Source: Prepared by Ministry of the Environment based on Green IT Promotion Council, “Research Report on Energy-saving Technology Development Roadmap for IT and Electronics Equipment” (May 2009)

carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) is used for 50% of main structural elements such as the body, main wings and vertical and horizontal tails, making it about 20% lighter than the comparable conventional aircraft. Looking at carbon dioxide emissions during the air frame's 10-year life cycle of “production of raw materials and intermediate materials,” “assembly,” “running/operation” and

Note 1: The product photo and reference unit power rate are from materials provided by Toshiba Lighting and Technology Corporation. Note 2: The LED bulb price was surveyed by Ministry of the Environment Note 3: Annual power charges and purchase cost in case of use for 2,000 hours a year Calculated by dividing the price by the life (hours) and adding what is obtained to the power charge per hour Source: Ministry of the Environment

“disposal,” an annual reduction of 2,700 tons per aircraft in carbon dioxide emissions can be expected compared with the conventional model (Figure 5-3-2). If 15,000 passenger jets with the capacity of 100 seats or more now in operation in the world were to be replaced by aircraft using carbon fibers, the annual carbon dioxide emissions reduction of about 40.5 million tons can be expected. Given the per-capita global average carbon dioxide emissions of about 4 tons a year, the assumed reduction is equivalent to emissions by approximately 10 million people. Amid rising demand for environment-friendly products, carbon fibers are increasingly used in frames of aircraft and bodies of vehicles, and thus are likely to contribute to reductions of carbon dioxide emissions in the transportation sector. It is also expected that carbon fibers, due to their lightweight properties and high rigidity, will be widely utilized in larger windmill blades for wind power generation, high-pressure hydrogen tanks for fuel cell-powered vehicles and fuel cells.

Other than carbon fibers, there also are technologies for which Japan has large market shares in the world and which are expected to reduce environmental loads substantially. White light-emitting diodes (LEDs), developed in Japan in 1996, are small, light, energy-saving and long-life light sources, which are rapidly becoming widely used as point sources of light for lighting to replace incandescent lamp bulbs (Figure 5-3-3). Already, white LEDs are in commercial use for small liquid crystal panel backlight, traffic lights and large-screen displays for television sets, etc. Particularly in recent years, they are spreading to business offices and private homes as downlights to replace incandescent lamp bulbs.

LED bulbs consume only about one-eighth of electricity consumed by incandescent lamp bulbs. Comparison of utilization costs between LED bulbs and incandescent lamp bulbs indicates that the advantage of using LED bulbs instead of incandescent lamp bulbs will materialize in about 1.3 years in use (Table 5-3-1).

Thus far, Japanese companies are believed to have uncontested large shares in the global white LED market. In recent years, however, Taiwanese companies are