Special Feature: Energy and Environmental Technologies

Development and Evolution of Energy
and Environmental Technology
Hiroki Tanaka
Abstract
NTT Energy and Environment System Laboratories has taken up the challenge of developing various
technologies and products using information and communications technology for protecting the global
environment and achieving a sustainable society based on the Kyoto Protocol and the NTT Group Global Environmental Charter. Furthermore, in order to answer growing concerns about the low-birth-rate
and aging society as well as other social issues related to living environments, we have been extending
the scope to the safety and security of society and human beings. In addition, we are promoting businessdevelopments using these technologies for the 21st century, the “Century of the Environment”. This article describes research and development and other activities conducted in NTT Energy and Environment
System Laboratories and introduces their key technologies and prospects.

1. NTT’s basic stance on protection of the global
environment

research and development of core technology to technical support for NTT group companies (Fig. 1).

We firmly recognize the importance of protecting
the global environment. To fulfill our corporate social
responsibility for environment protection, NTTestablished the NTT Group Global Environmental
Charter in 1991 and a system for implementing it.
When NTT was reorganized in 1999, we further
enacted the NTT Group Ecology Program 21, which
consists of three major initiatives: the Global Environmental Charter, promotion of environmental
activities in local communities, and research anddevelopment of environmental technology. To execute this program, the NTT Group Global Environment Protection Promotion Committee was founded.
It coordinates various environmental programs incooperation with the environmental sections in NTT
group companies. Two specific entities—the Environmental Management and Provisioning Project andNTT Energy and Environment System Laboratories—were set up in the Information Sharing Laboratory Group of the NTT holding company to addressenvironmental problems. Their activities range from

2. Our objectives

NTT Energy and Environment System Laboratories
Atsugi-shi, 243-0198 Japan
E-mail: tanaka.hiroki@aecl.ntt.co.jp

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NTT Energy and Environment System Laboratories is working toward a safe, secure, and earthfriendly society that provides comfortable living
environments to individuals and uses sustainablesocial systems that minimize the environmental
impact on the Earth (Fig. 2). The research projects are
strategically and flexibly organized not only to contribute to these objectives but also to create evolutionary technologies. The research themes related totelecommunications and living environments areillustrated in Fig. 3. The key technologies for these
themes are introduced in the following sections (Fig. 4).
2.1 High-efficiency energy supply
As telecommunication systems come to be basedon IP (Internet protocol) and optical broadband networks, a sharp increase in electrical power consumption by communication systems and the use of highcurrent power supplies for them are becoming serious
problems. These problems will have to be solved in
the next-generation network (NGN). We have draftedand established safety guidelines for power supplies
to communication equipment and devices that ensure
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for the Future

President

NTT Group
Environmental protection advisory committee

CSR committee

Board of directors
NTT (holding company)
Environmental protection office

Greenhouse gases
reduction committee

NTT East
Environmental protection office

Dismantling communication
facilities WG
Office waste WG

Waste disposal andrecycling committee

NTT Communications
Environmental protection office
NTT DATA
Eco-activity promotion office
NTT DoCoMo
Corporate citizenship office

Dispatch ofmembers

Includes subsidiaries

NTT West
Environmental protection office

Customer waste WG
PCB storage & disposal WG
Green R&D guidelines WG

Environment andIT committee

LCA-WG
Criteria for calculating
effectiveness of environmentalload reduction efforts WG

NTT FACILITIES
Environmental protection office
SupportBuilding waste
working group (WG)

Project to support environment management
Environment report publication project

SupportEnvironmental Management & Provisioning
Project

CSR: corporate social responsibility
PCB: printed circuit board
LCA: life cycle assessment

SupportNTT Energy and Environment Systems
Laboratories
Holding corporation organizations

Environmental accounting consolidated compilation projectNTT Group company organizations

Meetings, committees, and working groups

Fig. 1. NTT Group organization for promoting environmental protection.

SocietyAn efficient, secure,and sustainable society

Creation of support technology
The Earth

Individuals

A society that is friendly
to the global environmentand has a small impact
on the environment

Individuals that are
happy in a safe andsecure lifestyle

Fig. 2. Objectives of NTT Energy and Environment
Systems Laboratories.

the reliability of telecommunication systems as animportant part of the social infrastructure. The guidelines outline incremental improvements to support
the NGN, in which safety against high DC supplies
and problems with hybrid DC/AC power supplies
must be considered.
The increase in energy consumption is the main
factor contributing to global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. Conversion to clean energyVol. 4 No. 3 Mar. 2006

sources is a fundamental solution to it. We have been
conducting research on fuel cells under the theme ofpower generation. Energy system control is anotherkey technology that significantly improves energy
efficiency. One important element of this is the prediction of energy demands and power generation
capability, where the stored energy amount and conversion efficiency are considered. Only by properly
considering and manipulating all these factors, all ofwhich have different characteristics from those of theconventional power grids, can we maximize the overall energy efficiency. We have been intensively working on this technology too, and some of our developments have been utilized in a project, where NEDO(New Energy Development Organization) was theorganizer and NTT Facilities, Inc. was the main contractor, to create an integrated local power supply
system using clean energy sources. This project wasdemonstrated at Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture. The
various clean energy sources, including the fuel cells
and solar cells, were controlled using this technology
and they successfully supplied stable power to the
Nagakute Japan Hall and the NEDO Pavilion withhigh efficiency. We will continue to develop this technology until we get an energy network system that13Special Feature

Wearable sensors

Conversion to optical IP
Measures to suppress increasein communication energy consumption

Measures againstenergy source depletion
Reduction of
CO2 emissions

Prevention/response tolarge-scale disasters

Ubiquitous
telecommunications era

Conversion
StoragePower
generation

Prevention ofenvironmental pollution

Measures to copewith low-birth-rate
and aging society
Prediction

Power supply

Energy technology

Transmission

Control

Manufacture

Environmental
information technology

Procurement

NTT’s midterm and long-term strategies• Safe and secure broadband access platform• Next-generation network services• Disaster prevention and response• Reduction of energy load
• Measures to cope with a low-birth-rate and aging society

Fig. 3. Research topics that are the focus of efforts by NTT Energy and Environment System Laboratories.

controls the whole energy supply operation in a particular area by coordinating local energy needs andpower generation with maximum efficiency.
2.2 Ubiquitous information and communicationsocietyIn the coming ubiquitous information and communication society, monitoring systems for personal
health and living environments will be in strong
demand. We are developing wearable sensors that are
essential parts of such systems. To drive various ubiquitous devices, we are also developing small andlightweight energy sources as well as wireless powertransmission. We have devised a wearable ozone
detector, since ozone is a cause of photochemical pollution and may be hazardous to humans. Utilizing thechemical reaction between a dye and ozone, it can
detect ultralow levels of ozone in the atmosphere.
As an energy supply for ubiquitous devices, wehave developed a portable solar power card device
that can provide electrical power to various electronic devices for both telecommunication applications
and general purposes. In this device, the very low
voltage generated from a single solar cell is raised sothat it can charge batteries that in turn provide power.
We are also developing micro fuel cells, which usehydrogen gas as a fuel, and testing their use in cellu14

lar phones. We have demonstrated that it is possible
to achieve a talking time several times longer thanthat with conventional high-power batteries, thus
confirming good expectations for use as a future
ubiquitous energy source that can meet the requirements of high-power mobile devices.
Wireless communication networks are also essential for the information society. We have been working on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) technology related to telecommunication equipment, power
supplies, and wireless systems for many years. We
will continue to use the resulting technologies toassess the emissions from and immunity of various
telecommunication devices and equipment and toprepare countermeasures against diverse EMC problems.
We recognize the importance of environmental
assessment technology, which is essential to many ofNTT’s environmental activities. We have been collecting various data for conducting environmental
analyses and developing assessment methods, which
are utilized in the evaluation of environmental
impacts resulting from procured products/facilities
and telecommunication services.
2.3 Safe and secure society
Due to recent large-scale natural disasters, disaster
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Special Feature

prevention is a hot issue. The reengineering of related information systems and facilities has been carefully considered. Especially in local governments,
many of which have been reorganized and unified,
the whole system needs to be reviewed and reconstructed. In this area, sensing and monitoring systems
coupled with environmental and microclimate simulation can play a significant role in predicting potential problems so that steps can be taken in advance tominimize loss of life and damage to property. Another important point is to ensure the availability of networks in the event of a major disaster. We have developed a multi-hop wireless communication systemthat can be easily set up at remote sites that are outside the service area of cellular phones. Such a system requires a large-capacity high-performance battery.
We have developed an atmospheric simulator thatconsiders the effects of weather, topography, artificial
heat, and buildings. It can evaluate local environmental problems like the street canyon phenomenon, in
which the local concentration of atmospheric pollutants is affected by artificial changes to the local

Target society

topography caused by buildings. Further improvements of this simulator will enable more detailed
environmental assessment. We are also considering
realtime methods of transmitting environmental
information so as to ensure the safety and security ofpeople in the locality.
We have constructed a disaster information
announcement system that provides quick and reliable transmission over mobile phone networks evenin emergency situations like natural disasters. It uses
data mining techniques to select only useful information, which is processed and transformed into easyto-understand advice that urges listeners to takeappropriate action.
With respect to power storage, we have built apower backup system that uses nickel metal hydride(NiMH) batteries. The NiMH battery, which is muchsmaller and lighter than the conventional lead battery,
can fit into a limited space and provide more energy
for a longer period of time than the lead battery. It will
enable us to eliminate the use of lead, which is toxic
and is being phased out of general products. The
backup system, which was originally designed for

Towards a sustainable society

Ubiquitous sensing
Safe andsecure society

Energy network

IT environment
impact assessment

Clean energy

Product side
EMC technology
Tsunagari-kan
Electromagneticallycommunication systemshielded room
Energy control
Micro fuel cell

Solar card power

Nickel metal
hydride backup
power supply

Environmental
assessment system Environment information simulator

Ozone sensor
Disaster information
announcement system

Pollen,NOx sensor

Core technologies
Energy technology

Environment information technology

IT: information technology

Fig. 4. Promotion of R&D to contribute to the earth, individuals, and society.

Vol. 4 No. 3 Mar. 200615

Special Featuretelecommunication equipment, can power various
equipment and devices during a power outage. We
have also fabricated a power storage system using
this technology to power the movable boom of an aerial bucket truck. Whereas the hydraulic boom of aconventional aerial bucket truck is powered by thetruck’s diesel engine, this new one is driven by electric motors, so it is very quiet and does not generate
any exhaust fumes while it is being operated. Thisshould lead to a reduction in complaints from local
residents about aerial installation work in populatedareas.
Furthermore, considering the needs of the aging
society, NTT has developed the tsunagari-kan communication system to enable elderly people to keep intouch with their children living in distant places. The
human interface of this system is very user friendly,
especially for the elderly who feel safe and comfortable being kept in the thoughts of their family throughthese sophisticated but unobtrusive network communication tools. The effectiveness of this system has
been demonstrated in a field test.

Hiroki Tanaka
Director, NTT Energy and Environment Systems Laboratories.
He received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from Niigata University, Niigata in
1976. He joined the Musashino Electrical Communication Laboratories of Nippon Telegraphand Telephone Public Corporation (now NTT) in
1976 and engaged in the development of digital
switching systems and switching software. From1983 to 1987, he worked on the provisioning of
the digital data switching system (DDX) and facsimile transmission systems at the engineering
office of NTT headquarters. From 1987 to 1998,
he was a member of NTT Network Systems
Development Center, where he was involved in
ISDN system development and various switching system improvements. From 1998 to 2000,
he was engaged in the development of the Intelligent Network system and its service softwaresystems in NTT Network Service Systems Laboratories, as a project manager and as an executive
research manager. From 2000 to 2003, he was the
project manager responsible for the HIKARI
Service Promotion Project to create a wide rangeof services and business appropriate for the fullscale broadband and ubiquitous era that will
result from optical access. Currently, he is working to achieve a safe and comfortable society
based on two key approaches: environmental IT
and R&D into clean energy technologies.

3. Future development
We will continue to work on environmental information systems to improve the global environment
and ensure safe and secure lives for people. In particular, we will focus on the development of local environment monitoring and weather forecasting technology that uses information collected from monitoring
systems and the way in which the forecasting data is
distributed. Furthermore, we will try to utilize suchinformation for coordinating and controlling a wide
range of social infrastructures. In the energy area, we
promote the development of clean energy and integrated energy control systems to increase the overall
efficiency of NGNs and hence reduce carbon dioxide
emissions. Furthermore, we will try to combine environmental and energy technologies, for example, bydeveloping micro energy sources for ubiquitous environmental sensors. The quantitative evaluation of theeffects of ICT on reducing environmental impacts is
another important development that we are working
on. With all these combined, we believe that we cansignificantly contribute to all the critical components:
the Earth, individuals, and society.

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