Reduction of Environmental Load by Telecommuting in Oku-Nikko

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science Vol. 294; no. 1; pp. 12008 - 12016
• Main Authors: Muto, Daiki, Yokoo, Noriyoshi, Fujiwara, Kisa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.07.2019
• Subjects: Aging; Aging (natural); Air conditioning; Buildings; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide emissions; Climate; Commuting; Emissions; Heat islands; Manpower; Mountains; Population decline; Reduction; Regeneration; Residential areas; Summer; Telecommuting; Tourism; Urban areas; Urban heat islands; Young adults
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/294/1/012008
• ISSN: 1755-1307

Heat island phenomenon is occurring in the 23 wards of Tokyo and a vacant house is increasing in Oku-Nikko, so carbon dioxide emissions reduction and application of vacant house may happen by working in Oku-Nikko by means of telecommuting in summer. The Oku-Nikko area has a cool climate peculiar to the mountains in the area of Nikko city at an altitude of about 1270m to about 2500m, the average temperature in August is about 19 ° C, about 8 ° C lower than the center of the city, and It has gained a high reputation as a summer resort for a very long time. On the other hand, as the population declines due to young people moving out of the area and natural declines, the depopulation of the area has progressed and the tourism industry is the subject of the local industry, but the aging of facilities and manpower shortage due to depopulation etc. As the tourism industry declined, the number of buildings no longer used increased, the number of empty buildings increased in Oku-Nikko. Therefore, people using the telework usually work in urban areas work in Oku - Nikko in the summer, effectively utilizing the empty buildings, can also be expected to lead to the revitalization of the area. In this study, this study calculated the carbon dioxide emissions due to air conditioning in houses and offices during the two months of summer and the carbon dioxide emissions associated with commuting, and compared the total value with Oku-Nikko in the 23 wards of Tokyo. As a result, it comes out that carbon dioxide emissions of air conditioning and commuting may be able to become less about 70% than before.