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Press Room
UN registration of the Thai Biogas CDM Project
2009-02-06
Toyota Tsusho Corporation
The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc.
Toyota Tsusho Corporation (Head office: Nakamura-ku, Nagoya, President: Junzo Shimizu, hereinafter "Toyota Tsusho") and The Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. (Head office: Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, President: Masataka Shimizu, hereinafter "TEPCO") have been carrying out a project to recover methane from a tapioca starch factory since February 2007 in Kalasin Province, in the northeastern part of Thailand. The project has been operated by Cassava Waste To Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter "CWTE"), located in Bangkok, Thailand, and partly financed by the two companies. In August 2008, an application was submitted to the United Nations to register the project as a clean development mechanism (CDM) project. On January 31, 2009, the project was successfully registered by the UN CDM Executive Board.
The project will be subject to review by one of the UN Designated Operational Entities for verification and certification of greenhouse gas emissions before the issuance of carbon credits.
Toyota Tsusho and TEPCO have already agreed with CWTE to purchase carbon credits created in this project. By December 2012, the two companies will purchase about 186,000 tons of carbon credits (about 112,000 tons to be purchased by Toyota Tsusho and about 74,000 tons by TEPCO, in CO2 equivalent).
In this project, methane recovery facilities and a fermentation tank are set up to recover methane from the organic wastewater discharged from a tapioca starch factory (the methane that used to be released into the atmosphere). Then, the recovered methane is sold to the same factory in the form of biogas. By using this methane as fuel, the factory has significantly reduced the consumption of heavy oil as well as the emission of greenhouse gas*.
Toyota Tsusho positions the environmental sector as its field of emphasis. Under a belief that the company can contribute to the creation of a sustainable society through the promotion of environmental businesses, Toyota Tsusho will continue to pour its energies into the recycling business and businesses dealing with anti-global warming and environmental conservation products.
TEPCO considers activities to prevent global warming as a top business priority. TEPCO will maintain its efforts to address energy supply and usage issues and to acquire carbon credits in Japan and abroad.
[*]Significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
Methane?s global warming effect is about 21 times more powerful than CO2. Therefore, burning methane to split it into water and CO2 is an effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
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