Japan's first 100% renewable energy university

Chiba University of Commerce has set environmental goals for important social issues such as measures against global warming, and hereby declares its aim to become a "100% natural energy university" by equalizing the amount of energy generated by the university's mega solar power plant, Noda Power Plant, and other facilities, with the amount of energy consumed at the university's Ichikawa campus.

[English version] Towards the 1st RE100% Univ. in Japan(314KB)

[2018 target]
Chiba University of Commerce will become Japan's first online "RE100 University."
The amount of electricity generated by the University's mega solar power plant, Noda Power Plant, etc. will be made equal to the amount of electricity consumed by Chiba University of Commerce Ichikawa Campus.
[2020 target]
We will make Chiba University of Commerce Japan's first "100% renewable energy university" online.
The amount of electricity generated by the University's mega solar power plant, Noda Power Plant, etc. will be equal to the energy consumed by Chiba University of Commerce Ichikawa Campus.

In order to contribute to environmental conservation, including measures against global warming, our university constructed the largest mega-solar power plant of a single university in Japan on university-owned land in Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, and began a "solar power generation business" in April 2014, selling the electricity generated to Tokyo Electric Power Company. The power plant is equipped with approximately 10,000 solar panels on a site of approximately 46,781 m2. In fiscal 2016, the plant generated approximately 3.17 million kWh of electricity, equivalent to the amount of electricity used by approximately 800 average households* in a year, and is working to promote renewable energy. (*Estimated annual electricity consumption per household is approximately 4,000 kWh)

To achieve our new environmental goals, we will develop a university-wide scheme based on the three pillars of hardware, software, and heartware, centered on the global warming countermeasures activities that our university has been working on up until now.

Our university's declaration and efforts were reviewed by the "100% Renewable Energy Platform" (operated by CAN-Japan (the Japanese base of the Climate Action Network (CAN) an international network of 1,100 environmental NGOs in over 120 countries that works on climate change issues), a global initiative that advocates for the realization of 100% renewable energy), and we are the first university in Japan to be registered on the platform (as of November 13, 2017).

Furthermore, based on this initiative, the university established CUC Energy Co., Ltd. as a locally produced and locally consumed energy business that will bring sustainable benefits to the region. The company has begun leasing energy-saving equipment to the university. The company will continue to work with the university, and will continue to provide comprehensive energy-saving services, including electricity generated by the university as a local retail electricity business, as well as plans to buy and sell local natural energy, and will develop businesses that contribute to customer benefits, revitalization of the local economy, proposals for local policies, and the conservation of the global environment.

In recent years, it has been proven that addressing climate change issues is economically beneficial and brings various benefits to society. Companies and financial institutions around the world are beginning to move toward 100% renewable energy. As a social responsibility to educate the young people who will lead society in the future, our university will pool its knowledge and do all it can to make this declaration and initiative a model for solving issues in Japan and around the world.