We visited Denenchofu Police Station to donate side chairs to the police station.
The Cihef the Denenchofu Police Station, Mr. Rhoichi Oda kindly invited us to the room and showed a 3D Map of the police jurisdiction area, located on the hill, however, the elevation of the east side including Haneda Airport is lower.
The second from the right is Gonoyama, a Sumo Wrestler who belongs to Takesumi-Buya. The master is a former Ohzeki (The second highest rank), Goeido. On the 1st level of the building is a pub, serving “Chanko-Nabe”, which is a Japanese hot pot stew that originated in sumo stables. The dish has a protein-rich broth, vegetables, and meat or seafood.
FIT制度(Feed In Tariff) – 自然エネルギーで発電した電気の固定価格買取制度が始まったのが2012年なので、発電10kW以下の住宅では10年の買取期間が終わったパネルもでてきています。10kW以上の非住宅の場合は買取期間が20年ですが、2032年以降に大量のパネルが廃棄されることが心配されています。
Since the FIT, Feed in Tariff was introduced in Japan in 2012, solar panels were installed on 3,990,000 places. After the FIT comes to an end, will they all go to the landfills? To find out how the solar panels are recycled, we visited Ecology Center of Hamada Corporation located in Keihinjima island in Tokyo.
The factory is near the Haneda Airport. The sales department manager Mr. Yamamoto talked about the history of the company, overall business and recycling of solar panels.
Solar panels can last 15 to 20 years or more. Most of the cases solar panels are brought are damages by natural disasters an replacing roof. Disposing of large amount of solar panels costs 150 yen per 1Kg. Hamada sometimes buy the used panels, and sell for second-hand market. There was a case that the disposal cost was reduced from 30 million yen to 3 million yen. The price of used panels are 25yen per 1kWh, so much less than new panels. There are demand for used panels for temporary facility.
70% of Solar panels with silicon cells are made of glass. If the glass is not broken, the panels can be separated to aluminum frames, glass and cells/EVA sheets.
First, the aluminum frames were separated with a machine.
Then the panels are inserted into a machine to separate cells/EVA sheets from the glass using hot knife, and they come out of the machine as a plate glass and a roll of cells/EVA.
Plate glass is put into component analyzer, and sold to glass manufacturer.
Recycled glass has amber color and bubbles, which looks warm and antique.
Cells/EVA sheets sold to other manufacturer are pulverized to extract silver and copper.
In this way, the aluminum and glass of solar panels can be recycled separately, so there is no need to worry about filling up landfills with large amounts of waste. .
Special thanks to the staff of Hamada Corporation at Keihinjima-island Ecology center.
2023年7月20日シンガポールにてSFIC (Singapore Furniture Industries Council )開催された Sustainability Summitで、講演者として招かれました。環境にやさしい家具レンタル、電気トラック、倉庫での太陽光発電、木更津倉庫での植樹、ソーラーシェアリングについて20分のスピーチをしました。
Eri was invited to Sustainability Summit 2023 as a key note speaker. She spoke about sustainable business models, EV Truck, and installation of solar panels on the warehouse and farmland.
A new EV truck, e-Canter joined our fleet. A step closer to a sustainable future. Sustainable lifestyle starts from Azabudai. It’s 100% powered by electricity. It’s charged from the solar panels on our warehouse. We are committed to go green.
June 10, 2022, the Celebration of Samoa’s Independence Anniversary and 50th Anniversary of JICA volunteers in Samoa was held in Tokyo.
Her Excellency Ms. Faalavaau Perina Jacqueline Sila-Tualaulelei, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Independent State of Samoa thanked the people of JICA and those who helped the development of Samoa. When she mentioned that Samoan wives who married the volunteers are now with us, there were many cheers in the room.
サモアの伝統的な勇壮な踊りで、お祝いが盛り上がりました。
Traditional gallant Samoan dance
サモアの伝統的な女性の踊りです。
Traditional Samoan dance by beautiful ladies.
サモアの人は陽気で、まるで南の島サモアに旅しているようなリラックスした雰囲気でした。
ご招待いただきました、サモア大使館の方に感謝申し上げます。
Samoans are friendly and warm people who offer smiles to those they meet. I was relaxed and felt like travelling a Samoan island.
I appreciate the Embassy of Samoa in Japan for inviting me.