The Japanese Business Alliance for Smart Energy Worldwide is conducting promotional and awareness building activities of energy saving and renewable energy technology focusing on emerging countries for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by promoting energy conservation overseas and using new energy by utilizing the excellent technology of its member companies.
At the conference, the ZEB Promotion Working Group (hereinafter the ZEB Promotion WG) was established in 2017 to spread and expand the concept of ZEB which ultimately aims to reduce the energy balance of buildings to zero in regions centered on the hot and humid countries in Asia, and we started working on the establishment of international standards on which to formulate related measures in each country in addition to striving to disseminate and enlighten technology and knowhow to promote the ZEB of commercial buildings focusing on ASEAN countries.
One of the major issues for ZEB promotion is that even if building owners and business operators first set a goal of ZEB, they may eventually hesitate to get on board from the perspective of the initial investment. Therefore, the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, which is a part of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) took the initiative and launched the ZEB Roadmap Review Committee and formulated a roadmap to promote ZEB. Meanwhile, the definition of ZEB Ready, a means to achieve 50% or more energy saving than the energy saving standard, was established, and an environment that makes it easy for businesses to gradually proceed with ZEB was created. This method was thought to work effectively in emerging countries overseas as well, and this approach is incorporated in the technical specifications issued by the ISO by the suggestion of Japan.
The ZEB Promotion WG consists of members including Japanese companies with cutting-edge technology in the fields of design, air conditioning, elevators and engineering, as well as observers from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and with AGC Inc. as the chief examiner, and by promoting ZEB around the world by taking advantage of the characteristics of each company, we aim to expand our businesses. The current WG members are,
As corporate members,
Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.
Nikken Sekkei Ltd.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Sanken Setsubi Kogyo Co. Ltd.
As organization members,
Heat Pump & Thermal Storage Technology Center of Japan
The Energy Conservation Center, Japan
(Above in alphabetical order)
In this WG, repeated discussions were held with the support of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and we began working with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 2018 to promote this idea as an international standard, and in May 2020, we proposed the technical specifications with the title, “Methodology for achieving non-residential Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB)” to ISO. Later, after deliberation by experts from each country at ISO, supported by ASEAN countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Philippines, it was officially approved as ISO technical specification TS23764****, and it was enacted on September 24, 2021.
At the conference and WG, policy/measure planning will be promoted to spread ZEB in various countries in the future based on this technical specification, and we hope that that greenhouse gas reduction and carbon neutrality will progress on a global scale by accelerating the introduction of equipment and materials with higher energy-saving performance throughout the world and with the global spread of equipment and building materials with excellent performance and functions.
*ZEB (Zero Energy Buildings)
**ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
***TS (Technical Specification)
****TS23764 See attachment
Contact information
Japanese Business Alliance for Smart Energy Worldwide
Person in charge: Katsuhiko Yamamoto
Tel: 03-5439-9765
Email: jase-w@eccj.or.jp
