Sustainable Zone-An Indicator for a Local Economy Based on Renewable Energy Resources

Abstract

A Sustainable Zone (SZ) is an indicator that helps identify areas in which the local production of renewable energy and foods exceeds the local consumption of these. The establishment of SZs is likely to usher in a potentially de-centralized society that will depend on de-centralized resources such as renewable energy or recycled resources. Last year, the Research Center on Public Affairs (ReCPA) at the Chiba University launched the SZ project in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies (ISEP). As a first step, in Japan, the formation of an energy sustainable zone (with some limitations) was calculated for the month of July. In this article, we will explain the rationale for this concept and demonstrate the method of calculation.