The reconstruction plans developed by the local governments of the earthquake-affected Tohoku region promote the concept of environmentally friendly disaster-resistant “sustainable town planning” such as introduction of self-sustaining and distributed energy is being promoted. Based on the experience of power loss immediately after an earthquake. Among these projects, the thermal utilization of woody biomass resources (of which there are abundant reserves in the affected areas) is a promising option. However, the high initial costs associated with the process such as facility introduction expenses have inhibited the utilization of woody biomass as an energy source.

 Therefore, we examined the feasibility of introducing a residential heat supply system based on a woody biomass boiler for public revival housing program of Kamaishi City which is working on the construction of a smart community ahead of the whole country.

 In this study, we examined the environmental and economic effects of comparison with LP gas system and the ripple effect on regional economy caused by utilization of regional resources of woody matter. The study will also discuss the potential issues related to the realization of the project in question, as well as its future prospects.