TOKYO - Skyscrapers in central Tokyo
are increasingly being developed with energy-saving
features such as cogeneration systems and
insulated windows.
Such buildings are as focused on
countering global warming as factories because the central
Japanese government and the Tokyo metropolitan government
plan to require large buildings to incorporate more
energy-saving measures.
The Mori Tower,
a 54-story building that Mori Building Co plans to open
in Tokyo's Minato Ward in April, is expected to consume
21 percent less energy than conventional buildings of
its size. Control systems using sensors and other
devices will raise the efficiency of air-conditioning and
lighting units there, and a computer system will collect
data and manage how much energy the entire building is
consuming.
The 31-story
Shinagawa Mitsubishi Building, located in a commercial district
near the Japan Railways Shinagawa Station and slated
to be completed at the end of March, will be
equipped with high-performance air-conditioning units and
automated light-adjustment systems. These and other features are
expected to slash the building's energy consumption by
32.7 percent.
A 48-story building housing the
head office of major advertising agency Dentsu Inc,
which opened in December, comes with 35 types of
energy-saving features. Features such as insulating
double-layered windows are seen lowering energy
consumption by about 30 percent.
The
37-story Maru Building, which Mitsubishi Estate Co opened
in Marunouchi in September, consumes 30 percent less
energy thanks to 10 types of energy-efficient features,
including a cogeneration system in which the firm
invested about 500 million yen (US$4.2 million).
The Kyoto Protocol, which is to take effect
this year, calls for Japan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions
by 6 percent. To achieve this goal, the nation will have
to mandate energy-saving features for office buildings
as well as factories. The Japanese government will
require large office buildings to have as many
energy-saving features as factories when the revised
Energy Law is implemented in April.
The
Tokyo metropolitan government is also considering
requiring buildings to make efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions.
