Economic Evaluation Method of Photovoltaic Power Generation Installed in Ordinary Homes

This study aims to develop an economic evaluation method for installing photovoltaic power generation in ordinary homes using GIS (Geographic Information Systems). The conclusions can be summarized in the following three points: 1) This method determines the profit and loss and payback period in order to evaluate the installation of photovoltaic power generation, taking into account the price of equipment, solar battery module conversion efficiency, subsidy, electricity purchase price, service life and rate for selling electricity. 2) The proposed evaluation method was applied to Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, providing plural scenarios. Using a solar battery module conversion efficiency of more than 15%, it is possible to make the payback period shorter than the 20-year service life and anticipate a profit in almost the whole area. 3) The areas suitable for photovoltaic power generation are Kawasaki City and Ninomiya-machi. It is necessary to adopt measures to increase the subsidy and install photovoltaic power generating systems in specific places in areas where subsidies are not provided in enough amounts.

Method of Searching for Earthquake Disaster Evacuation Routes Using Multi-Objective GA and GIS

This study treats the determination of routes for evacuation on foot in earthquake disasters as a multi-objective optimization problem, and aims to propose a method for quantitatively searching for evacuation routes using a multi-objective genetic algorithm (multi-objective GA) and GIS. The conclusions can be summarized in the following three points. 1) A GA was used to design and create an evacuation route search algorithm which solves the problem of the optimization of earthquake disaster evacuation routes by treating it as an optimization problem with multiple objectives, such as evacuation distance and evacuation time. 2) In this method, goodness of fit is set by using a Pareto ranking method to determine the ranking of individuals based on their relative superiorities and inferiorities. 3) In this method, searching for evacuation routes based on the information on present conditions allows evacuation routes to be derived based on present building and road locations.?Further, this method is based on publicly available information;therefore, obtaining geographic information similar to that of this study enables this method to be effective regardless of what region it is applied to, or whether the data regards the past or the future. Therefore, this method has high degree of spatial and temporal reproducibility.

Method for Evaluating the Influence of Obstruction of Sea Breeze by Clusters of High-Rise Buildings on the Urban Heat Island Effect

This study aims to propose a method for quantitatively evaluating the influence which the obstruction of sea breezes by clusters of high-rise buildings has on the urban heat island effect using a weather simulation model and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Specifically, a method of evaluating the influence of the obstruction of sea breeze by high-rise buildings on the urban heat island effect was proposed. In the method, two scenarios that imagine urban forms which differ with regard to whether or not they contain high-rise buildings are created and weather simulation is conducted, and the results of the simulations are comparatively analyzed focusing on temperature and wind speed. Evaluation was conducted in two stages, and Shiodome of Minato City in the Tokyo Metropolis was selected as the region for evaluation. In two stages of evaluation, a rise in temperature of approximately 0.3 K and a reduction in wind speed of approximately 1 m/s were observed in a region approximately five to ten kilometers square downwind of high-rise buildings in the period 6 PM to 9 PM, and a higher temperature caused by the obstruction of sea breeze by high-rise buildings was identified. The fact that such a higher temperature was confirmed in the time period from 6 PM onwards, in which the temperature decreases, reveals that obstruction of sea breeze by high-rise buildings dulls the decrease in temperature which occurs from evening onwards, and influences nighttime urban heat island formation.

GIS-Based Urbanization Prediction Model Considering Neighborhood Relationship of the Unit of the “Block” in the Outskirts of Metropolitan Area

On the outskirts of the metropolitan areas in Japan, the rapid development of urban areas and the improvement in transportation networks have brought various land use problems in their wake, including urban diffusion and the phenomenon of urban sprawl. There is a strong need for accurate predictions of land-use change and future urbanization, as well as investigation of the appropriateness of present land use controls and the land use controls that will be required in the future. This study took as its object the outskirts of the Keihanshin (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) Metropolitan Area, the second largest conurbation in Japan after the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, and used the digital maps and spatial analysis offered by GIS. It aimed to: 1) describe the characteristics of land use controls, land use and urbanization;2) develop an urbanization prediction model that considers the neighboring relationship of neighboring areas on a 100 m mesh unit;3) apply this model to the study area and verify its validity regarding the conditions of present land use;4) compare urbanization prediction results by this model with the present land use controls;and 5) make predictions for future urbanization and propose remedial measures for future land use controls.

An Evaluation of Measures Regarding Road Traffic against the Urban Heat Island in the Tokyo Ward Area, Japan

This study aims to evaluate measures against the Urban Heat Island (UHI) regarding artificial exhaust heat of road traffic using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in the Tokyo Ward Area where the degree of UHI is particularly strong. We developed a GIS database that reflected road traffic conditions, and calculated the volume of artificial exhaust heat of road traffic to evaluate measures against the UHI. The findings of this study can be summarized in the following three points. 1) Artificial exhaust heat volume for moving targets was remarkably higher than that of stationary targets and, in particular, artificial exhaust heat volume was high on roads with remarkable numbers of vehicles and running speeds such as expressways and ring roads. 2) In UHI- related policy for moving targets, the suppression of waste heat through choice of fuel burned, improvement of traffic flow by securing space for cyclists and pedestrians, development of bypasses, and upgrading signal control managed to reduce artificial exhaust heat volume, even though there were differences in degree of reduction. 3) In UHI-related policy for stationary targets, special road surfaces and the increase in efficiency of energy consumption equipment achieved a reduction ratio of around 30% in artificial exhaust heat volume, more than moving targets as well as making it possible to expect a reduction in artificial exhaust heat volume on a wide scale.

An Environmental Risk Evaluation Method Employing Atmospheric Dispersion Models and GIS

This study aims to develop a method for evaluating the environmental risk of harmful chemical substances released from specific sources, using two atmospheric dispersion models and GIS (Geographic Information Systems). In the first stage of evaluation, ADMER was used to conduct a wide-area evaluation which covered the entire area of the evaluation target region. In the second stage, METI-LIS was used to conduct a detailed limited-area evaluation which targeted the vicinity of sources. In this study, incinerators were selected as sources and dioxins were selected as harmful chemical substances. The area selected for evaluation was the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan, and the evaluation method proposed in this study was used to evaluate environmental risk. Through the use of atmospheric dispersion models and GIS, the behavior of dioxins emitted into the atmosphere from incinerators was estimated. By superimposing atmospheric levels and population data, the amounts of dioxins that humans exposed to were found. Additionally, by superimposing deposition amounts and land use data, the amounts of dioxins accumulated in each land environment were found. Conducting these steps enabled the impact of dioxins on humans and the environment to be grasped quantitatively and visually, and the risk that dioxins emitted from incinerators pose to the environment to be evaluated.

High-Speed Optical Local Access Network System Using Bi-Directional Polarization Multiplexing

A high-speed and economical optical local access network system is proposed where bi-directional polarization multiplexing is applied to a bi-directional transmission. Experimental results using a prototype system confirm low optical loss and environmental stabilities.