A residential area with environmentally friendly homes has been built in the city of Mishima, in Japan's Shizuoka Prefecture. These green homes, has been built to showcasethe technologies for environmentally-friendly homes available in the market today. The sustainable energy for green homesandhousing concept combines fuel cells, solar batteries, and energy usage monitoring systems as well as suggestions for energy conservation.
The roofs of these environmentally friendly homes were fitted with solar panels that can produce three to four kilowatts of energy daily. Thehouses also have an electricity storage system, which ispowered by natural gas. The solar energy generated is stored using ENEFARM residential fuel cells, which were manufactured by Panasonic. The Energy Management Servicework closely with the residents to improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental footprint.
The local gas company, Shizuoka Gas, supervises the project. Every month, Shizuoka Gas provides each green home householdwith a report on energy consumption and suggestion on energy conservation. For example, the residents would knowwhich room is consuming most energy for lightings or the cost of powering the individual room likethe kitchen.
The environmentally-friendly homes were completed in February 2011, with the residents moving in in March. There are 22 household or about 80 residents in the area, which is about 6000 square metres. The green homes, of various designs, were built by eight different housing companies.
Environmentally Friendly Homes
