Objective. This paper explains the current status of the Japanese carbon footprint of products, based on the framework of FY2009 pilot project sponsored by Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Results and Discussion. As a result of the FY2009 pilot project, 45 of Product Category Rules（PCRs）was reviewed and released to be used for calculation of CFP, followed by 56 of companies’ CFPs verified and released. Through these processes, several issues to be treated in this pilot project have been clarified.

Conclusions. Based on the issues clarified through the FY2009 pilot project, action assignments have been listed including technical issues and operational issues, toward formal implementation of Carbon Footprint of Products.

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Objective. The objective of this article is to explain various activities in developing carbon footprint of a product in many countries: The carbon footprint of a product is the carbon dioxide emission across the supply chain for a product. Carbon footprint labels/declarations provide information about how much greenhouse gas is used over the life cycle of a product. Information in carbon footprint labels/declarations is expected to help consumers to manage their own carbon footprints by making informed decisions.

Conclusions. The current activities showed considerable developments in practical approaches, awaiting international standardization of product carbon footprint.

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The carbon footprint of products（CFP）is calculated as the quantity of CO₂-equivalent emissions of greenhouse gases（GHG）from the product’s entire life cycle（from raw material acquisition to disposal and recycling）, and is displayed on the product. By visualizing emissions throughout the supply chain, the CFP system helps to identify where emissions can be efficiently reduced. Unified reduction measures beyond corporate boundaries may be taken for total optimization. In Japan, the government is promoting CFP as a concrete example of “visualizing CO₂ emissions” of products and services. In fiscal 2008, the first year of CFP operation, our country developed the guidelines and the standards for CFP, identified the issues in designing the CFP system, and surveyed consumer acceptability. In the second year, fiscal 2009, under the CFP Pilot Program, it was commenced to certify the Product Category Rules（PCRs）of concrete products and services, and verify calculation results and label descriptions of CFP. As for the procedures of PCR review and CFP verification for ensuring reliability and objectivity of the CFP system, our country set up the PCR Committee in the Pilot Program and implements those procedures on a trial basis, ahead of ISO implementation. Here I will introduce the main issues covered in these processes.

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Objective. of this article is to introduce the historical situation of water footprint in relation with virtual water trade, and to discuss about the current issues on the way of estimating water footprint and communication.

Results and Discussion. Unlike carbon footprint, the location, season, origin/source, quantity, and quality including temperature and gravity potential of water withdrawals and discharge returning the used water to natural water cycle, are relevant for impact assessment of water footprint on environment. Therefore these information should be associated with inventory of the water footprint. Expressing a single value as for water footprint by integrating these aspects should not be an easy task. Any single value of water footprint should have properties such as: 1）larger water footprint means larger environmental impacts on water, 2）water footprints can be summed up, and 3）efforts to reduce water withdrawals/consumptions and to improve the water quality of waste water can be reflected on the value of water footprint.

Conclusions. The current work showed special characteristics of water footprint compared with carbon footprint. Water footprint can be utilized for the “life cycle water risk assessment” integrated with the current and future potential risk of water resources and the sustainability in the region where the water footprint is put.

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Water is one of the most serious problems in this century. Millions of children lose their lives because of water shortage and insufficiency of sanitary system. Water shortage causes severe damages on ecosystem and agriculture as well as human health. Water is a scarce resource in many countries, but also a very abundant resource in other parts of the world. Unlike the other resources, there is little global market that ensures a global distribution. LCA studies dealing with water consumption have been paid attention internationally, because conventional LCA does not focus on water issues. In 2009, the working group of ISO 14046 (water footprint) has been launched. The inclusion of water use in LCA will be common after ISO 14046 is released to the public. This article summarizes current activities and outlook with regard to water use in LCA.

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Objectives. The objective of this paper is three-fold. The first one is to present the overview of the recent research development and applications of Ecological Footprint Analysis. The second objective is to identify the differences between Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint. The third one is to discuss the way how to ‘visualize’ the environmental impacts of radioactive matters including tailings of the uranium mining, as well as prolonged impact management costs of large amount of spent fuels emitted from the use of nuclear energy and debris of decommissioned reactors.

Results and Discussion. The comparison of the Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint revealed that each indicator has its own merits and short-comings. Thus, the users should use those indicators with their full understanding of the features, philosophies and implications hidden behind these indicators. Various footprints associated with nuclear energy have been identified and categorized based on the information and data corrected through field observations of the nuclear facilities and uranium minesites in different parts of the world.

Conclusion. The noble objectives of building a Low Carbon Society may produce unsustainable outcomes if only carbon footprint is being paid attention to. Other sustainability criteria should be incorporated into decision making processes, such as ecological footprint, radioactive footprint, prolonged impact management footprint and water-warming footprint and so on in order to design a sustainable and livable society.

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Objective. The most common professional cleaning services available today are professional dry cleaning, laundry, and wet cleaning. Many of the organic solvents used in dry-cleaning have been identified as factors contributing to global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, and groundwater contamination, among other problems, and are subject to legal restrictions and controls. Dry-cleaning remains an essential process, since it causes less damage to clothing than water-based cleaning. Requirements for clothing cleaning have grown increasingly restrictive as exemplified by the launch of the Carbon Footprint Pilot Project. Given these circumstances, this study seeks to estimate greenhouse gas emissions (in terms of GWP₁₀₀) based on LCI analysis of each step of the cleaning processes and discusses methods for reducing emissions. Cleaning is an essential aspect of the usage stage of clothing and its life cycle. To help create a system for establishing carbon footprints for clothing products, this study also examines a wide range of public information sources related to CO₂ emissions, based on cleaning site data collected in fiscal 2009.
Results and Discussion. In the dry cleaning process, the electric power consumed by the various activities at cleaning agencies, the steam required for solvent recovery, steam required for pressing, and packing materials, including hangers and carrier bags, contribute significantly to overall CO₂ emissions. At 0.369 kg-CO₂eq per clothing, the CO₂ emissions associated with the steam required for tetrachloroethylene recovery accounts for the highest fraction of CO₂ generated. The results suggest CO₂ emissions generated by tetrachloroethylene which used as the dry-cleaning solvent exceed those of petroleum-derived solvents. The results also show CO₂ emissions from solvents can be suppressed by reducing the solvent consumption rate to 4% or 20%, which also reduces the generation of photochemical oxidants. In laundry processes, steam for pressing and drying in the finishing processes contributes significantly to CO₂ emissions, followed by heating boilers, detergents, and cardboard use.
Conclusions. The CO₂ emissions generated by the dry cleaning process depend significantly on the types of solvents used. The steam required for solvent recovery contributes a large portion of these emissions, followed by the steam used in finishing processes. Improving boiler efficiency is a key factor in reducing CO₂ emissions in both dry cleaning and ordinary laundry processes. This paper also proposes a flexible method for estimating cleaning-related CO₂ emissions per clothing, based on a conversion proportional to weight, by accounting for differences in washing methods, finishing processes, and solvents.

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Objective. In this study, CO₂ emissions on some agricultural production processes are calculated for eight different farm products mainly produced in Ibaraki prefecture. And CO₂ emissions on the transportation processes are calculated for farm products imported in Ibaraki prefecture. Finally, “local production for local consumption case” is compared with other case.
Results and Discussion. The analysis is based on the input-output table method combined with energy balance, which can estimate direct and indirect CO₂ emissions generated by industrial activities. The results show that energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of all products are highly influenced by production process. The share of direct CO₂ emissions is higher for vegetable products but lower for rice and fruit products than that of indirect emissions. The study also estimates CO₂ emissions of farm products which are produced in other regions and transported to Ibaraki prefecture to investigate the effect of transportation process. CO₂ emissions of transportation process are highly influenced by both transport distance and transport measures. Ships and railway are lower CO₂ emitters than trucks. The system of local production for local consumption is considered to reduce CO₂ emissions on farm products because transport distance could be rather shortened. But as to the total CO₂ emissions of cibol, Saitama prefecture was more dominant than Ibaraki prefecture.
Conclusions. It is needed that optimal production system should be developed to attain minimum CO₂ emission considering lower emission measures of both production and transportation.

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In this dissertation referring the properties of Uniform, first, we mentioned the intention of Working on carbon foot print. Next, we described that we faced three problems for which is settled on Product Category Rule (PCR) of the carbon foot print First, concerned how we put together high complex material of fibrous raw at procurement stage. Second,concerned such as washing at the use maintenance management stage changed by the material or individual judgment. Third, concerned how is set up boundary at the stage for abandonment and the recycling when recycle used products. Each problem and the action are described. Next, we introduce the example, product operated as a case study. The calculation object is a women’s Jacket and its unit weight is 386.2g, packing/wrapping material is 181g, outer material is Polyester 100%. CO₂ exhaust amount for this product was 12.4kg- CO₂ in the entire life cycle and we found out that 70% of CO₂ was exhausted at the raw material procurement stage. Finally we described the matter of future actualized through the decision of PCR and the operation case study.

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Objective. Carbon footprint calculation of rice (Variety: Koshihikari made in Shiga Prefecture) is introduced in this report. This CFP calculation is done to discuss the procedures for environmental declarations and to find the reducing points of GHG emissions.
Results and discussion. The primary data on cultivation process was collected from more than 100 farmers. The CFP was 7.7 kg CO₂-eq per a package of 4 kg milled-rice, and this includes GHG emissions from material procurement, through production process to the end of life stage. CH₄ emission from paddy field has the highest proportion in this CFP result. The GHG emission from distribution stage was 6%.
Conclusion. The sampling method based on a statistics approach is necessary for a lot of number of small farmers to quantify CFP easily. As for the reduction of CH₄ emission from the paddy field, expertise needs to be accumulated for ensuring inhibition of cadmium absorption and biodiversity in the field without trade- off among environmental problems.

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Objective. Displaying carbon footprint (CFP) of foods and daily goods is very important to “visualize” the environmental burden, especially life cycle CO₂ emission, of daily life. The objective in this study is to evoke people’s awareness to the environmental burden in daily life through the calculation of the cabbage’s life cycle CO₂ emission produced in Choshi city, Chiba prefecture. The main reason for selecting cabbage is that cabbage is produced in huge area which attains over 10% of the total land of Choshi city and therefore cabbage brings a great impact on regional environment.
Method. Functional unit is applied to the CO₂ emission per 1kg cabbage. The life cycle stages of cabbage are classified into 5 stages which are divided into 10 processes, and the CO₂ emission value is calculated as the total amount of CO₂ emission from each processes.
Results and Discussion. The calculation results of cabbage’s CO₂ emission was 360.0g-CO₂/kg calculated by standard cultivation method in Choshi area. The CO₂ emission from each life cycle stages are : raw materials procurement stage 36.1 g-CO₂ (component ratio: 10.0%), production stage 92.3 g-CO₂ (25.6%), distribution and selling stage 70.7 g-CO₂ (19.6%), operation and maintenance stage 156.2 g-CO₂ (43.4%), disposal and recycling stage 4.6g-CO₂ (1.3%). The most CO₂ is emitted from cooking process of the maintenance stage, which accounts for over one third of the total CO₂ emission. Therefore, it is very important to choose the cooking method with the least environmental burden.
Conclusions. The CO₂ emission is varies from the calculation conditions based on various producing methods of cabbages. In order to avoid having the varied CO₂ emission in different calculation methods, it is imperative to establish a “product category rule (PCR)” on the calculation method.

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Objective. Population growth in the world seems to raise the demand of water and food. However water resource is limited, which may arise water deficiency in several areas or countries. Particularly, agricultural water scarcity will accelerate the expansion of undernourishment damage caused by insufficient food supply. The aim of this study is to model undernourishment damage caused by agricultural water scarcity based on statistical analysis.
Results and Discussion. At first, food productivity due to agricultural water shortage was estimated based on the relationship between annual harvest of each crop and agricultural water use on a country scale. Subsequently, non-linear multiple regression analysis among undernourishment damage data and three explanatory variables (the average daily dietary energy consumption per capita, the Gini coefficient of dietary energy consumption and the health expenditure per capita) was performed based on statistical data of each country. As a result of the analysis, every selected explanatory variable was statistically significant, and undernourishment damage caused by the shortage of unit volume agricultural water (damage factors) was estimated for each country. The results of estimated damage factors showed that countries with low agricultural water supply capacity would have a high sensitivity to agricultural water deficiency. Furthermore, preliminary prediction of damage factors in 2050 indicated that population growth would certainly shift damage factors larger particularly in the several African countries. According to the comparison of the health damage factors related to domestic use water scarcity in the previous study, many countries in the African region seem to be sensitive to both agricultural and domestic water scarcity.
Conclusions. Undernourishment damage caused by unit agricultural water scarcity can be estimated quantitatively. On the other hand, the analysis was conducted based on country scale data, so the diversity of local situation in each country was not considered in the study. In order to improve the precision of damage factors, more detailed analysis based on data of local scale should be conducted and dynamic changes of important factors like food productivity and water resource amounts should be taken into account.

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From the view point of urban mine, Japan is one of the most abundant countries in resources, especially in scarce metals. In this study, the total materials requirements to recycle metallic materials and mixed-plastics from urban ores (urban ore TMR, UO-TMR) have been estimated and evaluated in comparison with the total materials requirements to smelt them from natural ores (natural ore TMR, NO-TMR). As the urban ores, mobile phone and laptop PC were selected. The estimation were carried out using scenario analyses, in which the number of recycled materials (gold, silver, copper, tantalum, indium, scrap steel, scrap aluminum and mixed-plastics) was changed considering additional energy and material inputs. As for the evaluation of recycled gold, silver, copper, tantalum and indium, which have almost the same qualities as the materials from natural ores, their UO-TMR were lower than respective NO-TMR, except for indium. In the case of scrap steel and scrap aluminum, which qualities are less than pure steel and aluminum from the natual ores, the trade-off between the increase in UO-TMR and the additional materials and energy inputs for increase in quality by dilution process or advanced disassembling-selection process was discussed by comparing with the NO-TMR.

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Objective. In this paper, we focused on CO₂ emissions due to the cell phone with PEFC as an alternative to Li-ion battery. Especially, assuming that the PEFC operation was fueled by Bio-H₂ which was synthesized through the biomass gasification process of Blue Tower process, the CO₂ emissions of the PEFC cell phone were estimated. Also, using the questionnaire on the usability of cell phone, we investigated the user condition in each generation which covered under 20's to over 50's. In this study, our purpose is to find a significant condition by which the CO₂ abatement benefit against the cell phone use with Li-ion battery based on the responses of questionnaire and the experimental test of PEFC operation. However, according to the conventional LCI analyses, the indirect CO₂ emission is too much in comparison to the direct CO₂ emission of fuel origin. Thus, the alternative to fossil fuels might not be contributed to CO₂ abatement. On the other hand, the number of familiarized cell phone with Li-battery is approximately 3.6×10⁷ machines as of 2008. Also, the energy consumption of a cell phone would be increased due to the multiple functions. That is, from the viewpoints of global protection, the LCI analysis on CO₂ emission on the cell phone with PEFC to which Bio-H₂ would be fueled has a significant meaning.
Results and Discussion. Based on the experimental results, the specific Bio-H₂ consumptions of talking and standby duration times were 21.67 NmL/min and 0.23 NmL/min at H₂ concentration of 50 vol.%, respectively. The fuel consumption rate at 100 vol.% of Bio-H₂ were 7.70 NmL/min and 0.09 NmL/min, respectively. Also, the specific CO₂ emission of Bio-H₂ at 50 vol.% was 14.293 to 56.114 g-CO₂/MJ, and that the emission at 100 vol.% was 26.820 to 76.435 g-CO₂/MJ. For instance, in the case of PEFC cell phone use at H₂ concentration of 100 vol.%, the CO₂ abatement would be approximately 36.4% to 87.9% in comparison to the conventional Li-ion cell phone. In this estimation, those would be affected by rather the ratio between the direct CO₂ emission and the indirect one than the CO₂ emission due to fuel origin.
Conclusions. Due to the improvement of the indirect factors such as manufacturing and/or raw materials on cell phone equipment etc. or the increase in energy consumption, CO₂ abatement against the conventional cell phone would be obtained by the promotion of the PEFC cell phone of Bio-H₂.

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