Toward Realizing the Environmental Vision 2050
Developing Environmentally Conscious Products to Contribute to Reducing Household Energy Consumption

In Japan, the volume of CO₂ emissions from household energy consumption* is increasing, one of the reasons being of home appliances getting bigger in size. Though individual energy saving activities are important to control energy consumption, the effectiveness of individual electricity saving is limited.
Thus, Toshiba Group considers that developing and providing "eco style" home appliances to support comfortable living, yet reduce power consumption is our urgent responsibility. We are striving for further functional enhancement and improved environmental performance, mainly in air conditioners, refrigerators and lighting equipment, where energy consumption amount is especially large with home appliances. In addition, we are providing guidance and conducting other educational activities to support efforts of our customers to conserve energy.

*

The CO₂ emissions from household energy consumption increased by about 37% from 127 million tons in 1990 (11.1% of total CO₂ emissions in Japan) to 174 million tons in 2005 (13.5% of total CO₂ emissions in Japan). (Annual Report on the Environment and the Sound Material-Cycle Society in Japan 2007 of the Ministry of the Environment)

Case 1
Ensuring Further Comfort and Environmental Performance of Air Conditioners and Refrigerators

The "Daiseikai PDR" series air conditioners, winner of the Energy Conservation Center Chairman's Award of the 19th Energy Conservation Award of FY2008, have inner compressors with an original mechanism to implement, enabling unprecedented energy-saving operations. These series of air conditioners have reduced the power consumption by about 32% as compared with that of 1998 models.*¹ Additionally, they have a function indicating power consumption and an electricity bill on the front of the indoor equipment to help electricity saving at home, introduced for the first time within the industry.
Similarly, for the "Marugoto-Sendo-Meijin" series of refrigerators, new technologies for energy-saving operation were introduced in the condensors and controlling methods to reduce power consumption by about 50% as compared with conventional models.*² Furthermore, the inside of the product is filled with humid cool air to preserve the freshness of food and new sterilization technologies are used to prevent bacterial growth and thus reduce waste food. The products have various functions to support comfortable and environmentally conscious life.

1

Comparison between RAS-402PDR and RAS-406BDR (a product 11 years old). Period power consumption: RAS-402PDR: 1,336kWh, RAS-406BDR: 1,955kWh

2

Comparison of annual power consumption between a Toshiba product 3 years old (GR-W50FB: 700kWh/yr) and a new product (GR-A51R:380kWh/yr).

Case 2
Expand LED Lighting to Global Markets to Provide the "New Value in Lighting"

Toshiba Group has been developing and providing advanced lighting technologies since it first manufactured incandescent lamps in Japan in 1890. Though incandescent lamps are widely used worldwide because of their simple structure and low price, recently, the need to replace them with other light sources such as fluorescent lamps of equivalent brightness, yet with lower power consumption has been realized in order to mitigate climate change.
Thus, in April, 2008, Toshiba Group announced to stop the production of general incandescent lamps from around 2010. We will enforce the development of fluorescent lamps and LED (light-emitting diode) lights with high luminous efficiency and low environmental impact.
In particular, for LED lights, various products from generic to industrial illumination fields will be developed to meet various requirements and thus lead the global market.
Toshiba Group estimates that it can contribute to a reduction in global CO₂ emissions of around 25.1 million tons in the FY2025 by switching to high efficiency light sources such as LED lights.

Various LED lights

Data on the Home Appliance Business (FY2008)

Refrigerators, washing drying machines, washing machines, kitchen appliances, vacuum cleaners, light bulbs, fluorescent lamps, light fixtures, industrial light parts, air-conditioners, compressors, batteries, etc.

Sales amount

CO₂ emission reduction benefit by the Eco Products approach (Compared with FY2000)

CO₂ emissions with the Eco Process

Note:

The percentages in the above graphs are calculated based on the data of the entire Toshiba Group.

Toward Achieving the Environmental Vision 2050

Social Infrastructure Business

Electronic Devices Business

Digital Products Business

Home Appliance Business