Solar Power for Yokohama China Site

Yokohama Rubber intends to reduce its greenhouse gases by 25 per cent (using the year 1990 as a benchmark) by 2020, and to achieve this target the company is introducing natural energy sources and more energy efficient equipment. As part of this programme, China based company subsidiary Hangzhou Yokohama Tire Co., Ltd. is installing a photovoltaic power generation system at its head office administration building and guardhouse. The solar power equipment to be fitted there is comprised of seven hundred and twenty nine 100-watt panels in a space of approximately 3,000 square meters, and these will supply about 67,000 kWh of electricity annually – about 0.3 per cent of the facility’s requirement – and cut CO2 emissions by about ninety four tons per year. This first solar power system installed at a Yokohama Rubber company outside of Japan will enter operation in February 2011.

Other alternative energy projects already in service at Yokohama Rubber plants include photovoltaic power at its Hiratsuku, Mishima and Shinshiro-Minami plants and wind power at Shinshiro-Minami. Yokohama Rubber boasts that its greenhouse gas emission reductions have bettered Japan’s targets under the Kyoto Protocol for four consecutive years.