International. Panasonic Corporation, together with the board of Tsunashima Sustainable Smart Town (Tsunashima SST) and Nomura Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., announced the plan for the development of a small sustainable and smart city that will be built within Yokohama, a city located southwest of Tokyo and that is planned to be ready by 2018.
With this initiative, Panasonic seeks to strengthen its presence in the development of sustainable and intelligent cities that allow the creation of ecologically conscious urban spaces, as it did with Fujisawa SST, the company's first project.
The council of Tsunashima SST, made up of ten organizations dedicated to promoting smart towns, created the plan to develop a city that contemplates the protection of the environment, security measures for the care of spaces and their inhabitants in addition to regulating the operation and the urban panorama. The objective is to ensure that the different industries that participate collaborate in harmony to achieve these goals. The Yokohama authorities will also support the project to boost the Japanese government's efforts in creating The City of the Future.
The sustainable and intelligent city will be located on a site that was occupied by a Panasonic factory whose surface is approximately 37,900m2 and will have facilities for residential, industrial and business use.
Under the concept "Together Innovating Towards the Future", private companies and the local government will seek to promote innovation through synergy between the technology, services and knowledge of each industry, as well as achieve specific goals such as the reduction of 40% of CO2 emissions, use of 30% of new energies such as cogeneration of natural gas or use of solar cells and the reduction of water consumption by 30%.
Panasonic will bring its expertise in technological development to take advantage of the space and location, and will rely on real estate companies to fully exploit the land and increase financial and business values to contribute to the community.
Tsunashima SST facilities in detail
Energy Center
Located in the city center, it will provide all low-carbon thermal energy through high-efficiency gas cogeneration systems that will use the city's clean gas as fuel.
This system efficiently uses the heat that is produced during power generation for cooling, heating and hot water supply. The infrastructure is made with materials that are resistant to natural disasters, such as earthquakes, to ensure its operation even in the event of an accident.
The center aims to be a model for creating a system of energy exchange between the neighborhoods surrounding the complex.
Hydrogen Refueling Station
Tsunashima SST will have a hydrogen fuel battery charging station to boost the use of electric cars with batteries that use this gas. In addition, it will serve as a space to communicate the benefits of using hydrogen for different applications.
Management Center
This center will serve as a central communication office to keep the community informed about events that occur within the city, in addition to taking care of administrative functions. It will also be the security monitoring center and will establish and inform contingency plans in case of an accident or emergency.
Residence for International Students
It will be developed and designed under traditional Japanese culture using new technologies. The main objective is to create a space where international exchange students can enrich their professional training through urban activities to support the local community and research processes. The residence will be equipped with digital signage audiovisual systems, as well as lighting and ventilation systems to create comfortable and safe spaces.
Smart Shopping Center
It will be a state-of-the-art ecological shopping center that serves as a flagship model for the creation of commercial spaces in smart cities. It will be equipped with solar power generation systems and ventilation systems that run on the waste heat of the city's power center; there will be digital signage systems and multifunction monitoring cameras that serve to inform the inhabitants, in different languages, about the activities of the shops in addition to providing data on the weather, traffic or evacuation instructions in case of an emergency.
Smart Condos
The population will live in a series of smart condominiums that will be equipped with systems for the collection, storage and distribution of energy to be used in homes, common areas and provide support to the elevator system in case of a power outage.
