Introduction of Environmental Strategy Laboratory

The Environmental Strategy Laboratory seeks to be a think tank for collecting data and analyzing policies to make recommendations for establishing a sustainable vehicle society based on viewpoints of government, industry and academe. The Laboratory conducts research projects to contribute to international/vehicle societies and policy recommendations.

Establishing a sustainable vehicle society involves technical issues such as resource depletion, global warming, energy, and the environment as well as economic issues such as cost-benefit ratio, public acceptance, and user friendliness. Sustainability thus means harmonizing environment, technology, society and efficiency. This idea reflects all the research projects in this laboratory.

Today, research projects focus on various transport means besides the automobile. We also analyze the appropriate mobility based on city conditions from the viewpoint of transport engineering and civil engineering.

Research activities

The Environment Strategy Laboratory presently consists of eight personnel. Our research activities include various aspects with long-term visions.　There are two main research categories:

・Energy saving and CO2 emission reduction in the automobile sector and
・Policy recommendation on improving municipal environments for Asian economies.

In particular, the main research activities are as follows.

Energy saving and CO2 emission reduction in the automobile sector

・  Predicting and analyzing technology, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions by 2050 in the automobile sector
・  Vehicle life-cycle assessment（LCA）
・  Energy efficiency, CO2 emission projection, and cost-benefit analysis by sector
・  Research on mobility and city transport policies

Policy recommendation for improving municipal environments for Asian economies

・  Survey and analysis of vehicle emission gases in large Asian cities
・  Survey and analysis of vehicle recycling systems in the Asian region
・  Energy saving in the vehicle parts industry in China 
・ JARI Roundtable（Discussion among government, industry and academe, twice per year in Asian region）

Establishment of a database on vehicle statistics （development of supporting data and information for the above projects）

Public awareness and education on environment protection

・  JICA program

The Laboratory applies our accumulated know-how by becoming involved in various research activities on the environment, society, and efficiency with other JARI divisions.