- 2013/04/05
- Toyota Ecoful Town, where you can experience the future of low-carbon societies today
In May 2012, Toyota City opened Toyota Ecoful Town, an exhibition facility where visitors can experience a low-carbon society. In addition to providing explanations of verification experiments such as smart houses and the EDMS (Energy Data Management System), which are currently being implemented within the city, the facility has also become a hydrogen refueling station for fuel-cell vehicles and a car-sharing service for small EVs. It is anticipated that it will both provide an understanding of smart cities and create new industries.
- 2013/04/04
- Verification experiment into ideal societies that use hydrogen to attain the wide-spread distribution of FCVs
Toyota Motor Corporation and other major automobile manufacturers from both Japan and overseas are moving ahead with plans to mass-produce fuel cell vehicles (FCV) by 2015. A joint business project between the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and the Research Association of Hydrogen Supply/Utilization Technology being carried out in Toyota Ecoful Town, located in Toyota City, which has its sights firmly set on the FCV era, that exhibits the environmental technology, etc., that will bring about a low-carbon society succeeded in attracting the construction and implementation of verification experiments into hydrogen stations by Toho Gas Co., Ltd. and Iwatani Corporation. This tie-up between NEDO and Smart Melit (Smart Mobility & Energy Life in Toyota City) project, an experimental project into low-carbon society systems being implemented by Toyota City, will operate FCVs and fuel cell buses, and will represent one of the first attempts to establishment a next-generation energy system incorporating electricity and hydrogen.
- 2013/02/25
- Verifying the effects of Demand Response in 160 households
The Toyota City Low-carbon Society Verification Project (Smart Melit: Smart Mobility & Energy Life in Toyota City) began a verification experiment on Demand Response (DR) in ordinary households starting in January 2013. There are 160 participating households. The one-half of them (80 households) that implement DR will be compared with the other 80 households that do not. The DR implementation time frame, the substance of incentives, and other such aspects are being configured so that the effects of DR can be verified in as realistic a form as possible.
Regional information
| Name of city | Toyota City |
|---|---|
| Area | 918km2(as of April 2012) |
| Population | 422,830 (as of April 2012) |
| Locations for the operational experiments | The Higashiyama and Takahashi districts for trials of HEMS and EDMS, and Toyota City as a whole for trials of a low-carbon transport system |
| Area covered by the operational experiments | 918km2(the entire area of Toyota City) |
| Number of households involved in the operational experiments | 67 newly constructed residences and 160 existing residences |
| Number of workplaces involved in the operational experiments | Two commercial buildings, one distribution center, and Toyota Ecoful Town, constructed to showcase the city's efforts to build a low-carbon society. |
| Targets for introduction of PV generation, etc. | 61.2% rate of renewable energy, 4,000 next-generation vehicles |
About the city
A regional urban center in the north of Aichi Prefecture, Toyota City is the prefecture's largest city in terms of area and boasts its second-largest population. Toyota City is an in-land industrial city situated on the middle stretches of the Yahagi River, and is known for being a "company castle town," the location of the headquarters of Toyota Motor Corporation. As a model city for the EV&PHV Town Concept and ITS operational experiments, Toyota City has commenced the introduction of next-generation vehicles and transport systems, and is working towards the realization of a low-carbon society.
Overview of the project
This project seeks to envision the home environment in ten years' time, when there will be introduction of renewable energy and more extensive use of various energy-saving and energy storage devices. The power transfer patterns of a variety of devices, including next-generation vehicles, will be integrated and controlled by HEMS, enabling users to enjoy a pleasant and convenient low-carbon lifestyle without waste and without effort. Advancing the introduction of next-generation mobility modalities, the building of public transport infrastructure, and the presentation of new forms of transport use in tandem, we are aiming to become the city with the world's highest level of harmony between cars and people. We will use a range of energy sources including city gas and biomass, and make full use of heat and electricity. We will offer a variety of incentives to encourage citizens to engage in their own carbon-reduction activities, at the same time as making energy use visible, providing support for action, and enabling control of energy use through familiar terminal devices, making it possible to select from an optimal menu of low-carbon activities for the entire living environment with a minimum of effort.
Project orientation
Focusing on the household sector (residences and transport), the project seeks to identify medium-term technological issues based on an image of the household in ten years' time, when, for example, photovoltaic (PV) generation will be widespread and grid parity will have been established. Without rushing to raising the social cost, we will develop low-carbon systems that present the overall optimum at the level of the community as a whole. In concrete terms, we will offer highly convenient and satisfying incentives (such as "eco points") for activities conducted by citizens that contribute to reducing carbon (saving energy, reducing the load on the power system, making effective use of green power, etc.) in order to study the change in citizens' behavior and the magnitude of its impact. In terms of effective incentive design, in addition to introducing various devices and systems to the city, we will establish a system in which citizens obtain data on personal energy consumption and behavior to enable us to reduce carbon at the same time as ensuring the satisfaction of our citizens.
Subjects of the operational experiments
Photovoltaic generation, biomass, heat energy, CEMS, HEMS, EV/PHV/FC buses, ITS
Participating companies and organizations
