translations of our Engineer’s blogs. I’ve been asked to write one myself, so I thought I’d tell you about our International Projects Group and why we are translating these blogs into English.

PTM is a company of consulting engineers based in Tokyo. Although the bulk of our projects are domestic we do have an Overseas Projects Group that mainly does consultancy work for international banking and securities companies, but also for various other types of companies either setting up offices or relocating in Japan. Many of these projects are ‘mission critical’, which means we have to ensure any construction work does not interrupt the client’s business operations – there can be no outages in power while modifications are made to the electrical system.

Recently many clients have also recognized the importance of conserving energy, so we also provide solutions to reduce energy consumption. Many potential and existing client’s employ people from overseas so we thought it was important that the blog be available in English.

You will notice that the focus of recent blogs has been energy saving. After the earthquake on March 11th this year and the subsequent prediction of a shortfall in power supply, we were called on to provide energy saving advice to a number of clients. It was also felt that as consulting engineers we had to make our own efforts to reduce energy consumption. This coincided with the decision to get our engineers blogging, and they naturally focused on this energy conservation work.

Anyone who has ever tried to get their staff blogging will know that it can be difficult to motivate people and get them involved. They often have other work to attend to which they feel is more pressing, so there have been a few lulls in our blog activity. However people seem to be getting used to the idea and I’m sure we will continue to keep posting.

Simon Forrest
http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/

Nebuta House Warasse

Akira Katayanagi

I’d like to tell you about Nebuta House Warasse for which P.T. Morimura did the building services design. This facility opened in January 2011, and I was pleased to go back to the site for the first annual inspection. I was reminded again what an excellent place it is and was inspired to write about it for ‘Engineer’s Voice’.

Nebuta House Warasse is an exhibition hall situated towards the coast from Aomori station. The Architectural design was carried out by Molo Design with d/dt Arch, Frank la Riviere Architects. Molo Design is a design studio based in Vancouver, Canada and their projects include the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, which achieved worldwide acclaim.

The exterior screen of Nebuta Hall, formed from highly corrosion-resistant steel ribbons.

Photograph: Shigeo Ogawa

The annual Nebuta Festival is a major event on the cultural calendar, at which huge paper lanterns or floats called nebuta, are built by members of the local community and pulled through the streets to the sound of traditional flutes and drums. There is a competition for the best floats and the winning top five are displayed for the following year in the exhibition space at the centre of the Nebuta Hall. Traditional music fills the hall giving visitors a taste of the atmosphere of the actual festival.

 



Nebuta on display in Nebuta Hall
Photography: Shigeo Ogawa



Next I'll tell you a little about the power supplies used in Nebuta Hall.

As you can see in the photograph the nebuta lanterns are brightly illuminated. During the actual festival they are equipped with their own power source for lighting in the form of a diesel generator. However, this is not the case with the ones on display which are illuminated by a power supply which we developed. With five lanterns on display in one place, the main concern during design and construction was how to avoid over illumination of the space. To this end we measured the brightness of the lanterns during the actual festival,. Although they appear very bright, the actual luminance is only about 100lx which is not particularly strong.

However, in view of energy saving, we installed large dimmers to adjust the brightness of the lanterns. That way the hall is not overlit, adding to the impact of the exhibition. The white box you can see in the photograph below is a large dimmer unit enabling control the power supply voltage to reduce the power used by the lantern.



Large dimmer unit for controlling voltage of the lantern power supply.



Nebuta House Warasse has been open one year and looks like it is attracting an endless stream of visitors.  If you are visiting the area I highly recommend you drop by to see it.

The nebuta lanterns are the pride and joy of Aomori and I hope that along with Nebuta House Warasse, they continue flourish.

Akira Katayanagi

http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/



This summers energy saving – conclusions part 1

This summers energy saving – conclusions part 1

My name is Shuji Imura and I work in the environmental department.

Just as I was beginning to appreciate the refreshing arrival of autumn, there was in fact a report that even severer energy saving measures than those taken during the summer would be required through the winter. Kondo-san’s blog post (Sept 12th) focused on the importance of continuing energy saving efforts.

This and the next blog shall cover the results of our energy saving efforts.

Energy saving awareness

With the energy saving activities underway, one of the main problems was to raise awareness within the company. Ideally we wanted steadily increasing understanding of the changes in the office environment, leading to various individual energy saving efforts however, we formed a patrol group to provide a degree of structure.  Patrols were selected for each group in close contact, aimed at determining and carrying out energy saving measures.

Concrete measures were taken such as partially turning off air conditioners and lighting, or shutting down the air conditioning and opening windows and providing general cooling with outside air.  This proved a workable solution on several days during the summer, and it is an approach we expect to use again in the future.



Member of our Energy Saving Team wearing the official armband

Increasing awareness

There is a strong desire to keep up the energy saving activities.  We are used to being in spaces where there is too much lighting and air conditioning, and we weren’t particularly conscious that it had changed. Then, the environment to which we entrust our comfort is an unnatural space. It was the exchange of opinions with architects working on office buildings that led me to believe this. Their opinions differed from ours in that they were about how to create a comfortable space with a more natural low-tech system (plants and fans, and evaporative cooling using wet cardboard).  This gave us the idea to implement a “green project”.

Although I think the aims were good, hydroponics using ivy was more difficult than we expected, and it sometimes wilted. We will try again next year but with some improvements. 

Energy saving results (based on estimated monthly power consumption)

Of course, this summer the reduction of peak demand was important with this summers energy saving efforts peak demand for electricity dropped however, we are tenants in the building, so we the only results we could get from last year was the our total power consumption from the electricity meters making it easy to make a comparison. Overall we achieved reductions of 30%!

We have data on this summer’s peak demand from a real-time power monitor which we installed so, I’ll be looking forward to hearing about that in the next blog on the mechanical aspects by Nakamura-san.

Shuji Imura, Environmental Group

Continuation of Energy Saving Efforts

My name is Moto Kondo and I work in the Environmental group at PTM. I mainly deal with mechanical systems.

The implementation of the current restrictions placed on users supplied by Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO) and Tohoku Electric Power Corporation (Tohoku EPCO), has been discontinued. Summer temperatures have dropped as energy saving activities have taken hold in households across Japan, and there is the prospect of Tohoku EPCO reopening its hydroelectric plant. (as of September 2011).

The restrictions may have been lifted, but I think it’s important to make sure we all continue to try and save energy. Although there are many of us who feel that, until recently, we had been using excessive amounts of energy however, I imagine there are many enterprises and individuals who felt they were being forced to save energy. I think it will be beneficial if we can establish the lifestyle and structure required to continue saving energy without feeling like we are being compelled to.

You may or may not be familiar with the expression “feed-in tariff”. It is a specialized tem used in the environmental business, defined as follows:

A Feed-in Tariff (also known in Japan as koteikakakukaitoriseido meaning fixed price purchase system) is a subsidy scheme where tariffs are fixed by law.

Typically, it is a law which fixes the price of green energy such as solar or wind power bought by electric power companies, and offers favorable treatment to people who install such systems to promote the spread of these technologies. So here, the tariff means the purchase price.

The purchase price of energy is determined by law, and this encourages the spread of plant investment towards renewable energy sources.

The feed-in tariff system is being implemented in Europe and several other countries, and seems to be very effective. However, it must be properly designed to prevent exploitation of the system for profit in the commercial sphere.

A Renewable Energy Special Measures Law was enacted here in Japan too, which was aimed at creating the feed-in tariff for renewable energy purchasing. It has already been implemented for solar power however, it is high time it was applied to other natural energy resources such as wind, geothermal and biomass.

The time has come to determine the details and application in different areas however, once formulated, implementation needs to be tied to continuous proactive energy saving activities. The question is how do we focus on and determine the details?

Moto Kondo,

Environmental Group

Visit our website at http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/

Energy saving & comfort

My name is Shinya Ogata and I work in the Environmental Section at PTM. I mainly work on computational flow dynamics, which involves the use of software to simulate heat environments.

Cooling system temperature settings

Recently there are an increasing number of offices increasing the temperature setting on their cooling systems. By increasing the temperature setting we can certainly save energy however, people are likely to start feeling the heat? One obvious answer is to use a desk fan. You soon feel cooler when a fan is blowing directly at you, but how comfortable is it?

“PMV” – an indicator of comfort
PMV, short for Predicted Mean Vote, is an index that is widely used in architecture to indicate levels of comfort. A prediction of the level of comfort is made based on data collected from experiments carried out on 1000 subjects. The index has 7 levels from -3 (very cold) to +3 (very hot), and the closer to zero the indicator is, the more comfortable it is. To work out the PMV for a certain space, 6 different conditions need to be determined: temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, mean radiant temperature, metabolic rate and amount of clothing.

Cooling system temperature settings & comfort
Let’s compare comfort levels at different temperature settings of 26°C & 28°C. The graph below shows the relationship between air temperature, air speed, and PMV. Point 1) shows the setting at 26°C with no fan, while point 2) shows the setting at 28°C with a fan. When the fan is used, the air speed is about 0.6m/s. Look at the PMV in each case, the value for point 1) is between 0 to 1, while that for point 2) is very close to 0 which indicates the most comfortable environment.

Therefore, when a fan is used and the air speed is about 0.6m/s and blowing directly at you, whether the setting is at 26°C or 28°C, you can achieve comparable levels of comfort.

Energy saving and discomfort
There is the idea that energy saving is something that creates discomfort and is something to be endured however, as I explained above, with a little ingenuity improvements in both energy saving and comfort are possible. Here, I’ve used the use of fans as an example however, there are many other possibilities that could be devised. There’s no reason why we can’t all work towards creating comfortable environments and saving energy!

Shinya Ogata

Environmental Group

Visit our website at http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/

2011-8-1

The Impact of Energy Saving Measures

The Energy Saving Team, formed by volunteer engineers, tried to determine the actual results and impact of energy saving measures, rather than just putting into practice a typical action list such as you may find anywhere.

I’d like to introduce some of our findings, so that anyone can refer to them, and of course to help reduce electrical power demand.

1. Energy Saving Poster

To help raise awareness of energy saving, the first thing to do was create a poster which showed easily implementable measures. We displayed this throughout the office.

2. Assessing the working environment

Firstly we thought it important to assess the working environment. For this we used the proprietary SAP software to measure, created by the Japan Sustainable Building Consortium. By gathering responses to a questionnaire posted online, we were able to make an assessment of intellectual productivity based on factors that affect the office environment, such as lighting, acoustics, heat, air, space and IT. We plan to send out this questionnaire, several times while energy saving activities are being carried out.

3. 50% reduction in lighting levels

One of the two fluorescent tubes was removed from each lighting fixture, reducing lighting levels from around 700-800Lx to about 300-400Lx. The standard for lighting levels for offices in Japan is 500-750lx, while in the UK it is 300-500lx, so lighting levels in Japan tend to be very high. So how about working in lighting levels of 300-400lx? I don’t feel it is particularly dark however, some employees occasionally use their desk lights. Actually this makes for a good set up that provides ambient lighting with some additional lighting for more involved tasks.

By making these changes, we have achieved a saving of 4kW per hour in the office.

4. Determining the A/C temperature setting

This is important however, the ambient temperature doesn’t always correspond to the temperature setting. This point was hammered home by taking temperature measurements in the working environment. So we are trying to find a temperature setting that will keep the office at about 28°C (which is still considered a little on the high side). What does it look like when we compare the temperature setting and the actual temperature measurement where people are working? It seems that the results vary in locations where the sensors or the A/C units are installed.

A textile ventilation duct on the ceiling. This was installed a few years ago to create a uniform indoor temperature.

5. A/C shutdown timer

The remote controllers for recent A/C systems have a weekly timer setting. The system in our office has this function so we set the timers to shutdown at 19:00. Shortly, it was easy to see the impact. Our staff didn’t notice that the A/C units had been switched off from 19:00, and the subsequent change in temperature was slow, even though a large number of A/C units were shutdown. If it starts to feel uncomfortable people can take it upon themselves to restart the units near them, but are required to ensure they are turned off when leaving the office.

Care is needed in deciding whether to switch off the cooling during lunch, as that is just before the peak period.

6. Raising Awareness

How easy is it to grasp just how much energy you are using? Well, it’s not easy – unless you have real time power monitoring! We are a tenant so we had to get the agreement of the owner and building management company, but we were able to install meters in the risers and on the roof where the building services equipment is installed.　Energy measurement is also part of our business, but the installation of real time measurement brought new challenges, such as measuring the voltage.

We installed a display panel in the office, which is pictured below. A graph displays the real-time power monitoring data. To be easily understandable by everyone, the graph only displays demand. The expected demand based on the previous year’s monthly power demand and energy saving goals are displayed on the panel.

Additionally, fresh air temperature and humidity meters are installed, and the aim is to shutdown the A/C units and open the windows in periods when the air outside is cooler. This was actually carried out for about 2 days during July.

7. The future

Various power saving activities shall be carried out from now on. We shall also be exchanging opinions with design office colleagues, and there are also energy saving ideas which we had not previously considered.

I’ll tell you about them next time.

Shuji Imura

http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/

Energy Saving Tips

2011-7-26

My name is Akira Katayanagi and I'm an electrical engineer in the International Projects Group. With the recent earthquake, tsunami, the nuclear disaster at Fukushima and the impact this has had on energy supplies, it is more important than ever for everyone in Japan to make efforts at energy saving.

Energy saving
If everybody in Tokyo (population about 13,000,000) switched off lighting in unused rooms (with a 60W bulb), we would be able save about 780MW per hour.　To give you an idea of how large this figure is, it is about 16 times the equivalent power consumption for 1 professional baseball game held in Tokyo dome, or equivalent to lighting power for a single family for 160 years! It is something we should keep in mind: small scale energy saving measures by individuals lead to large scale energy savings.

As a group of engineers working at a building services consultancy, we are specialists in energy management and will be posting advice on how to save energy, and we are sure we can succeed in meeting energy saving requirements this summer.

Energy saving tips
1 Goal
It is important to set energy saving targets. The goal for this summer is a reduction of over 15%. This target value, announced by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, is calculated based on analysis of this year’s electrical power demand and supply balance.

2 Analysis
Electrical power usage varies. While saving energy is important, we want to save energy while maintaining comfort to avoid any drop in productivity, so it is important to understand the breakdown of energy consumption in order to make effective savings. Lighting, power outlets, air-conditioning, servers, server room air-conditioning etc., we need to analyze what proportion each application accounts for, and it is important to consider energy saving by first focusing on whichever section has the highest consumption.

3 Monitoring
To raise the energy saving awareness of employees, the energy consumption for each group is measured and announced in the company each week or month, and a comparison of last year’s and this year’s energy consumption helps to add a measure of satisfaction. However there are many companies that say, “energy readings are not being taken at all in any group so it’s difficult to raise monitor”, but recently there is a diverse range of metering equipment available which is comparatively cheap to install. In fact, our company had not been monitoring consumption but this month we managed to set up a hand built monitoring system.

4 Energy Saving Patrol
It is easy to take effective measures such as reducing lighting by half and setting the cooling at temperature at 28°C. However, it’s important to remember that simple things like forgetting to switch off lighting and air-conditioning while making efforts like these can still lead to disappointing results. However, this summer we have instituted an “Energy Saving Patrol”. It may sound a little funny and at first I thought, “Hey we’re not a bunch of school children… ”. The patrol simply designates members to check the situation in the office and switch off any unused lighting or air-conditioning. However, this is one of the most basic kinds of energy saving measures.

Akira Katayanagi,
International Projects Group

http://www.ptmtokyo.co.jp/