Changing the way we Live

MANILA, Philippines - This is one of the scenarios Toyota – the world’s largest carmaker – envisioned in developing “smart” cities in four locations in Japan with nearly 50 companies and organizations, and concerned city governments. It’s where communities thrive with low carbon emissions, using less fossil fuel-based power while improving their quality of life through the coordinated use of existing technologies such as mobile phones, solar panels, and hybrid vehicles.

“These efforts to greatly reduce carbon dioxide emissions through the use of technology is aimed at achieving ‘green’ consumer behavior, optimizing the use of clean energy at home, at work, in transportation, and in public and commercial facilities,” Yoichi Ishikawa, a director of the Model Environment City Division, told journalists during a recent briefing on “Smart Mobility & Energy Life in Toyota City.”

Other “smart cities” are in Yokoma City, Keihanna, and Kitakyushu City. The development of smart cities gained urgency following the powerful earthquake that hit northern Japan and damaged its nuclear plant in Fukushima.

Toyota City is located in the Aichi Prefecture with an area of 918.47 square kilometers and a population of 422,135 as of March 1 this year. Nearly 70 percent of the prefecture is forestland.

As of March this year, 66 houses in Toyota City were equipped with solar panels or fuel cells or both, and plug-in hybrid vehicles and/or electric vehicles; and a Home Energy Management System (HEMS).

While the household still gets power from the local grid, most of the time it is 70 percent energy self-sufficient through the HEMS, which links energy from solar panels, fuel cells and other low carbon dioxide sources to appliances such as water heaters, plug-in hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, and storage batteries located outside the house.

The HEMS display screen allows families to track their energy and water consumption for a specified time period or by room, or by appliance. It even tells them when would be the best time of the day to charge their hybrid vehicles from solar panels or use electricity stored in their batteries when power costs are high or when the weather is good.

Selected commercial establishments like convenience stories and offices were also equipped with the same facilities, including their version of HEMS as well as vehicle charging stations.

When there is excess electricity from renewable sources, batteries from the vehicles or storage batteries can be used to power the household so there would be no need to get power from the grid.

Household and commercial establishments that are very energy efficient are given incentives or “eco-points” in a scheme being fine-tuned by both the respective city governments and Low Carbon Society Verification and Promotion Council, which was established in 2010.

All these are linked by an Energy Data Management System (EDMS) which, among other tasks, predicts the electrical supply and demand of the community based on consumer and weather forecasts, and advises households and establishments when to reduce their power consumption.

For the transport systems of the smart cities, the use of plug-in hybrids, hybrid and electric vehicles, and buses powered by fuel cells, and other low-carbon technology was started last year.

Transportation is managed by a traffic data management system (TDMS), which can be accessed by one’s smartphone. The TDMS advises the best low-carbon emission route based on congestion, weather and other events. It also encourages best routes that use electric vehicles, which can be charged in various solar-powered charging stations.

The HEMS, EDMS and TDMS and other assisting subsystems comprise one integrated whole that proponents say is aimed at encouraging “a green lifestyle to optimize total energy use.”

By next year, the council aims to expand the project to at least 230 homes in Toyota City alone.

Toshiya Hayata of the Urban Transports System Management of the Smart Community Planning Department says he hopes the “smart cities” would be adopted not only in the entire Japan but also around the world.