Patent Grant
8197752
The present application claims priority from Japanese application serial No. 2005-219855, filed on Jul. 29, 2005, the contents of which is hereby incorporated by references into this application.
1. Field of Technology
The present invention relates to managing system and managing method for emission of environmental pollutants.
2. Background of Art
The degradation of the atmospheric environment due to the emission of greenhouse gases represented by carbon dioxide (CO2) has traditionally been a serious social problem. Particularly in recent years, it has been indicated that the increased air temperatures on a global scale affect greenhouse gases, and these effects have been a critical international problem. In recognition of these circumstances, the Kyoto Protocol on preventing global warming was enforced in February 2005 and international agreements on numeric reduction targets for greenhouse gases, on emission quota transactions, on collaborative implementation, on a clean development mechanism, and on other factors were completely implemented. In view of economic growth and the expansion of a demand for electricity, however, it is considered to be very difficult to achieve the numeric reduction targets for greenhouse gases.
Under such a situation, Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-326375 provided a system targeted for companies with CO2 emission installations and facilities such as factories, buildings, and power plants, the system being adapted to compute CO2 emission levels for each company by use of a special computer terminal and manage actual CO2 emissions data on a company-company basis using a server.
Also, Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-362212 provided a technique for reducing CO2 emissions by utilizing the fuel cells that are high in energy production efficiency and do not emit CO2.
Using CO2 emission data to achieve the proper and thorough management of CO2 at the corporate customer site and distribute the power supplies of the company is effective for reducing CO2 emissions on a worldwide basis. To further reduce global-warming CO2 gas emissions in the society, there is a need to establish a social framework that makes the end customers of energy, that is, general customers, more aware of the importance of environmental protection and urges the end customers to further save energy and to use even cleaner energy more actively. During the processes of mining, transporting, and storing primary energy resources and of manufacturing and supplying fuels, CO2 is constantly emitted and CO2 emission levels significantly vary according to particular process efficiency. In addition, if fuels that are of the same kind and differ in CO2 emission level are mixed, the CO2 emissions of the fuel mixture must be notified to general customers and how to manage these CO2 emissions also becomes important. These problems are not considered in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
In order to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide managing system and managing method for emission of environmental pollutants enable to assist an acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions reduction. That is, present invention is enable to provide a method of measuring a carbon dioxide emissions reduction level, and a system for assisting carbon dioxide emissions reduction, both the measuring method and the reduction assistance system being adapted so that acceleration of carbon dioxide emissions reduction can be assisted at a managing customer site by quantifying the carbon dioxide and other substances emitted in a particular environment or distributed on a commercial basis, from process device performance, fuel characteristics, and the quantities of raw materials, electricity, gas, and other forms of energy consumed during fuel manufacture.
It is thus possible to provide a system that manages commercial distribution volumes of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substance emissions in accordance with the quantities of raw materials and various forms of energy consumed during the fuel manufacture. This environmentally influential substance emissions management system compiles environmental load data of the various forms of hydrogen manufactured using fuels/manufacturing processes each different in environmental load coefficient such as carbon dioxide emission basic unit, and directly or mixedly distributed on a commercial basis, and then quantifies the environmental loads of the hydrogen at a fuel sales site.
This system for managing the commercial distribution volumes of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substance emissions in accordance with the quantities of raw materials and various forms of energy consumed during the fuel manufacture, also includes an environmentally influential substance emissions display device to display names of the environmentally influentially substances emitted from the fuels, environmentally influentially substance emission levels, and other environmental characteristics of the fuels, to a customer. The environmentally influential substance emissions display device also prints data on names of the fuels that the customer has purchased at the fuel sales site, on environmentally influentially substance emission levels equivalent to the quantities of purchase of the fuels, and on other environmental characteristics thereof. The system can thus urge the customer and supplier of the fuels to improve their sense of environmental protection.
In addition, the system that manages the commercial distribution volumes of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substance emissions in accordance with the quantities of raw materials and various forms of energy consumed during the fuel manufacture can urge, as a service function, the fuel customer to have a greater sense of environmental protection, by prompting the fuel supplier and customer to set up any environmentally influential emission levels and in accordance with an emission level quantified for the quantity of hydrogen fuel purchased, assigning the number of evaluation points based on fixed judgment criteria.
Since this managing system and managing method enable to evaluate a customer by its degree of contribution to the environment, the managing system and managing method can enhance the customer's desire to purchase a less environmentally influential fuel. Thus, the supplier also comes to consider reducing costs while at the same time having a greater sense of environmental protection.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail hereunder with reference to the drawings.
A description is given below of a basic configuration of an environmentally influential substance emissions management system which is embodiment 1.
As shown in
Raw materials calorie: r×a1 (MJ),
Product calorie: R×a2 (J) (1)
Next, environmentally influential substance quantity b1 per unit quantity of the raw materials, and environmentally influential substance quantity b2 per unit quantity of the product are extracted from the raw materials constituent database mentioned above and a product constituent database 206, 206b, respectively. After the extraction, a net quantity of environmentally influential substances, S, in the fuel-manufacturing device 202 is calculated using the expression shown below. That is, the net quantity of environmentally influential substances, S, is expressed as follows:
S=r×a1×b1−R×a2×b2 (kg) (2)
The environmentally influential substance emission basic unit Snorm is expressed as follows:
At this time, a manufacturing date of the product can be set by endowing the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 205 with a clock function. Also, these calculation results are stored, for example, in a table format into the calculation results storage section 210 in
The raw materials and product constituent databases 206, 206b usually include approximate data concerning the environmentally influential substance emissions of the raw materials and the product, respectively. Accurate quantities of environmentally influential substances can be constantly incorporated and calculated by providing each of the raw materials and product storage tanks 201, 203 with a chemical analyzer such as a chromatograph, and keeping the emissions data of the environmentally influential substances within the raw materials and the product up-to-date at all times using the chemical analyzer.
The environmentally influential substance emissions arithmetic section 104 installed in one fuel transport unit 101 is basically of the same configuration as for the fuel-manufacturing unit 202.
The environmentally influential substance emissions arithmetic section of the fuel transport unit 101 has a product transport tank 501 in the transport unit in order to temporarily store the product, as shown in
A flowchart of calculating environmentally influential substance emissions during fuel transport, in this configuration, is shown in
The product is sent to the fuel transport unit, and a flow rate of the product is measured by flow-measuring instrument C of 503. The measured flow rate is transmitted to the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 505. The environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 505 uses expression 1 to calculate a calorie of the fuel transported, based on the flow rate r of the fuel transported. Also, the flow-measuring instrument C of 503 uses expressions 2, 3 to calculate environmentally influential substance emissions of the fuel transported, and an environmentally influential substance emission basic unit thereof, based on the information that has been transmitted from the fuel-manufacturing unit, and the calorie of the fuel transported. Both calculation results are stored in a table format into the calculation results storage section 510 in
In addition to a product transport tank 705 for temporarily storing the product, each fuel supply unit includes, as shown in
Fuel transfer from the fuel transport unit 706 to the fuel supply unit uses the same procedure as that shown in the flowchart of
When the fuel is delivered from the fuel supply unit to a customer, the delivery is conducted through the dispenser 701. At this time, in accordance with a flowchart of
Also, in order to motivate customers to purchase a less environmentally influential fuel, storing independent data for each customer onto an IC card or an RFID tag, or into an internal memory of a motor vehicle or the like, as shown in
In addition, under a system in which a penalty will occur if an emission level of a substance emitted in the environment exceeds a fixed value, the above information can be provided to the customer, only in that case.
Use of the above-described technique makes it possible to notify environmentally influential substance emissions to the energy supplier and the energy customer by managing the environmentally influential substances within the fuel, and the emissions of the environmentally influential substances, quantifying the emission thereof, and displaying the emission levels thereof.
Next, an embodiment for selling a fuel mixture, based on the basic configuration of the environmentally influential substance emissions management system according to the embodiment 1, will be described hereunder as a second embodiment. The present embodiment is particularly effective for secondary energy obtainable by processing a primary energy resource such as hydrogen. The present embodiment is also effective for mixing hydrogen and methane and supplying the mixture to a customer. Hydrogen is known as a clean energy resource usually not emitting an environmentally influential substance. However, since hydrogen is an energy resource not existing in the natural world, this substance eventually emits carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during manufacturing processes.
In this embodiment, the basic configuration of the embodiment 1 is used, as shown in
According to the present embodiment, even if a fuel extremely inexpensive and inferior in environmental characteristics, and a fuel extremely expensive and excellent in environmental characteristics are sold in mixed form, the environmental characteristics of the fuel mixture can be clearly notified to the customer.
Next, an embodiment relating to hydrogen which is processed during a supply phase of a fuel will be described hereunder. The present embodiment assumes that the hydrogen is either supplied after being processed into high-pressure hydrogen at a supply site of the fuel by pressurization, or supplied in the form of an organic halide obtained by adding the hydrogen to an aromatic compound.
As shown in
The environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305 also includes a raw materials constituent database in which environmentally influential substance emission basic units are stored. A flowchart of calculating environmentally influential substance emissions of the fuel during manufacture thereof, in this configuration, is shown in
The flow-measuring instruments G, H of 1304 measure flow rates, r, R, per unit time. The measured flow rates are transmitted to the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305. The environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305 receives the information and then calculates calories of both the fuel and the product from memory-stored data. The calculations are conducted using expression (1).
Next, environmentally influential substance quantity b3 per unit quantity of the fuel is extracted from the memory of the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305. Also, if environmentally influential substance quantity per unit quantity of the product is taken as b4, only the form of the fuel only changes and b3=b4 holds. A net quantity of environmentally influential substances in the fuel-manufacturing device, and an environmentally influential substance emissions basic unit are calculated using expressions (2) and (3).
At this time, a manufacturing date of the product can be set by endowing the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305 with a clock function. Also, results of the above calculations are stored, for example, in a table format into a calculation results storage section 1310 in
In addition, supplying an organic halide involves reforming a composition of the fuel during a start of vehicle driving or of electric power generation in a household, prior to utilization of the fuel. The fuel supplier, therefore, needs to know efficiency of a customer's fuel-utilizing device in advance.
To achieve this, performance data on fuel-utilizing device 1306 which the customer owns requires separate storage into the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device 1305 or a database connectable thereto. Also, the connectable database needs to be provided in the fuel-utilizing device 1306 or in part of a tank or pipeline used to supply the fuel to the fuel-utilizing device 1306. In addition, the database is desirably accessible by cable or wireless communication.
During environmentally influential substance emissions computation at up to the fuel-utilizing device 1306, as shown in
S=R×a2×b3−R(1−p/100)×a2×b4 (4)
where p denotes the efficiency of the utilizing device. Likewise, environmentally influential substance emissions basic unit Snorm is represented by the following expression:
After the calculation of the environmentally influential substance emissions, a name of the sold fuel, the quantity of sold fuel, a sales price, a date of sale, a name of each environmentally influential substance contained in the sold fuel, and other information can be displayed on a monitor as shown in
The present embodiment makes it possible to quantify the environmentally influential substances emitted from the fuel when the fuel is processed at a stage immediately preceding the supply unit or when the customer reforms the composition of the fuel. As a result, the environmental characteristics of the fuel can be clearly notified to the customer.
The present invention can likewise be embodied by making a computer execute the method of the above embodiment in accordance with a program.
Other embodiments of the present invention are itemized below.
(1) An environmentally influential substance emissions management system that quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information; in which system, when the environmentally influential substance emissions or environmentally influential substance emission basic units are quantified from the quantities of raw materials each of a different environmental load coefficient such as a carbon dioxide emission basic unit, and from the quantity of fuel (that is, product) obtained during the fuel manufacture by using process steps different in fuel-manufacturing efficiency, and the product is commercially distributed in a mixed condition with another product obtained using other process steps, environmentally influential substance emissions of the distributed product mixture are compiled and an environmental load is quantified as an equivalent to the product sold to a customer at a fuel sales site.
(2) An environmentally influential substance emissions display device in a system which quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information; in which system, the environmentally influential substance emissions display device displays the information obtained in above item (1), for example, names of the fuels, names of the environmentally influential substances emitted during process steps up to supply of the fuels, environmentally influential substance emissions or environmentally influential substance emission basic units equivalent to the quantities of supplied fuels, and presents information on the environmentally influential substance emissions or environmentally influential substance emission basic units of the fuels sold to/purchased from a supplier and customer thereof.
(3) An environmentally influential substance emissions display device in a system which quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information; in which system, when a customer purchases a fuel at a fuel sales site, the environmentally influential substance emissions display device prints the information obtained in above item (1), for example, a name of the fuel, names of the environmentally influential substances emitted during process steps up to supply of the fuel, and environmentally influential substance emissions equivalent to the quantity of supplied fuel, and presents information on the environmentally influential substance emissions equivalent to the fuel sold to/purchased from a supplier and customer thereof.
(4) The environmentally influential substance emissions management system of above item (1), adapted to quantify emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information; in which system, when environmentally influential substance emissions or environmentally influential substance emission basic units during each process step are quantified, the environmentally influential substance emissions or the environmentally influential substance emission basic units are quantified with consideration being given not only to the quantities of indirect energy, for example, the electric power, gas, and other forms of energy consumed in the manufacturing process steps during operation of fuel-manufacturing devices which undertake the process steps, but also to the quantity of gasoline or any other fuel used to operate a transport motor vehicle in a transport process step.
(5) An environmentally influential substance emissions management system that quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information, the system including: an environmentally influential substance emissions calculator that calculates the environmentally influential substance emissions existing during the manufacture of the fuel, by using a flow rate of the fuel flowing through a pipeline disposed to supply the fuel to a transport tank; a transmitter which, after the environmentally influential substance emissions existing during the manufacture of the fuel have been calculated by the environmentally influential substance emissions calculator, transmits the calculated environmentally influential substance emissions; and an environmentally influential substance emissions storage device disposed at the transport tank side in order to store the environmentally influential substance emissions existing during the manufacture of the fuel, wherein the emissions have been transmitted by the transmitter.
(6) The environmentally influential substance emissions management system of above item (5), including: a transmitter which, in order to confirm leakage or unauthorized use of the fuel during transport thereof by a transport element, assigns an ID number or any other fuel identification information to the fuel manufactured, and transmits, from a manufacturer of the fuel to a supply destination as well, information inclusive of, in addition to the quantity of transport of the fuel during the manufacture thereof, environmentally influential substance emissions equivalent to the quantity of transport; and a computing device that uses the fuel identification information to check the fuel carried by the transport element, against fuel information on the supply destination, at the supply destination, and computes a differential between the quantity of transport and that of acceptance, and the environmentally influential substance emissions.
(7) A fuel purchase system in a system which quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information, the fuel purchase system including a function for a plurality of manufacturers to transmit information inclusive of environmentally influential substance emissions and costs of the respective fuels manufactured, a function for a supplier of the fuels to receive transmitted information, and a function for the supplier to store and display received information; the fuel purchase system further enabling the supplier to purchase desired fuels from the respective manufacturers by selecting the fuels and transmitting selection results to each manufacturer.
(8) The fuel purchase system of above item (7), adapted to assist the fuel supplier in fuel purchase by providing to the supplier a database inclusive of environmental tax data and global warming coefficient data and setting up a certain object function to minimize costs as well as to minimize environmental pollution.
(9) A system and apparatus for managing environmentally influential substance emissions, wherein names of environmentally influential substances associated with the quantity of hydrogen fuel which a supplier sells a customer, and quantified emissions are stored onto a magnetic recording card or an IC card or into a motor vehicle or an internal memory thereof.
(10) The system of any one of above items (1) to (9), wherein: the fuel or at least one fuel is, for example, gasoline, a light fuel oil, kerosene, electricity, a natural gas (city gas), a propane gas, hydrogen, or an organic halide; and the environmentally influential substances include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide (N2O), a tropospheric ozone (O3), a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gas, water vapors, and/or oxide sulfide (SOx).
(11) The environmentally influential substance emissions management system of above item (1), wherein the environmentally influential substance emissions are managed using: a memory and database for storing constituent data of the fuels; a fuel-measuring instrument for measuring the quantities of raw materials of each fuel and the quantity of fuel; an environmentally influential substance emissions computing device for computing environmentally influential substance emission levels from the constituent data, from the quantities of raw materials of each fuel, and from the quantity of fuel; and a communication element for rendering data exchangeable between the fuel-measuring instrument and the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device.
(12) The environmentally influential substance emissions management system of above item (11), wherein the environmentally influential substance emissions computing device includes: a communication element for enabling communication between the constituent database and the fuel-measuring instrument; a raw materials calorie database in which a calorie per unit quantity of fuel is stored; a CPU that conducts computations based on transmitted data; and a database and memory for storing CPU-computed data.
(13) A system which quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information, the system including: a function that uses a sensor or the like to monitor the quantities of raw materials, environmentally influential substances content information, the quantity of indirect energy input, the quantity of product, and other information; a database for storing data measurements on sensor-monitored data and information; a computing function that extracts sensor data measurements from the database and computes environmentally influential substance emissions of the fuel; and a database for storing computed data.
(14) A system which quantifies emission of carbon dioxide and other environmentally influential substances during fuel manufacture and manages the quantified information, in which system: for example, when a fuel such as an organic halide is handled, the system, if installed at a fuel supplier, stores performance data, such as efficiency, of a fuel-utilizing device which a customer separately possesses, into either an internal memory of an environmentally influential substance emissions computing device, the fuel-utilizing device, or a database provided on part of a tank or pipeline which supplies the fuel to the fuel-utilizing device, and then the system calculates the environmentally influential substances emitted from the customer side.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-219855 | Jul 2005 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5852560 | Takeyama et al. | Dec 1998 | A |
| 6681188 | Sakurai et al. | Jan 2004 | B2 |
| 7805271 | Nojima et al. | Sep 2010 | B2 |
| 20020035550 | Sakurai et al. | Mar 2002 | A1 |
| 20020128749 | Arita et al. | Sep 2002 | A1 |
| 20080236247 | Nojima et al. | Oct 2008 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 10-57936 | Mar 1998 | JP |
| 2004-326375 | Nov 2004 | JP |
| 2004-362212 | Dec 2004 | JP |
| WO 0246334 | Jun 2002 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070038388 A1 | Feb 2007 | US |
