In one of its largest city-wide projects ever, Yokohama City has taken the initiative to replace all power consumed within city-owned facilities with renewable energy by 2050 as part of its new goal: “Zero Carbon Yokohama.” As the first step towards this goal, the city announced that the electric power used at the new Yokohama City Hall Government Building is now 100% renewable energy as of FY 2020. This move will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by some 5,800t-CO2 (approximately, based on 80% of emissions for the entire New City Hall building).
The new Yokohama City Hall building exhibits the highest level of energy saving performance, and promotes local consumption of renewable energy by relying on both energy produced by incineration plants in Yokohama (supplied using a self-consignment system), and energy generated by solar power generation facilities found in homes in Yokohama following the end of the government’s Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) policy. Further, other energy options employing a post-FIT model for energy generation are used to supply the new City Hall building with energy from electric power retailers. Looking forward, the city will pursue a complete shift to renewable energy throughout the 18 ward office buildings of Yokohama by 2025.
Yokohama City formulated the “Yokohama City Strategy on the Use of Renewable Energy” in May 2020 in order to outline in detail its vision for 2050: “Zero Carbon Yokohama.” The city is expecting to halve city-wide energy consumption and replace energy sources with renewable energy in order to achieve carbon neutrality according to the plan. To this end, the Yokohama City Hall has led by example in proposing that all energy consumption within all city-owned facilities and buildings across Yokohama be replaced with renewable energy by 2050.
Government offices and ward offices fully converting to renewable energy by 2025 will be just some of the next steps toward achieving the ultimate goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Beyond this plan, Yokohama City is also looking to further expand the use of renewable energy, such as shifting to renewable energy in facilities used by residents as well, in order to more completely embrace renewable resources and sustainability.
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