President Obama of the U.S. proposed the "Green New Deal Program" as a measure of boosting the economy two years ago. The Smart Grid, a next generation electrical power transmission network that will allow optimal control of the electricity supply, is now rapidly being developed as a feature of that program. Electricity usage will be registered with a communication device known as a Smart Meter that will be introduced to enable the demand for power to be grasped in detail through use of IT technology. In the U.S. it is being said that by 2013 the Smart Meter will have been installed at a total of 26 million households, which is over three times as many as that in 2009.

The LP Gas IT Promotion Association, which is the predecessor of the NPO Telemetering Promotion Association, consisted of about 40 companies and organizations that included LP gas companies, electrical appliance manufacturers, and system providers, and had been particularly addressing the dissemination of a centralized monitoring system and its effective use in the LP gas industry since first being established in 1994. The centralized monitoring system connects to gas usage registers through a communication function, or specifically a network terminal (NCU: Network Control Unit), which is battery powered and transmits the data to the data center of the gas company via telephone and wireless lines. It makes a large contribution to ensuring the security and safety of consumer households through monitoring any abnormal use of gas or the occurrence of gas leaks, automating monthly meter readings, helping to prevent any gas shortages, and making the management of the LP gas company more efficient.

The centralized monitoring system for the LP industry has currently been introduced at about 6 million households in Japan, or a total of over 7 million households if the town gas industry is included. This is basically the meter system with a communication function that is the core of the Smart Grid which is essential to the "Green New Deal Program": Japan is not falling behind the U.S. and is also steadily accumulating technology and know-how.

The Smart Grid is indispensable in the smooth use of new energy sources such as wind- and solar based that are being introduced throughout the world to reduce CO2 emissions and depend on the climate. More and more countries are starting to utilize Smart Meters and organize a Smart Grid. For Japan to achieve the target of reducing global warming gases by 25% when compared to 1990 by 2020, which was set by the Hatoyama Administration, the utilization of natural energy will be essential. I heard that TEPCO and KEPCO have already started reviewing the introduction of Smart Meters in all households and testing a Smart Grid.

As described above the gas industry has been a pioneer of Smart Meters. Why not use this communication infrastructure that is already in place then? The current situation makes a multiple communication infrastructure incorporating gas, electricity, and telemetering necessary, which would be rather a national loss. I consider that a common telemetering infrastructure that goes beyond the industrial barrier would be better.

The LP Gas IT Promotion Association has been promoting the review and standardization of a new centralized monitoring system since last November. Not only existing members of the association but also participants from a variety of industries that include town gas companies, water and sewage companies, electricity companies, and electric appliance manufacturers and system providers from the respective industries have joined in on the proposal, with the research workshop now having 70 members from about 50 different companies and organizations.

The aim of the workshop is to realize the common use of a telemetering infrastructure by unifying the interface standard of the Smart Meters of the respective lifelines and relevant communication terminals. In addition to reducing the cost of the communication terminals through dissemination and expansion of telemetering and conventional automatic meter reading and alarm monitoring, they also aim at the realization of a variety of other services such as the prevention of accidental poisonings by monitoring the operation of gas-fired appliances that are connected to various alarms.

On February 1 the association was renamed as the Telemetering Promotion Association to enlarge its scope of activities and to aim at realizing a next generation telemetering system that can be used in common by all the respective lifelines. Many companies and electrical appliance manufacturers in the town gas industry have already agreed to our statement of intent and are participating in the association. The number of members is also increasing. The Telemetering Promotion Association will continue to promote an approach that goes beyond industries in disseminating and promoting use of the telemetering system as part of our social infrastructure.

According to the website of the Ministry of the Environment (2008 quick estimation) the amount of CO2 emitted by households is 172 million tons, which is over 13% of Japan's total, and an increase of 35% when compared to 1990. Reducing the amount of CO2 emitted by households is an important issue in achieving the targeted reduction of global warming gases in Japan. Nevertheless, the fact is that there are still no really effective countermeasures against it except those requiring large amounts of investment such as solar power.

The introduction of a "visible system" that is based on the centralized monitoring system which has been being introduced by the gas industry ahead of everybody else and that can monitor energy usage and CO2 emissions through a common telemetering system used by the respective lifelines at low cost is therefore necessary. The realization of an incentive system such as eco-points for the amount of CO2 that households can cease producing could result in continuous and effective approaches to the CO2 reduction issue. In addition, the issue of the solitary deaths of elderly people living alone, which is being focused on as the aging society progresses, could also be prevented through reading their gas and water meters.

I think that the effect of the dissemination of telemetering and resolution of the various issues modern society faces through a next generation telemetering system and applied technology would be extremely large.

Chinese / French / Japanese