Global Warming Prevention

Toward global warming prevention, the Hitachi Cable Group has a target of reducing its domestic sites' CO₂ emissions generated through energy consumption by 7% in FY2011 when compared with that of FY1991 at domestic production sites and SF6 gas emissions by 35% in FY2011 when compared with that of FY2004. By summing up these two targets, we set a total greenhouse gas reduction target of 24% by FY2011 when compared with that of FY1991 and when converted to CO₂.
In FY2009, we continued conversion of fuel for boilers and took measures such as reduced use of fuel with the introduction of SF6 gas refining equipment, promoting emission reductions.

CO2 emission reduction

The total of domestic CO₂ emissions generated through energy consumption in FY2009 was 272,000 tons, representing a 7.9% reduction against 296,000 tons in FY1991. This was thanks to the CO₂ emission reduction with fuel conversions for copper melting and other industrial furnaces and steam boiler completed by FY2008 and through the completion of new fuel conversion of different copper melting furnace and steam boilers in FY2009. The substantial amount of CO₂ emission reductions by fuel conversion reached a total of 9,600 tons in FY2009 compared with that before implementation, achieving a large reduction. Furthermore, a decrease in production in the second half caused by the recession lowered the amount.
The total of CO₂ emissions generated in energy consumption and having large environmental loads in five overseas sites was 65,000 tons.

CO₂ emission and unit

The following electricity emission factors are used [ Do mestic ] For domestic electricity emissions factors, the average for all power sources are used for FY1991; individual power company factors notified by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Environment for FY2006 and FY2007; emissions factor for calculation for FY2008 and FY2009 (Please note that the factor was applied ex post facto and that the amount of emission is different from that reported last year.) [ Overseas ] The Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association, "Survey Report of Estimated GHG Emission Intensity in the Power Sector by Country", Ver.3; emission factor 2003. To calculate the unit sales amount used, a zero base amount of sales is adopted with the cost of copper excluded.

SF6 gas use reduction

Greenhouse gases other than domestic CO₂ emissions generated through energy consumption include SF₆, which is a gas that is used in insulation performance tests of electric parts and components, CO₂, PFC and HFC used for purging, resin foaming and cooling agents for heat transfer performance tests of copper pipes.
Total SF₆ gas emissions in FY2009 were 1,754 tons, 56,800 tons when converted to CO₂. We were able to reduce the emissions by 52% when compared with FY2004.
The total emission of CO₂ not generated in energy consumption and PFC/HFC was 277 tons/year when converted to CO₂.

CO2 emissions reduction with replacement and proper operation of dust collectors

Dust collectors

The Kisai Plant of Hitachi Alloy, Ltd. manufactures brass bars, strips and wires, running furnaces to create products by melting and casting brass. Zinc powder and other dust generated are collected by a dust collector. In the past, a single dust collector was used to collect dust from all furnaces in the plant, so if any of the furnaces were in operation, it was necessary to operate the dust collector, making it difficult to reduce the amount of power used. As a countermeasure to this, we newly installed smaller dust collectors and made improvements to control the number of dust collectors used, corresponding to the number of furnaces in operation. In addition, an inverter control system was introduced for optimal operation. These measures resulted in a decreased amount of electricity usage, resulting in a reduction of 265 tons of CO2 emissions. For a further promotion of energy saving, we plan to implement damper opening and closing control of dust collector ducts.

SF6 gas use reduction with gas refiner

SF6 gas refiner

Hitachi Cable MEC-Tech, Ltd. uses insulation gas, SF6, in the testing process of high-voltage electric equipment. After completing the tests, all the SF6 gas is collected into a storage tank to prevent emission into the air. However, after repeatedly using the gas, while a small amount of SF6 is emitted into the atmosphere, air is mixed into the tank, which lowers the insulation performance and makes it impossible to use the gas for tests. This resulted in a need to replace SF6 gas with new ones, being an obstacle to reduce the amount of usage. We introduced a gas refiner that can separate SF6 gas from the air with a special separation membrane, lowered the effect of air mixture on insulation performance, which enables us to repeatedly use the gas by refilling the amount of SF6 gas emitted in the air. Thanks to this measure, we have been able to reduce the amount of SF6 gas used annually by 40%, which is a significant result.

Shown below are major cases of facility improvements for energy saving implemented in FY2009. Thanks to the initiatives, we were able to reduce the total amount of energy by 1,486kl (57,605GJ) when converted to crude oil.

Category Improvement example High-efficiency equipment introduced Conversion of air conditioners to highefficiency models Downsizing the motors of dust collectors Strengthened control Use of pump heads Improved air duct arrangements Inverter Converting cooling pumps for air conditioners to inverter ones Converting power supplies for annealing equipment to inverter ones Power distribution system Efficiency improvement by updating and integrating transformers Lighting Change to highly efficient lighting Others Fuel reduction with heavy oil emulsion

Saving energy in transportation

With the aim of saving energy and reducing CO₂ emissions during transportation, the Hitachi Cable Group is striving to reduce the basic unit of energy spent for transportation by 4% in FY2011 when compared with that of FY2007. To be precise, the Group is addressing increasing the load factors for transportation by trucks that cover the majority of transportation volume to improve transportation efficiency and is also promoting modal shifts from truck to railroad and sea freight for regular and long-distance transportation.
The basic unit of energy spent for transportation increased by 1.4% in FY2009 when compared with that of FY2007, meaning we could not achieve targets. Thought the Hitachi Cable Group promoted the reduction of impediments such as sudden changes in shipment schedules to increase the truck load factor, there were many shipments of various antenna products and other volume weight-charged products, worsening transportation efficiency due to decreased shipments in the second half, hence improvements were not achieved as planned. In relation to the other challenge of modal shifts, we expanded transportation by railway to Hokkaido and Kitakyushu that has been already implemented, successfully achieving an improvement of 1 point when compared with the previous year.

Regular report of specified freighter

Hitachi Cable is designated as a specified consigner set forth in the Act on the Rational Use of Energy. In the regular report to show results in FY2009, the company reported that CO₂ emissions generated by energy usage was 8,410 tons. When compared with the amount of emissions reported for FY2008, this was about a 5% reduction.