Employing the data obtained by a consumer survey throughout Japan and using a multi-nominal logit model, we extract factors that influence the acceptance of plastic shopping bags (PSBs) and evaluate their impacts. People interested in environmental issues (C1) and people who value pro-environmental behavior in their daily lives (C2) agree with PSBs charging. People who appreciate the convivence and usefulness of PSBs (C3) mainly disagree with PSBs charging at convenience stores, and people who have strong suspicions on the contribution of PSBs charging to the reduction of resource usage (C4) disagree with PSBs charging. To promote the transition from C3 or C4 to C1 or C2 for enhancing the acceptance of PSBs charge, showing the environmental effects of PSBs charging quantitatively and eliminating the inconvenience and financial burden are required.

 The sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030, adopted at the United Nations Summit, consist of 17 goals and 169 targets, and various proposals have been made to quantitative evaluate the degree of achievement. Social Return on Investment (SROI) is another example, calculated as the ratio of outcomes to inputs. The on-site recycled paper system using a dry office paper manufacturing machine, which was the subject of this evaluation, can make recycled paper on site by feeding unwanted paper into the machine, contributing to a significant reduction in water and transportation for the production of recycled paper. There is a movement to employ people with disabilities in the paper sorting and feeding stages, which is expected to contribute to the SDGs. In this study, we evaluated the SROI using actual data from companies that have installed dry office paper machines to comprehensively evaluate their on-site paper circulation system. As a result, the SROI value of this study was estimated to be 4.43. In other words, if the investment is 1, 4.43 times the social value is created.

 Resource productivity is a material flow index that is set as a major goal of the Fundamental Plan for Establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society, but it could not well evaluate the indirect impact of the material stock that supports the material flow. A few of existing studies have conducted the resource productivity decomposition with material stock factors though, it is difficult to apply the same fashion to all types of material stock whose value greatly varies depending on its usage. In this study, we mainly considered the factors of Japan’s housing material stock, to clarify the impact of changes in housing stock on the resource productivity. The results show that the resource productivity is negatively impacted by the decrease of the service provided with a unit of housing stock and the increase of vacant houses from 2008 to 2017, while it can be improved through the prolonging the housing lifetime.

 In recent years, there has been a need to expand the circulation of waste plastics in Japan due to issues such as restrictions on the import of waste plastics in China and other countries, as well as the excessive quantity of microplastics in the ocean. In addition to macroflows at the national level, it is necessary to understand the detailed flow of waste plastics at the regional level in consideration of plastic circulation optimization. In accordance with the Waste Disposal Law and ordinances, there is an obligation to report industrial waste to prefectures, such as the implementation status reports of industrial waste large-volume discharge business operators, status reports on industrial waste management and those on electronic manifest registration, and the actual results reported by the industrial waste disposal industry. In this study, we developed a method for estimating material flow and spatial movement volume from the bottom up by using the preceding administrative report data.

 It is essential for water providers to have a detailed understanding of how water is used in each household. Information on household water use is significant for utility rate and revenue projection, capital planning, daily operations to provide water, and more. The purpose of this study is to analyze questionnaire survey data to understand the impact factors on the amount of water used for domestic water. Logistic regression analysis for binary variables categorized by the amount of water consumption was conducted. Through the analysis, the following findings were obtained: 1) For single-person households, bathtub filling, clothes washing and presence of the elderly were associated with increased risks of household water consumption (p < 0.05). 2) In households with 4 or more people, not only clothes washing but also the time of purchase of the toilet (whether it is old or not) was associated with an increased risk of water consumption (p < 0.05).

 In small and medium-sized rivers, the installation of scaled full-section fishways, in which large and small pools are placed at various drop-offs, has been increasing. However, a clear method for design and functional evaluation of the scaled fishway has not been established. In this study, we conducted a field survey using floats and a UAV to understand the function of the installed scaled fishway. The same survey was also conducted for the terraced fishway to compare its function with that of the scales type. From the survey data, we analyzed 1) the dispersion and flow time of the floats, 2) the drop between pools and the movement path of the floats from the 3D point cloud data of the fishway, and 3) the flow angle of the water vein and the pool shape. As a result, the characteristics of the scaly fishway were clarified, for example, the larger the dispersion of the floats, the more diverse the fish migration path.

 It is important to keep suitable area by boulders to make rest area for fish. In this study, swimming behavior of Opsariichthys platypus in open channel were compared with change of the boulders diameter in over open channel bed. Swimming behaviors of Opsariichthys platypus were obtained with the aid of two sets of digital video cameras. It was found that Opsariichthys platypus preferred swimming in the behind boulders in cases when the boulders diameter is large. It is because that there are more low velocity spaces in this case compared with cases when the boulders diameter is small.

 We estimated the changes in nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the Seto Inland Sea due to depopulation, and examined the future pollution control policy in some seas. In the entire sea, the catchment population will decrease by 21.0 % in 2050 compared to 2020. As a result, the total pollutant load will decrease by 7.0 % for nitrogen and 9.5 % for phosphorus due to the decrease in domestic load. The decrease rate in the pollutant load varied from 2 % to 16 % in each sea, reflecting the composition of the load by source and the spatial distribution of the population decrease rate. With the exception of Osaka Bay and Bungo Channel, there was a relatively strong correlation between the rate of population decrease and the rate of load decrease, and the loads of nitrogen and phosphorus were estimated to decrease by 4.4 % and 2.9 %, respectively, as the catchment population decreased by 10 %. In the future, it will be necessary to consider the load reduction due to depopulation when controlling the pollutant load to achieve an abundant sea.

 Surveys of raptor habitat are conducted in environmental impact assessments and natural environment surveys associated with development projects. In general, raptors are surveyed visually in the field to determine their habitat and nesting sites. However, because raptors are often alarmed when researchers enter the forest and because a large number of workers are required for surveys, efficient survey techniques must be developed. This study aimed to develop a technique for discriminating between five species of raptors (osprey, oriental honey buzzard, goshawk, grey-faced buzzard, and eastern buzzard) and the Japanese night heron by call. A sound analysis was conducted using deep neural networks after the noise reduction processing of sound data recorded near nesting forests of each species. As a result, a discrimination accuracy of more than 90% was achieved for five of the six species; however, there were also cases of misidentification resulting from environmental noise, indicating technical issues for further improvements in accuracy.

 Fish such as salmon and trout that have been released into the water intake of dams and weirs have strayed, and the actual amount of fish consumption has been a problem since long ago. As a prevention of fish from straying, transmitted light, foam film, electirc current, obstacle were used to control the behavior of fish. The reesearch of evasion behavior using continuous light has been done. However, the research of evasion behavior using intermittent light flashing frequency and illuminance change has not been done. In this study, the evasion behavior of Opsariichtyis platypus were compared with the change of intermittent light flashing frequency and illuminance change. As a result, it was found that the rate of entering into bright area decreased with an increase of light flashing frequency. Also, it was found that as the light flashing frequency increased, the aveage swimming speed increased and the staying rate decreased.

 This study aims to create a highly accurate deep learning-based model to classify plant species efficiently. To develop our model, we use the plant images of conserved green areas in urban areas that we collected and surveyed for the past three years. Using the learning model (Shiraishi et al., 2021), we constructed a method to obtain a plant distribution map from a bird's-eye view image. The 103 classification tests investigated by the spring of 2020 revealed that the correct rate of mugwort was lower than that of the previous model. We investigated image elements to find the cause of difference in correct rate between the leaf images and the flower images. Furthermore, we used an Explainable AI technology to analyze the decision made by our model. As a result, the correct rate of identifying the 121 species surveyed by the fall of 2020 was 98.3% just after our model was trained. Finally, we divided the bird’s eye view image into super pixels and classified them according to the plant type. We concatenated adjacent ones with the same type of plant and obtained the distribution of plants.

 Conservation of the forest environment in satoyama is important from the viewpoint of biodiversity and environmental education. In this study, in order to obtain the vegetation distribution of satoyama, plant images taken by reconnaissance and drone ware trained and the species of tree canopy images extracted from panoramic images taken by drone aerial photography using superpixel division ware identified by deep learning method. We achieved a high accuracy of 90% or more in 6 species of trees from the learning model created from the original image. In canopy identification, in addition to unifying the aspect ratio and removing similar images, it was found that the accuracy can be improved by using images taken at the same altitude as panoramic images for learning. Although it was possible to create a tree distribution map using this method, the number of tree species and captured images is small, and the applicable locations are limited. In the future, we will further increase the number of plant species, verify the effect of imaging conditions such as angle and time on identification accuracy, and expand the application area for satoyama conservation.

 In this study, we evaluated the effect of the location of RPF plants and paper mills on GHG reduction when using export-regulated waste plastic as fuel. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the location of RPF plants and paper mills on GHG reduction when using export-regulated waste plastics as fuel. As a result of the analysis, it was found that, although paper mills have the capacity to accept RPF, the amount of RPF that can be accepted by RPF mills is limited, which means that about 60% of the waste plastic emissions can be used as RPF fuel. In addition, the results of the sensitivity analysis showed that the number of links between RPF plants and paper mills varies in each regional block, and that increasing the acceptance capacity of RPF plants is effective for further GHG reduction.

 In this study, we conducted a survey on how children use playground equipment and open spaces at the playset plaza in Oizumi Ryokuchi Park. We analyzed how children use the sun and shade place, and the relationship between WBGT and how to use it. The average WBGT during the daytime in summer was 32.1 °C, which was a dangerous hot environment exceeding 31 °C, which is prohibited by the Ministry of the Environment's heat stroke prevention guidelines, but many children used the space in the sun place. However, with the rise in WBGT, the proportion of children playing in the shade increased significantly, and it became clear that more than 90% of children always choose the shade during breaks, taking actions that correspond to the hot environment. In the case of accompanying parents, the behavior of avoiding the sun was clearly confirmed, but in the case of the behavior of the child alone, it is necessary to be careful because the playset is selected regardless of the thermal environment. When designing the playset plaza, it is necessary to provide a sufficiently large forest area around it and provide a space where 90% of users can rest in the shade.

 The study focuses on heat stroke, which has been increasing in recent years. The risk of heat stroke is evaluated from the trip pattern, and the effectiveness of environmental policy that expects the travel behavior change is shown. A model for evaluating heat stroke risk is developed using temperature, humidity and GPS data. The WBGT index value and the heat stress index value obtained by accumulating WBGT for 3 hours were used. As a result, it was found that there is no significant difference in the heat stress index value between the elderly and the young. There are many dangerous walks around the railway station. In addition, the heat stroke risk may be reduced by changing the time of walking. It was found that a 2-hour time change could reduce the risk by 14 %.

 Especially, growing proportions of older people are increasingly exposed to risks which are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The rise in temperature due to global warming is increasing the number of heat stroke patients transported to hospitals. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on attitudes and behaviors related to heat stroke among residents of Osaka Prefecture. As a result, it was shown that i) the determinants of heat stroke prevention differ depending on the prevention contents, ii) the determinants of attitude toward heat stroke prevention differ depending on the elderly and others. In order to promote heat stroke prevention, it is important to strengthen the relationship between attitude and behavior by using foot-in-the-door techniques and role-playing techniques.

 By applying the LMDI method to the household sector, the characteristics of CO₂ emissions changes by family-type are analyzed. Since energy consumption is greatly affected by temperature, temperature sensitivity is also taken into consideration. In FY2018, the rates of change in energy consumption and CO₂ emission compared to FY2013 were -8.8% and -29.4%, respectively. Among all the family-type households, the decrease in CO₂ emission factor of electricity greatly affected to the CO₂ emissions changes, accounting for more than half. Aged-single-person household contributed to the increase in CO₂ emission, while other family-types households contribute to the decrease. The first reason of the increase was the increase in the number of households. It was clarified that aged-single-person household had a relatively small decrease in efficiency improvement.

 In the heavy snowfall regions, snow-melting system is one of the important social infrastructures. In this study, we found out the impact of snow-melting system on the application of ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems, by clarifying the analyzing experimental data of the GSHP system installed at the Industrial Research Institute of Ishikawa Prefecture. Performance of the GSHP system was improving during snowfall period (reduction of power consumption by about 10%). The reason for this is because of an artificial groundwater flow that is caused by the pumping of groundwater to operate the snow-melting system. From the history matching of experimental results, apparent thermal conductivity was found to be varying. Its value was higher in snowfall period (2.1 - 2.6 W/(m･K)). Estimated apparent thermal conductivity was determined to be valid by comparing with the other data of past study. Hence, the impact of snow-melting system on the GSHP system operation was quantitatively evaluated and also the relationship between effective and apparent thermal conductivities was clarified using the field data.

 This paper proposes a method for quantifying environmental effects of introducing a biogas plant. This method quantifyies the effects of introducing a biogas plant by clarifying the details of the carbon cycle and nitrogen cycle in a dairy area and comparing GHG emissions and nitrogen leaching into the ground before and after introduction of biogas plants. In order to analyze the carbon and nitrogen cycles, calculation conditions for evaluation were assumed based on available statistics and filed data. The proposed model was applied to a virtual dairy area with 40,000 milk cows in Hokkaido to evaluate reduction of GHG emissions and increase of nitrogen leaching quantitatively. The validity of the proposed method was discussed to clarify items to improve evaluation accuracy.

 In light of the changes in social conditions, the decarbonization of the infrastructure sector and the multifaceted utilization of the infrastructure are currently required. In this study, we attempted to analyze the possibility of using the leachate treatment facility at the final disposal site after the completion of landfill as a water treatment facility for wet-type methane fermentation as a model case. As a result of the analysis, the project income and expenditure calculated based on the case study of the wet methane fermentation plan utilizing the existing leachate treatment facility showed the effect of about 30％ shortening compared to the normal payback period. In addition, the results of the analysis based on the information of controlled final disposal sites by excellent industrial waste treatment companies in Japan, which were certified as excellent, suggested the possibility of using leachate treatment facilities of a certain scale in the Chubu and Kinki regions in the early 2030s.

 In order to adapt declining population and severe municipal financial status, consolidation of municipal waste facilities draws policy attention again in Japan. This study developed a consolidation algorithm of waste incinerators at national level and applied it with three consolidation scenarios to estimate national outcomes of the incinerator consolidation. As results, the consolidation up to year of 2030, when population in Japan will decrease, was needed to retain the capacities of incinerators at the present level. If we plan to enlarge the capacities of incinerators, large consolidation beyond 300 tonne/day was necessary; however, chances in up-coming 10 years were small. The results also showed that lifetime extension of incinerators was justified if policy aims at assuring the incinerator capacity in the 2030s.

 During the recovery and reconstruction of disaster-stricken areas, or while conducting preliminary measures for preventing disasters, it is important to assess the amount of generated disaster waste. However, the amount of disaster waste generated by floods is increasing in frequency and scale and is often estimated on the basis of data acquired during the early 2000s in Japan, threr are no existing studies that estimate the intensity for the large-scale floods. Hence, in this study, we gathered disaster information associated with the number of houses damaged and the amount of waste disposed by the Japanese municipality during the floods that occurred between 2009 and 2018, and we then incorporated the information to estimate the amount of generated disaster waste by categorizing the housing damage. Based on the obtained results, the estimated amounts of disaster waste (in units of tons per dwelling) for various damage categories are as follows: 70.683 for complete destruction, 9.373 for partial destruction, 8.507 for half-destruction, 5.137 for inundation above floor level, and 0.278 for inundation below floor level. Furthermore, the amount of disaster waste generated by previous disasters was calculated on the basis of the aforementioned estimated amounts, and it is found that the amount of disaster waste can be estimated with high-accuracy.

 This study aims to implement a tool to evaluate the current state of disaster waste preparedness of local governments to help its management. To this end, an indicator-based tool to evaluate the ability to perform initial response and overall management of disaster waste management project was developed. The tool was justified by a) qualitatively and quantitatively showing the logical connection between the target of preparedness action and the indicators and b) showing the consistency between the actual state and the evaluation results obtained through tests performed at three prefectures. Then, factors related to the effective use of the tool in term of preparedness management were discussed through statistical analysis of the responses to the questionnaire survey conducted in conjunction with the trial. The results indicated that it is important to gain trust on the tool, consult with other organizations, and refer to the local disaster prevention plans for its effective use.

 This study aims to clarify the direct and indirect CO₂ emissions derived from consumption expenditures of head of household under the age of 35 for 1989, 2004, and 2014. An accounting table that represents their consumption expenditures was created by integrating results obtained from the “Family Income and Expenditure Survey” and the “National Survey of Family Income and Expenditure.” The indirect CO₂ emissions derived from consumption expenditures were estimated by multiplying each item of the accounting table and the CO₂ intensity coefficient. The actual value of the CO₂ emissions derived from fuel utilization in housing was applied as the direct CO₂ emission.

 As a result, annual indirect CO₂ emissions of households of two or more persons for 1989, 2004 and 2014 were 6.7 t-CO₂, 8.5 t-CO₂, and 8.6 t-CO₂, respectively. A time-series comparison revealed that the indirect CO₂ emissions derived from communications for households of two or more persons increased more than six times from 1989 to 2014. This result indicates that it is necessary to reduce indirect CO₂ emission accompanying the progress of information and communication technology.

 In this study, we used the Bayesian APC model to analyze the effects of age, period, and cohort on the change of driver’s license holders and weekday drivers by gender and age group from 1995 to 2015 in Japan. Additionally, based on the assessment of the factors of change classified into age, period, and cohort effect, we estimated the number of driver’s license holders and weekday drivers from 2020 to 2050, as well discussed the surrendering licenses and giving up driving in elderly age group. The results show that, 1) the new generation of the male group is trending to move away from licenses and driving, however the elderly female group is trending to increase the number of licenses and driving. 2) Comparing with the situation of 2015, the number of female license holders and drivers will be expected to be flat in 2050, however the number of male drivers will be expected to be halved in 2050.3) The elderly aged 75 and over group, whether male or female, is significantly tending to decrease the rate of surrendering licenses, as well the number of females of elderly aged 75 and over group who giving up driving will be trending stationary and closing to the number of males of giving up driving.

 Under the trend of decarbonization, the formation of local CES with steam Eco Industrial Park (EIP) projects between multiple industries has become a critical issue. In this paper, based on industrial symbiosis research and the intensive survey with expert interviews, the barriers to the establishment of the steam EIP projects, the motives for breaking through and the mitigation measures was revealed and discussed in each phases Phase 1: the identification of the potential, and Phase 2: the simple feasibility study, Phase 3: detailed feasibility study and business model, and Phase 4: regional expansion and horizontal development. In conclusion, we confirmed the effectiveness of systematically and structurally analysis of the formation and dissemination process of the steam EIP project and mitigation measures.