Nasushiobara is a city in Tochigi Prefecture, currently counting more than 114 thousand people and about 50 thousand households. Its Smart City journey started in 2020 and officially took off in 2022.
Challenges
In Japan, Smart Cities are gaining momentum: as a resource-poor, disaster-prone country, with a growing ageing population, Japan has put energy efficiency and citizens wellbeing high on its political agenda and is looking at Smart Cities as a way to address both demands at the same time. Therefore, Smart Cities have steadily increased in number across various prefectures in Japan in recent years.
In Nasushiobara, the primary objectives were to become a more sustainable and more liveable city for its residents, using data to effectively access and manage its resources.
Our solution
The city chose MinebeaMitsumi Smart City Solution. About 400 Smart LED Streetlights equipped with wireless dimming control technology were installed at first, then 30 Pyranometers and 10 Smart Environmental Sensors were added to monitor sun irradiation levels and weather conditions, alerting authorities and citizens when solar irradiance reached levels that could provoke heatstroke.
Results
Benefits from the Smart Lighting solution were immediate. By applying the dimming technology, the energy consumption linked to streetlights was greatly reduced, which in turn contributed to a decrease in CO2 emissions. In 2021, when the Ministry of the Environment launched a public grant that offered funds to the municipalities that could reduce CO2 emissions via Smart Lighting, the city of Nasushiobara could tap into those funds, having reduced its energy consumption and CO2 emissions thanks to Smart LED Streetlights.
In March 2022, when the Japanese Government requested some prefectures to lower the amount of electricity consumed due to a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that caused the temporary shutdown of some power plants for safety precautions, the city of Nasushiobara could quickly implement the request by dimming the streetlights, leading to a significant reduction in the energy consumption.
Data from Pyranometers and Smart Environmental Sensors are being used to adjust the accuracy of photovoltaic output forecast in order to predict and manage fluctuations in the energy supply from solar panels, improving energy efficiency. In addition, Nasushiobara is planning to add cameras and rain gauges to the streetlight poles to monitor the road conditions during heavy rain, and act if/when needed in order to prevent hazardous situations and increase road safety.
Driven by the quest for more sustainable and energy efficient solutions and the wellbeing of their citizens, other cities across Japan are following Nasushiobara’s example and are now looking at installing MinebeaMitsumi Smart City Solution.
