Title:

Environmental Impact of Telework with Direct Uses of Geothermal Heat: A Case Study of Naruko Area

Authors:

Anna SUZUKI,Ryo HASEGAWA, Shunichi HIENUKI, Hiromi KUBOTA, Takatoshi ITO

Key Words:

CO2 emission, Cost, Life style, Work from home, Direct use

Conference:

Stanford Geothermal Workshop

Year:

2022

Session:

Direct Use

Language:

English

Paper Number:

Hasegawa

File Size:

802 KB

View File:

Abstract:

Geothermal potential area in Japan has been depopulated recently,and there have been distances between the geothermal potentials and most energy consumers living in urban areas. Since 2020,working from home (home-based telework) has spread rapidly due to the influence of the COVID-19. If some of the energy consumers work from the geothermal potential area,namely onsen areas,it would help to reduce the extra fossil fuel consumption,to reduce the environmental impact,and to save commuting costs and time. In this study,we quantitatively evaluated the advantages and feasibility of working from onsen in Naruko area, Osaki City,Miyagi Prefecture,as a case study. The environmental effects were analyzed by using the annual CO2 emissions and the costs,based on the perspective of the form of stay and the life-cycle assessments with four scenario conditions ((a)base system,(b)home-based telework in a city,(c) onsen-based telework (using hot spring only for bathing),and (d) onsen-based telework (using hot spring for bathing and heating)). Compared to the base system,the use of public baths in the onsen area can reduce CO2 emissions by about 1/3,and the use of bathing and heating by hot springs can reduce CO2 emissions by about 1/4. In the case of a short-term stay in the onsen area,the effects of reducing CO2 emission differed depending on the area where the worker is based and the season. The results indicates that some conditions of the short-term stay may results in higher CO2 emission than when nothing is done. Therefore,we expect that each of urban workers,companies,and onsen areas will change their awareness and take actions to be able to stay in the onsen area for a mid- to long-term.


ec2-18-222-69-152.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com, you have accessed 0 records today.

Press the Back button in your browser, or search again.

Copyright 2022, Stanford Geothermal Program: Readers who download papers from this site should honor the copyright of the original authors and may not copy or distribute the work further without the permission of the original publisher.


Attend the nwxt Stanford Geothermal Workshop, click here for details.

Accessed by: ec2-18-222-69-152.us-east-2.compute.amazonaws.com (18.222.69.152)
Accessed: Tuesday 16th of April 2024 10:58:28 AM