New Earth '93 Global Environment Technology Show Being held
The Global Environment Technology Show is being held from December 7 to he New Earth '93 10Osaka fairgrounds in Suminoe-ku, Osaka. Subtitled "The Challenge: The , 1993 at Intex Environmental Rebirth of the Earth," the event marks the first time such a wide range of technology related to various aspects of environmental protection and regeneration as been presented at an international trade fair. New Earth '93 was organized jointly by the Osaka International Trade Fair Commission (OITFC), the Japan Society of Industrial Machinery Manufacturers the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE), (JISM), and OITFC is composed of Osaka Prefectural and Municipal Governments, as well as the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), and the International Fair Association, Osaka. The event was realized with the support and cooperation of many government ministries and agencies, industrial associations, and other organizations.
At the opening ceremony on December 7, 1993, Masafumi Ohnishi, chairman of OITFC, announced the inauguration of New Earth '93 as "a newly established fullfledged trade fair concerning environmental preservation and restoration." The declaration was followed by greetings from Kazuo Nakagawa, governor of Osaka Prefecture, and Masaya Nishio, mayor of Osaka. Next, the President of JSIM, Tsunesaburo Nishimura, spoke of the ongoing endeavors of equipment manufacturers and related businesses to "develop machinery utilizing state-of-the-art technology and constructive ideas." Osamu Uno, acting chairman of RITE, stressed the importance of long-term, comprehensive, and universal commitment to solve global environmental problems. A greeting delivered on behalf of Hiroshi Kumagai, minister of international trade and industry, emphasized the need for new approaches and breakthrough to reach a balance between worldwide environmental preservation and economic advancement. There followed a congratulatory address by British Consul General G. J. B. Williams, who expressed the conviction that both the Japanese and foreign exhibitors at the event would provide the "leading edge" in the "fight against environmental pollution and the threat to the quality of life."
Inaugural Ceremony
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino. In his address, Prince Akishino drew attention to the fact that New Earth '93 was held to celebrate the opening of three important new facilities : the UNEP (United nation's Environmental Program) International Technology Center in Osaka, RITE headquarters, and the International Center for Environmental Technology Transfer. He expressed the hope that the event would stimulate related industries as well as contribute to international friendship.
Commemorative Address
By Dr. Syukuro Manabe, Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory/NOAA, Princeton University
This lecture evaluates the response of a climate model to a 1 percent/year increase of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The model is a general circulation model of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land surface system, with a global computational domain, smoothed geography, and seasonal variation of insolation. The simulated increase of surface air temperature is very slow in the northern Atlantic and the Circumpolar Ocean of the Southern Hemisphere where the vertical mixing of water penetrates very deeply and the rate of deep water formation is relatively fast. However, in most of the Northern Hemisphere and low latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere, the distribution of the change in surface air temperature is very similar to the results obtained earlier without the developing effect of the oceans. For example, surface air temperature increases with increasingly latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere and its larger over continents than oceans. Extending the study described above, we investigated the transient responses of a coupled model to the eventual doubling and quadrupling of atmospheric carbon dioxide over the period of several centuries. During the entire 500-year period of the experiment, the global mean surface air temperature increase almost 3.5C and 7C respectively. In the CO2-quadrupling experiment, for example, the thermal and dynamic structure of the model oceans undergoes drastic changes, such as cessation of the thermocline circulation in most of the model oceans, and substantial deepening of the thermocline, especially in the North Atlantic. These changes prevent the ventilation of the deeper layer of the oceans and could have a profound impact on the carbon cycle and biogeochemistry of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system. Finally, the lecture emphasized the importance of reliable, long-term monitoring of climate and the factors that induce climate change. Such monitoring is indispensable for the assessment and validation of a climate model.
Symposium on Global Warming
New Earth '93 featured an international symposium at the Intex Osaka International Conference Hall on December 8, 1993. The symposium was the first of two sessions of lectures and panel discussions in this four-day event.
The panel discussion addressed the theme of "Challenges to Global Warming: Forecasts and Measures." There were four panelists: Dr. Syukuro Manabe, a senior research meteorologist at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Professor Masayuki Tanaka of Faculty of Science at Tohoku University, Professor Zenbei Uchijima of Faculty of Science at Ochanomizu University, and Taichi Sakaiya, authorof "Yudan! Soshiki no Swiss."
Representatives from international cooperation organizations, university-affiliated research organizations and companies around the world dealing with environmental technology attended the symposium to hear them discuss a variety of issues, including the importance of global monitoring, the effects of global warming, and what measures can or should be taken.
Professor Yutaka Suzuki in the Department of Information Systems Engineering at Osaka University, served as coordinator for the discussion. He said that since carbon dioxide (CO2) is responsible for half the green house gases, the carbon cycle was the key to understanding climate changes. Professor Tanaka agreed, and said that Japan has inaugurated a program to stabilize future CO2 emissions at the level of 1990. However, there was a problem about deciding what was the major cause of CO2 emissions. Professor Uchijima said that the most important problem was how to maintain agricultural production to feed a world population that will double in the next 100 years. "The right crop for the right land" has always been the principle guiding production of food, he said, but climate changes will alter this. He also called for a micro-level model for understanding climate change. Sakaiya stated that the measures necessary to counteract global warming must include education. "The concept of affluence needs to change" he said. All participants concurred that people would have to adapt to global warming to some extent. Professor Tanaka said that stabilization of CO2 at 1990 levels would be difficult to sustain, particularly in view of the increased burning of fossil fuels in developing nations.
Japan External Trade Organization Sponsors Seminar
The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) held a seminar on December 8, 1993, as part of New Earth '93, Japan's first global environmental trade show. Makoto Natori, adviser to the Japan Society of Industrial Machinery Manufacturers (JSIM, one of the main organizations of the global environment trade show), led the seminar with a speech outlining the advances made in Japantechnologies. Representatives 's production of various environmental equipment of leading manufacturers and developers of environmental technology from Europe, America and Japan were amongst the audience.
Natori began by describing how this growth in production was related to the efforts by Japan's industrial, governmental and academic sectors to control the serious pollution of the 1950s, which arose because of high-level economic growth. Such efforts, he said, have largely been successful, although some problems still remain unsolved. However, since the 1950s, both environmental equipment technologies and equipment production have advanced considerably, so that Japanese expertise in these fields has come to be praised all over the world. Natori showed how production of various types of environmental equipment was increased over the years, namely: equipment for controlling air and water pollution, urban and industrial waste treatment technologies, and equipment for controlling noise and vibration. He said that the outlook for Japanese exports of industrial equipment would likely increase, especially in Europe where the acid rain problem has become more and more serious. He noted, however, that few countermeasures for SOx (sulfur oxide) and NOx (nitrous oxide) have been implemented in developing countries, and that there was a need for development of an inexpensive desulfurization equipment in countries such as China.
Ozone Layer Protection Symposium
Sponsored by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Industrial Structure Improvement Fund (ISIF), "Japan-US Technological Cooperation Seminar for Ozone Layer Protection" was opened on December 7, 1993 at the Intex Osaka in Osaka as a program related to the ongoing New Earth '93 international trade fair featuring various machinery in use for protection of the global environment.
Divided into two parts, one on Japanese and U. S. companies' perspectives on Ozone-Layer Destructive Substances (ODS) and the other on future policy for environmental protection of Japan and U. S. governments, the seminar introduced some ten lectures from companies and governmental organizatins of both countries cooperating each other in eliminating ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and other toxic chemicals such as Trichloroethane. In the first session, five lecturers from such notable electric equipment companies as Motorola Inc., Northern Telecom and Hitachi Ltd., detailed their specific measures for CFC elimination, ozone protection and the development of substitutes for CFC chemicals, while emphasizing the importance of technical cooperation of both countries especially for technological transfer of CFC elimination measures to developing countries. In the second session led by two governmental officials from MITI and EPA, the Japanese representative explained in a concrete way several steps currently taken for promoting CFC banning at home and abroad. Among the targets set by MITI are research and development of new-generation coolants used in refrigerators, recycling of the CFCs now in use and introduction of substitutes for the toxic chemicals.
Deep Concerns with Environment Ensure Show Success
Kenichi Kiriyama
Kenichi Kiriyama, president of the Osaka International Trade Fair Commission, was certain the New Earth'93 show would be successful, even in the midst of recession, because "all governments and private industries are deeply concerned with the environmentfact, while ." In the automotive and apparel industriesdown, environmental , for example, have been slowing technology has grown into a trillionto double by the -yen business in Japan, and promises next centurynickname the "Manchester . Kiriyama reminisces about the Osaka of his boyhood, of the Orientto dramatic " because of its smog and dirty air. Now, however, in addition reductions in all forms of pollutionkeeping , Osaka boasts a citizenry truly concerned with their rivers and skies cleanflowers, and , and improving their urban environment with parks, greenerywhere rapid . This is the spirit Osaka wishes to share with others, especially in Asia, economic growth poses the greatest threat to the environmentKiriyama has . Since last year, been traveling around Asia encouraging public officials and industrialists to visit New Earth 'number of 93. He estimates that out of the approximately 50,000 visitors to the fair, a great them are from other Asian countriesshow has . He adds that in spite of the recession, the attracted 251 exhibitors from seven - 25 more than the 1,000 the organizers had hoped for.
Nobuyuki Yokoe
Nobuyuki Yokoe of MITI (Ministry of International Trade and Industry) is the deputy director general for Global Environmental Affairs, In his opinion, the principle of competition operators in the field of environmental technology as it does in other fields. He pointed out that like Japan, the governments of the United States, Canada, and Europe are trying to stimulate their economies by encouraging industry to meet the challenges of solving environmental problems. Furthermore, while Japan has been in the forefront in reducing air and water pollution, it falls behind Europe in other fields such as garbage disposal and soil contamination. He sees a need for an expanded system of low-interest loans to help medium and small industries adopt environmental measures.
Hideaki Kanamori
His sentiments are echoed by Hideaki Kanamori of Itochu Corporation, an all-round trading company that tries to supply realistic technology to meet the concrete needs of its various clients. Kanamori is concerned with the problem of balancing official regulation with economic measures that make it possible for smaller enterprises to comply with stricter environmental laws. He also points out that in Japan, with its frenetic activity, there is a need for high-speed, financially feasible solutions to new environmental problems that arise from rapidly changing industrial technology and ever stricter regulations.
Masahisa Aoki
Masahisa Aoki, former director general of the Environment Agency, expressed his hopes for Osaka taking on a leading role in making people more conscious of the current environmental problems. He further explained his favorable opinion about the ongoing fair saying that he expected people's awareness to the global environment, once highly recognized at last year's Brazil Summit, to rise more than before by seizing this opportunity.
A tour through the various booths of the fair overwhelms the visitor with the number and variety of innovative devices now available to environmentally-minded local governments, corporations, and individual consumers. For example, Kurita Water Industries Ltd. displays a mobile unit fitted with a portable boring device and analyzing equipment, enabling the user to investigate underground conditions easily and cheaply on the spot. The boring device can extract water, soil, or gas to a depth of 10 to 15 meters.
The Hitachi booth includes a sampling of environmentally friendly household electric appliances, including a washing machine, vacuum cleaner, and fringe. These items feature a higher percentage of recyclable materials than previous models - a stainless steel tub in the washing machine, for example - and can be disassembled more quickly to facilitate recycling. Hitachi also plans a substantial reduction in styrofoam packaging of it appliances.
Sumitomo Heavy Industries displays a model of its double hull tanker, the first in the world. The outer hull protects against oil spills by shielding the inner hull from possible damage.
Other features of the exhibit are low-pollution incinerators, and a new system for burning toxic waste products without first removing them from the drum cans in which they have been stored. There are also samples of decorative tiles made from incineration ashes.
One of the foreign displayers in the shows is the Daimler Benz Group of Germany, Dr. Hans Josef Haepp, Vice President of Production Research and Environment, explains that the firm has a contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to study methods for analyzing various kinds of plastic mixtures, using a combination of mechanical separation techniques, provided by Daimler Benz, and thermochemical techniques provided by Mitsubishi. Daimler Benz already recycles all the metal from its used vehicles, and it has developed a mechanical technique for separating the three components of plastic dashboards for recycling. It is hoped that the new joint research with Mitsubishi will lead to possibilities for recycling more plastic parts, and even extracting usable oil and gas from the plastic.
Takehiro Wakisaka, project promotion manager of Kubota Corporation, proudly shows off the household waste water treatment system for which his company won the Environment Agency Director General's Prize this year. It is a compact, low cost unit suitable for facilities housing from several hundred to more than a thousand occupants. Formerly a producer of agricultural equipment, the firm has shifted its emphasis to environmental technology, producing, among other things, municipal refuse classification and resource-recovery systems. One of the most impressive items in the display is a diagram of "Kuru Kuru Plaza,2 a refuse processing system created for Suita City, in which facilities for disposing of different types of refuse, sorting recyclable materials, processing them into new products, and even a "recycle shop" for selling them to residents, are all included in the one complex.
Takenaka Corporation is a constructive company that incorporates a wide range of environmental strategies, such as energy and resource conservation lectures and greenery, into its projects. It has also established the Environment Engineering Project Group to deal with construction industry-related global issues such as preventing global warming, preservation of the ozone layer, preventing ocean pollution, and protecting tropical rain forests. Among the items on display is a sample of "greenery concrete," a form of concrete that directly supports plant growth, to be used as an easy means of greening slopes and walls.
The most impressive item in the Osaka Prefecture display is a solar car, used to teach elementary school children about the possibilities of solar power. At school the children can actually get into this car and try it out. The prefecture also holds solar car races for high school and technical school students. Environmental education in schools is a high priority in Osaka Prefecture.
At the Osaka City booth there is a car as well - this one electric. It is one of 32 such cars used for environment-related thanks, including "pollution patrol." The display also introduces a water-purifying facility to create "drinker-friendly water," garbage-reducing policies, and sewage-strategies. One poster shows the Environmental Study Room, where residents, mainly housewives and children, can attend various events and look at educational materials.
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