Our First Carbon-Neutral Factory Accelerating Decarbonization

Yamaha Motor has brought forward to 2035 the goal of achieving carbon neutrality at its own plants, including those overseas, in the Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050, and various initiatives are currently being accelerated to realize this new target. Under these circumstances, the Hamamatsu Robotics Office, which was undergoing expansion and renovation with the aim of doubling its production capacity, has begun operations as our first all-electric factory.

Carbon Neutrality Also Contributes to Ease of Work

"Reducing CO2 makes manufacturing sites quieter, cooler, and cleaner, and extends the life of equipment and machinery. Since our efforts toward carbon neutrality are a scrum job with the manufacturing site, we are happy to hear from factory workers who feel comfortable working there, like 'It's more comfortable now, thank you!' I am just as happy to hear feedback from the factory staff about our efforts yielding numerical reductions as the facility has become carbon-neutral," says the person in charge from the Yamaha Motor's Plant Engineering Division. We have set a target of achieving carbon neutrality at our own factories, including those overseas, by 2035, and are accelerating our efforts to realize a decarbonized world. As one of the steps toward this goal, we have begun operations at our Hamamatsu Robotics Office, which is our first factory to achieve carbon neutrality.

The cornerstones of our approach to carbon neutrality are "Minimization" and the consumption of "Clean energy." Minimization is an activity to reduce the absolute amount of energy consumption based on our Yamaha-original theoretical value energy concept. On the other hand, clean energy is about switching to cleaner energy through the introduction of renewable energy generation facilities and carbon-free electricity. Furthermore, with regard to fossil-based energy, we are also hurrying to shift to alternative energy sources such as hydrogen and electricity in what are called high-temperature processes, such as casting and painting.

Accelerate Efforts with Our Unique Theoretical Value Energy

"In order to achieve our goal, we have to reduce our emissions by 3% every year. We must step up another gear or two," said the person in charge. Japan's Agency for Natural Resources and Energy has imposed a 5% reduction obligation on factories designated for energy management over a five-year period, so we are aiming to achieve carbon neutrality about three times faster than before. One of the most visible and significant results is our proprietary method of minimizing power consumption we call theoretical value energy.

This classifies all energy consumption into energy with "value," "semi-value," and "no value," and aims for breakthroughs by increasing the ratio of "value" as much as possible. For example, energy consumed when equipment is on standby is classified as having no value, and the goal is to reduce this valueless energy to zero by introducing control technologies that automatically shut down equipment. The concept and results of this approach have attracted a great deal of attention, winning the Energy Conservation Grand Prize in 2022 from the Energy Conservation Center of Japan.

In our factories around the world, stickers indicating that the equipment is carbon neutral are beginning to appear, and by 2035, nearly all of our manufacturing facilities around the world will have these gold and silver certificates shining on them.

Message from the Editor

I myself had a somewhat negative attitude toward carbon neutrality because of the image of having to endure it in my daily life. On the other hand, after listening to the person in charge of its promotion at Yamaha, I was able to change my perspective. I was able to turn my attention to aspects that improve daily life, such as stopping the movement of machinery during "valueless" time, making it easier for factory workers to work, and allowing equipment to be operated more efficiently. We hope that the positive image of carbon neutrality will spread around the world and that this initiative will only gain speed.