Journal of Environmental Engineering (Transactions of AIJ)
Online ISSN : 1881-817X
Print ISSN : 1348-0685
ISSN-L : 1348-0685
Volume 83, Issue 744
Displaying 1-11 of 11 articles from this issue
  • Masaki NOAKI, Jun-ichi YAMAGUCHI, Yoshifumi OHMIYA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 107-117
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In prescriptive regulation of Japanese Building Standard Code, combustible material can be used as for interior finish when sprinkler system and smoke exhaustion facility is installed in the building. But, in performance based code, it is general that design fire source of interior finish is not considered the fire suppression effect by water application such as sprinkler system. One of the reasons is that the evaluation method for evaluation method of burning behavior of interior finish corresponding to fire suppression effect by water application is not established.
     On the other hand, flame propagation speed is characterized with flammability and ignitability of interior finish, according to the results of previous research1). Authors supposed an estimating equation to calculate the heat release rate corresponding to heat of pyrolysis and heat of combustion of the combustible material and water delivered density2). However there is little quantitative knowledge regarding the effect of water application on the ignitability.
     A series of experiments was carried out to comprehend the effect of delay of pyrolysis and ignition owing to water application in the present research. Particularly, this research mainly focused on the condition that pyrolysis and ignition of combustible materials occur even though water droplets hit on the material's surface.
     The small-scale specimens were installed at 50mm opposite side from electric heater. The water spray (manufacturer: Ikeuchi corporation, model number: JJXP010) was installed at unexposed side of electric heater. Water droplets from water spray were supplied through the hole of electric heater (see Fig. 1).
     Two types of specimen were used in the experiments. First is thin steel plate (35mm×35mm×2mm thickness) in order to grasp the heat absorption effect and attenuation effect of radiation owing to water application. Second is PMMA (φ50mm×30mm thickness) in order to comprehend the effect of water application on time to pyrolysis and ignition. Main parameters of the experiments are radiative heat flux (20~40 kW/m2) and water delivered density (0~6 g/s.m2) onto the specimen surface. Pilot burner was used only in second experiment using PMMA.
     As the results of first experiments, estimated incident heat flux onto steel plate, which is based on the heat balance of steel plate by using experimental data of the steel plate temperature, is approximately the same as the external heat flux minus sensible heat and latent heat of water (qex–w·Lw) when the supplied water onto specimen completely evaporated. Then, in this case, the attenuation effect of radiation by water droplets was negligible because temperature measured by pyrometer was almost the same as temperature measured by thermocouple.
     On the other hand, as the results of second experiments, time to pyrolysis and ignition increased as increasing water delivered density at each external heat flux. Whereas, specimen surface temperature at time to pyrolysis and ignition are 250 C and 350 C, respectively, regardless of external heat flux and water delivered density. According to the results of comparison of external heat flux and inverse square root of time to pyrolysis 1/√tp, it is confirmed that time to pyrolysis with water application can be estimated by using correlation between external heat flux and time to pyrolysis without water application when irradiance with water application is regarded as the external heat flux minus sensible heat and latent heat of water (qex–w·Lw). On the other hand, calculated value of time to ignition by using same method is shorter than actual value. One of the reasons is thought that the pyrolysis gas was prevented oxidation reaction by water droplets and water vapor.
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  • Jaeyoung HEO, Yoko UCHIDA, Kyungsun CHUNG, Miki KOZAKI, Takaaki KOGA, ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 119-127
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     The first purpose of this study is to clarify the influence of light environment on user's evaluations of stairs such as visibility and easiness of moving up and down. By measuring illuminance, brightness, and subjective evaluations of stairs of stations, it shows that illuminance and brightness of the lower view angle influence greatly on subjective evaluations. Taking that result, we conclude that lighting set in handrails of stair can illuminate most efficiently.
     The second purpose is to clarify the influence of variation of lighting height. Intended for elderly people and young people, we conducted an experiment. As a result, variation of height of handrail lighting does not influence on subjective evaluations greatly. However, the evaluations in the environment of handrail lighting tend to be higher than that of ceiling lighting. In addition, it shows that elderly people can feel security in the environment of handrail lighting.
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  • Examination of PCM heat storage performance by solar radiation distribution considering wavelength characteristics and thermal resistance of finishing material Part 1
    Youngjin CHOI, Kozo TAKASE, Mao SERIKAWA, Takeshi EGUCHI, Nozomi MUKOJ ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 129-138
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Direct gain passive solar heating systems need a balance of three elements: 1) the incorporation of sufficient solar radiation from windows, 2) the storage of heat by an appropriate material, and 3) the reduction of heat loss by insulation. In recent years, inexpensive and comfortable solar heating using direct gain and heat storage has become more feasible. This is due to advancements in high thermal insulation as a result of energy-saving standards. Latent heat storage material (Phase Change Material, PCM) is being developed and promoted because it has a stabilizing effect on room temperature and has been attracting attention in recent years as a heat storage material. Because no evaluation method has yet been established, it is necessary to analyze the characteristics of PCM. In this study, we proposed direct gain passive solar heating systems distributing the indoor solar radiation using additional material installed on the windows (NIR film). These systems store solar radiation in a wide area quickly by having PCM installed in not the only floor, but also the ceiling. Some analysis of charging and discharging PCM heat behavior were carried out to study the effects on reducing the heating load in a direct gain solar heating house by actual measurement and simulation. The results are summarized as follows:
     - Through the measurement, it was confirmed that the combination of PCM, NIR film and low resistance ceiling caused stabilization effect on room temperature. The measurement showed that using NIR film reduced the rise of daytime room temperature by about 1.1°C and the fall of nighttime temperature by about 0.7°C (Case3). Furthermore, by using low resistance ceiling, overheating in the daytime was reduced by about 0.9°C (Case4).
     - Simulation model with solar radiation distribution and latent heat storage (PCM) was proposed, and the accuracy of the simulation model was confirmed by comparing experimental results with calculated results.
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  • Junichiro MATSUNAGA, Akira FUKUSHIMA, Masaki TAJIMA
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 139-147
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     Pneumatic solar collector systems have a certain advantage of conversion efficiency of 40% to 60% and less long-term failure compared with liquid types. However, according to previous studies, pneumatic solar heating systems require large power input for air supplying and sometimes provide overheating and overdrying.
     In this paper, utilizing a heat collecting panel working as an auxiliary heating facility, which is consist of simple devices and requires no power source, a prediction method of heat collection effect especially for energy saving design of houses is shown. Experimentally the panel's basic performance is clarified and a simplified separation method of normal direct solar radiation and horizontal sky solar radiation for predicting the heat collection amount in various places in Japan by using the total solar insolation of the AMeDAS meteorological data is also shown. The calculation results of heat collection amount obtained by the present works' separation method is evaluated by comparing to experimental results and the other separation method given by previous studies and concluded its practicality. Moreover, heat collection amounts of the representative area in Japan are shown.

     The followings are the results and findings of this study.

     1) Asimplified formula of heat collection amount prediction of the solar heating system, which is validated by experimental result, is proposed.
     2) A unique separation model of normal direct solar radiation and horizontal sky solar radiation is shown and concluded its practicality by comparing to the Nagata Model and Perez Model.
     3) Using an experimental equipment, the reproducibility of calculated supply heat quantity using present work's method is confirmed.
     4) Using the wall mounted solar heating panel installed in a real residence in Chitose City Hokkaido, the predicted heat collection amount and actual measured value are compared and conclude that, they are in good agreement and can be calculated with practically sufficient accuracy.
     5) By using proposed model, heat collection amounts in 18 cities in Japan are calculated and the results show the annual heat collection is approximately 420 to 650 kWh in the heating period can be expected in each city.
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  • A study on the satisfaction of thermal environment of houses considering difference in spatial composition Part1
    Ryota SHINTOMI, Yukina OHISHI, Nobue SUZUKI, Makoto SATOH, Masayuki MA ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 149-157
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In recent years, expecting to promote communication among family and to be a bright and open space, the number of houses adopting an open floor plan with living stairs (stairs which are connected to the living room without partitioning) and stairwell is increasing. On the other hand, the adoption of the living stairs and stairwell can cause deterioration of the thermal environment during air conditioning. Therefore, in this study, we analyze the actual condition of heat insulation performance, heating and cooling equipment and spatial composition through questionnaire survey for purchasers of newly constructed detached houses in the three-major metropolitan areas, and clarify the relation between each factor and the degree of satisfaction of the thermal environment.
     First, when comparing the importance at the design stage and the satisfaction after living of 16 items of housing performance, although the satisfaction after living tends to be lower than importance at the design stage, respondents are generally satisfied with their houses. However, looking at the seasonal dissatisfaction items individually, it was found that although they were totally satisfied with the warmth in winter and the coolness in summer, they had dissatisfactions individually.
     Next, we grasp the actual condition of living openness and heat insulation performance and classified those into four types, high insulated closed type, high insulated open type, low insulated closed type, low insulated open type. For each type, we analyze the building characteristics, actual condition of adopting heating and cooling equipment, dissatisfaction of thermal environment for each season, and so on. There was no difference depending on type in adoption of heating and cooling equipment, but the rate of unsatisfied people in winter season tended to be lower with floor heating compared with without floor heating. Moreover, the influence of the spatial composition and the heat insulation performance was seen for individual dissatisfaction items such as dry feeling, coldness of the feet, difficulty of warming up of the room and the like. Looking at the dissatisfaction in the summer, although the type difference overall was small compared to the winter season, dissatisfaction rate of high insulated type is slightly higher than low insulated type for items such as room temperature rise due to solar radiation, humidity during non-cooling and air flow feeling during cooling. As for the utility costs in winter, in the case of without floor heating, open type plans tended to be more expensive, but in the case of with floor heating, closed type tended to be more expensive. Regarding the utility costs in summer, the open type tended to be higher than the closed type.
     In the future study, we plan to expand the survey target to renovation houses and continue to investigate the satisfaction of the thermal environment of the houses.
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  • Kei HARAGUCHI, Jun SATO, Atsushi HAYASHI, Yasushi TAKEI, Yasuhiko IZUM ...
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 159-169
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     A purpose of this study is to simply evaluate pressure variation in stations having all covering roof. Round a running train, pressure field occurs. As this pressure field moves with the train, pressure variation is observed in the neighborhood of the passage train. We measured at stations having all covering roof to grasp the characteristic of the pressure variation. As a result, we confirmed that pressure variation at the time of train nose passage was bigger than the train tail passage, opening ratio had linear correlations with pressure coefficient maximum value in the specific station and when cross-sectional area of station became small the pressure variation grew big. In addition, we confirmed that the pressure variation was proportional to square of the train speed and we could apply the evaluation expression same as open area.
     In the second place, by the measurement at opposite sides in stations having all covering roof, we tried to divide the pressure variation into one-dimensional component which is same in a section and three-dimensional component which depends on the distance from a train. As a result, we confirmed that we could divide into the both by confirmation of the waveform. And when we evaluated the pressure variation maximum value, we confirmed that one-dimensional component was dominant and the influence became small so that opening ratio became big. As we evaluated the pressure variation maximum value by the simple addition, we tried to construct the evaluation expression consisting of the addition of the one-dimensional component maximum value times α and three-dimensional component maximum value times β.
     On the one-dimensional component maximum value, we confirmed that opening ratio had linear corrections with the pressure coefficient maximum value /R (2-R) of the one-dimensional component. We led an evaluation expression from the relations and confirmed that we could evaluate it with not depending on the train classification, an error of the 10 percent or so. We supposed that the three-dimensional component maximum value was inversely proportional to square of the distance from the train center, and we led an evaluation expression every train classification. We confirmed that the influence of opening ratio was small and we could evaluate it with an error of the 20 percent or so.
     As a result, we suggested an evaluation expression of pressure variation maximum value in stations having all covering roof which is the addition of the one-dimensional component and three-dimensional component. And by the expression it was confirmed that we could predict the pressure variation of small sectional stations with 10 percent or so, and that of large sectional stations with 20 percent or so.
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  • Masamichi OURA, Minsik KIM, Ryohji OHBA, Shinsuke KATO
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 171-181
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     The purpose of this report is the improvement of the source intensity estimation based on a minimal residual method using observed and calculated data of concentration, radiation dose and so on.
     This source intensity estimation method uses short range observed data (e.g. a few km) and calculated results of Gaussian plume model that is suitable for short range dispersion calculation. In Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident, short range observed data had not been used for source intensity estimation, because it's difficult for the Emergency response model (named SPEEDI) to resolute spaces of calculation region with less than 1 km.

     The accuracy of source intensity estimation significantly decreases due to several uncertainties. The 4 uncertainties of the source intensity estimation were investigated and their improvements were verified.
     1) Uncertainty of wind direction was decreased by expanding observation time of concentration.
     2) Uncertainty of emission height was decreased by removing observation data measured near from source point.
     3) Terrain influence was reproduced in Gaussian plume model by modifying plume widths, effective source height and displacement of plume axis, based on wind tunnel experiment.
     4) Meandering effect of Atmospheric stability on lateral plume width was reproduced in Gaussian plume model by using the observed data on fluctuation of wind direction in the field under a stable atmospheric stability.

     According to “Meteorology guideline for nuclear power facilities safety analysis”, wind directions of meteorological observation data were categorized into 16 directions and concentration calculated from a mean value for few minutes. Consequently, the wind direction can include an error. The uncertainty caused by wind direction error was improved by using data on observation, and dispersion simulation that calculated a mean value for 1 hour. Because of lateral dispersion width is proportional to the variance of wind direction and increase with observation time, concentration distribution is smoothed for 1 hour, more than few minutes.
     When a release from a nuclear reactor building is imagined in a severe accident, an uncertainty of release height can be inherent. The ground-level concentration distribution does not depend on the release height over the downwind distance of more than 1000m, but they depend on it in vicinity of the source. The uncertainty due to release height was improved by not using data on observation and dispersion simulation in vicinity of source.
     Because Gaussian plume model was developed for the dispersion calculation on flat terrain, it's not able to consider an influence of building and complex terrain. A new measure that modifies an effective source height, plume widths and plume axis based on wind tunnel experiment was developed in this research. The accuracy of source intensity estimation was greatly improved by this new measure.
     Actual atmospheric stability appears from strong stable to strong unstable in the field, but wind tunnel experiment have been done usually under neutral stability condition. The plume width used for the calculation is selected based on Pasquill-Gifford chart corresponding to atmospheric stability. In the present paper, lateral plume width and concentration of plume axis are modified by using a correction factor M based on a field experiment. It was confirmed that the source intensity can be estimated by the accuracy of one order under non-neutral stability for the field dispersion experiment conducted around Mt. Tsukuba.

     It was verified that accuracy was improved and order estimation can be performed by these methods. These methods can be applicable for the operational use, because order estimation is target at a nuclear power accident.
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  • Masayuki OTSUKA, Takafumi MATSUO, Hiroshi SHIGEFUJI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 183-192
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     The proposed simple method for estimating the performance of conveyance in the horizontal drainage piping (in terms of conveyor distance and the number of elbows) for apartment houses uses a simulation model for calculating the fixture drainage characteristics of a toilet, when the toilet is flushed with clean water, and the calculation results are collated with the average fixture drainage rate; an experimentally determined limit value for conveyor experimental waste substitutes, to make an estimation. The method was applied to 15 water-saving toilets, mainly of JIS type I and type II, to examine the effectiveness of the method in estimating performance of conveyance in practical terms. The findings are as follows.
     (1) Drainage flow rates were calculated according to the piping length varying between the straight piping and the piping with equally spaced elbows provided by the simulation model for calculating fixture drainage characteristics by using clean flush water, and the waveforms of the calculated drainage flow rates more or less corresponded to the waveforms of the actual measured drainage rates. The calculated average and maximum fixture drainage flow rates, which serve as evaluation indices, were within an error of approximately ±10% in the case of the straight piping, and within an error of approximately ±20%, a wider error range, in the case of the piping with elbows when compared with the actual measured values were.
     (2) The average limit of fixture drainage flow rate; a stop determination value, used for estimating distances of conveyor experimental waste substitutes was approximately 0.2 ~ 0.5 L/s when actually measured, and waste- conveyor characteristics and numerical values were quantitatively obtained for each waste substitute.
     (3) It is considered that the average of the conveyor distances estimated by the proposed method is within an error of 0.5-1.0 m in the case of the straight piping when compared with the average of the actual measured distances. In the case of the piping with elbows, the estimated average distance is longer than the actual average distance by approximately 2 m (with one elbow) to 3 m (with two elbows). However, it is possible to obtain an estimated value, on the safe side, by determining from the results of the calculations. Therefore, it is confirmed that the proposed estimation method is effective at least on the simulation model.
     (4) The proposed simple method for estimating the performance of conveyance in the horizontal drainpipe (in terms of conveyor distance and the number of elbows) provides reasonable estimation accuracy (error rate) within the scope where the average conveyor distance is used as an index, and therefore, the method is considered to be an effective tool in designing horizontal drainage piping for houses while ensuring good performance of conveyance.
     (5) Lastly, the problem to be solved is to determine what caused the large errors between the estimated conveyor distances and the actual measured conveyor distances in the case of the piping with elbows. It is suggested that the large errors were caused, firstly because of insufficient evaluation of the loss coefficient of momentum in the mathematical model, and secondly because the proposed method was applied to the model using clean flush water, based on which estimated values were collated with the stop determination value that was obtained from experiment results, i.e., the model does not adequately simulate operations of drainage wastewater and waste substitutes together.
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  • Yukari HIRAYAMA, Takashi ASAWA, Rihito SATO, Isamu OHTA, Noriyasu SUMI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 193-203
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In order to reduce heat in urban environments, the Japanese government has been enforcing mitigation and adaptation policies; however, due to insufficient design guidelines, it is still difficult to form a cool environment.
     The purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation index and design guideline for the formation of cool spots in semi-outdoor spaces using passive cooling methods, and to confirm the total cooling effect of the designed space by means of air temperature, MRT and sensible temperature. In order to form a cool spot in semi-outdoor space, it is important to utilize natural ventilation at windy condition, but also to decline radiative temperature and generate cool air at breeze condition. Therefore, we focused on evaporative cooling methods that are applied to vertical plane, and proposed a cooling evaluation index based on the ambient wet bulb temperature, with βTs, βTa_lee and βTa_for as the cooling efficiencies of the surface temperature, cool air on leeward and forward side of the passive cooling techniques, respectively. From the measurements of the individual methods, we quantified βTs, βTa_lee and βTa_for of trees, a Passive cooling louver, and lava walls under watering condition, and the values for βTs with these methods were found to be 0.12, 0.55, and 0.76, respectively, and βTa_lee at a wind velocity >0.5 m/s were found to be 0.11, 0.17, and 0.36, respectively.
     A “Cool terrace” was designed for a semi-outdoor space with shade on the ceiling and water retentive blocks on the floor, on the basis of βTa (average βTa_lee of all the vertical planes in the space) to achieve an air temperature decline by more than 1°C and MRT equivalent or lower than the ambient air temperature. The extent of evaporative cooling methods that needs to be applied was calculated based on the required βTa, and by taking into account the dominant wind direction of the area, the evaporative cooling methods were allocated as a “Cool terrace”. The measurement result of the Cool terrace showed an air temperature decline of 1.5 to 2.7 °C, and an MRT equivalent to the representative air temperature at breeze. Moreover, the SET* (standard new effective temperature) of the Cool terrace was at most 6 °C lower compared to the SET* of the adjacent deck terrace, when the solar radiation was large, and was on an average 1 °C lower, when it was cloudy. The contribution of each environmental element to the reduction in SET* was analyzed, and when the difference in SET*'s was 6 °C, the contribution of MRT was -5.5 °C, air temperature was -0.8 °C, wind velocity was +0.1 °C, and humidity was +0.1 °C.
     From the results, the application of vertical passive cooling methods can provide cool environment in means of low air temperature and MRT at breeze, and since it is known that the ventilation (i.e. wind speed) can lower the sensible temperature as well34), these results imply that the combination of vertical passive cooling methods with different figures and cooling effects of can provide a cool environment continuously at various wind conditions.
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  • Abdalmajeed A. M. A. MOHAMMED, Hiroto TAKAGUCHI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 205-213
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     This paper aims to determine the most common features of both the layout and the building materials of the single floor house in Khartoum -the capital of Sudan- using different methodologies. The results were then used to create a standard testing model to be utilized by researchers in all fields, especially, researches in the field of energy simulation, environmental design, etc. Google High resolution images were used to determine the layouts by studying the location of the visible roof parapets of each house. Three small neighborhoods were randomly chosen from the three cities of Khartoum state (Khartoum, Bahri, and Omdurman), each neighborhood contained around 350 houses. Additionally, one large neighborhood (about 15000 houses) was selected in an old third-class area in Khartoum state to test the various house layouts, in order to estimate the commonness of a specific uniform layout amongst the other layout patterns. Afterwards, the building materials and space dimensions were determined by surveying a random sample of 96 houses chosen from the large neighborhood. These 96 houses were built in accordance to the uniform pattern layout subject of this research. The results show that the uniform pattern layout is clear in about 39.75% of the total samples, and the common dimensions (length, width and height) of the room, hall, saloon, and the kitchen are (4.4m × 4.2m × 3.8m), (5.7m × 3m × 3.2m), (7.4m × 3.2m × 3.8m), and (4.4m × 4.2m × 3.8m) respectively. The most used materials are brick for the walls, local materials for the roofs, steel for doors, and steel frame and glass panels for the windows in 88%, 38%, 76%, and 82% of the cases respectively.
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  • Dynamic analysis of future changes in forest resource, estimated based on a questionnaire survey
    Kensuke KOBAYASHI, Shinichi SAKAGAMI, Kunihisa WAKABAYASHI
    2018 Volume 83 Issue 744 Pages 215-224
    Published: 2018
    Released on J-STAGE: February 28, 2018
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
     In this study, a life-cycle flowchart of wood resources in Hiroshima Prefecture was developed through questionnaire surveys, and based on the flow analysis, long-term availability of local wood was estimated. Subsequently, issues related to utilization/consumption of the wood and forest renewal strategies were discussed. Our findings revealed that because of the recent supply-demand imbalance in local wood, Hiroshima will possibly fall short of wood resources in the near future. The discussion is based on the following.

     1) Material flow analysis
     Material flow analysis, which focused on the wood resources in Hiroshima Prefecture, was based on a questionnaire survey (173 associations) and interviews with seven associations. The results revealed that while a significantly small percentage of local wood is used as material, most of it is processed in lumber mills and sold outside the prefecture, and that most of the wood chips obtained are used for papermaking.

     2) Increasing demands for wood chips
     The questionnaire survey revealed that wood chip demands for the purpose of power generation would most likely show a rapid increase in the future: It may increase to 300 thousand tons in five years, which is three times the present demand.

     3) Dynamic analysis of the change in wood chip demands
     Based on the survey results, the changes in wood chip demands were estimated: In the coming 45 years, if wood chip demand levels remain constant, a 10% increase in the amount of local wood resources is likely, while around a 20% drop in the available wood resources is expected, if the wood chip demand rises.

     4) Dynamic analysis of municipality differences
     In Hiroshima Prefecture, the amount of resources and reforestation practices etc., are significantly different for each municipality. Therefore, the amount of local wood resources was estimated based on a dynamic analysis. The results show that an area with large wood stocks in its forests may experience a significant decrease in its wood stock because of a greater demand by 2100. Therefore, in such areas, reforestation will be necessary.

     Hiroshima has diverse forests and the total area of its forests is largest among all the prefectures in western Japan. Naturally, life-cycle management for healthy forests has been of great interest for its citizens. Recently, however, a major surplus has been caused by insufficient self-consumption of local wood. In response to this supply-demand imbalance, various efforts have been focused at promoting home-utilization and -consumption, including some successful cases, such as its redirected use as a new form of energy source. Nevertheless, as the results of this study suggest, if such one-way promotion is carried out without careful, scientific monitoring, wood resource would likely fall short in the near future. It should also be noted that in some areas, wood resources have shown a decreasing tendency in all the forests. Therefore, managing the local wood resources in Hiroshima Prefecture is more difficult than it seems. Our findings also suggest that any measures for healthy forest management must be undertaken after carefully considering site specific differences.
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