In Japan, OMRON has set a target for fiscal 2010 for an 8.6% reduction in CO₂ emissions compared to fiscal 1990. To meet this goal, Group-wide efforts are now concentrated on energy conservation by implementing strict controls on daily use of electricity, deploying more energy-efficient equipment and solar power generation systems, and promoting the shift to fuels that emit less CO₂.

In fiscal 2007, total CO₂ emissions in Japan increased 2% from fiscal 2006 to 67,393 tons of CO₂. If the new sites that joined the OMRON Group through M&A during the year are included, CO₂ emissions would become 94,030 tons of CO₂, a 43% increase from fiscal 2006. With the decreased volume of production in Japan resulting from production facilities shifted overseas, CO₂ emissions per unit of production also increased 49% compared to fiscal 2006. As a result, OMRON failed to meet its targets for both total CO₂ emissions and CO₂ emissions per unit of production.

To achieve the 8.6% reduction target set for fiscal 2010, the company plans to deploy OMRON energy monitoring systems at all sites in Japan during fiscal 2008 to promote visualization of energy usage. By so doing, OMRON aims to take stronger comprehensive energy-saving measures for its core equipment and devices such as air conditioner systems, heat sources and lighting equipment. OMRON will also implement other measures such as employment of more energy-efficient equipment and adoption of the Kyoto clean development mechanism so as to achieve the CO₂ emissions reduction target.

* The Ministry of the Environment's CO₂ conversion coefficient is used to change the unit of emissions for various fuels.
* The national average power-receiving end coefficient reported by the Federation of Electric Power Companies is used for electricity.
* FY2010 target includes new sites (8.6% reduction compared to FY 1990).

• CO₂ Emissions through Business

OMRON has launched a measure to visualize energy usage and identify how much energy is consumed by which equipment when and where. By so doing, OMRON aims to extract and eliminate inefficiency and unevenness in equipment operation, so as to improve energy use efficiency.

OMRON's energy monitoring system measures the total amount of energy usage in real time and connects that data with the data in the machine ledger to create an energy-efficient equipment map. Based on this map, the ideal level of energy usage is estimated and compared with actual values to determine where inefficiency and unevenness exist in equipment operation. Based on this, measures are drafted for improvement. OMRON then verifies the effectiveness of the measures, and revises or develops additional measures if necessary for further improvement. By taking this PDCA cycle approach, OMRON aims to achieve an approximately 3,000-ton CO₂ reduction in Japan for fiscal 2008.

• Energy Usage

In fiscal 2007, OMRON's overseas sites promoted energy conservation toward the goal of 5% reduction in CO₂ emissions per unit of production compared to fiscal 2002. Because of a 29% increase in production volume compared to fiscal 2006, total CO₂ emissions increased 5% to 62,963 tons of CO₂. However, emissions per unit of production (an indicator for energy usage efficiency) were down 19% compared to fiscal 2006, meeting the initial target.

As with sites in Japan, overseas sites will continue to promote day-to-day energy-saving efforts and employment of more energy－efficient equipment, in order to maintain at least a 1% reduction in CO₂ emissions per unit of production every year.

* Japanese CO₂ conversion coefficient is used to change the unit for various fuels.

PFC removal system

OMRON uses non-CO₂ greenhouse gases for only a part of its production processes. Therefore, OMRON has not set a Group-wide emissions reduction target. Still, various sites have been individually working to reduce non-CO₂ greenhouse gas emissions. For example, PFC, HFC and SF6 are used in the semiconductor manufacturing process, resulting in emissions of 43,500 tons of CO₂ equivalent in a year. However, the deployment of a removal system allowed OMRON to reduce emissions by 98.7%.

OMRON will continue to accelerate the replacement of harmful gases with those that have a lower global warming potential (GWP), while working on installation of a removal system on new manufacturing lines.