Over 8 decades since it started operations, the team at Epson has continued to challenge itself to provide quality products and services that exceed customer expectations, all enabled by the firm’s efficient, compact, and precise innovation.
And the Japanese-based printing solutions provider has not stopped there. As a responsible corporate citizen, and aware that its manufacturing processes and business activities have an impact on the planet, the company has set and committed itself to a number of targets.
Epson has set itself a target of becoming carbon negative and underground resource free by 2050. As one of the first steps to achieve this goal, the company transitioned to 100% renewable electricity at all Group sites in Japan by 2021 and all Group sites worldwide by the end of 2023, becoming the first Japanese manufacturer to achieve this feat.
Still on the renewable energy front, the company early last year announced that it plans to construct its first biomass power plant in Iida City, in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. According to the timelines, the plant should be in operation in the 2026 fiscal year [ending March 2027]. By the time of the announcement exactly a year ago, Epson was already moving to secure the land and buildings, contract construction, and file the paperwork for power generation.
Once up and running, the new biomass power plant is intended to provide Epson with self-generated renewable electricity on a continuous basis and reduce the ratio of electricity the company purchases from external power companies. This move would subsequently contribute to overall industry efforts aimed to promote wider public adoption of renewable electricity.
“Sustainability and environmental concerns play a pivotal role in shaping the printer manufacturing industry, and Epson has been attuned to the escalating demand for eco-conscious printing solutions. With businesses and individuals increasingly prioritizing measures to diminish their carbon footprint, the establishment of a biomass power plant seamlessly aligns with Epson’s steadfast dedication to sustainability,” noted Mukesh Bector, Regional Head for East and West Africa, Epson, while commenting on the biomass plant announcement.
The electricity generated will be sold to the market under a feed-in premium [FIP] scheme, while Epson will convert the electricity that it uses into renewable electricity by leveraging the environmental value created through power generation. Moreover, the power is expected to be supplied to local facilities in the event of a disaster or other emergency.
The power plant will not depend on fossil fuels. It will be fueled primarily by unused wood from the Minami Shinshu area, as well as by materials such as tree bark, mushroom culture medium, and some waste wooden pallets from Epson. By utilizing wood and bark from neglected forests, Epson will also be contributing to forest maintenance.
Construction of the biomass power plant will increase the ratio of self-generated power and meet the technical criteria of RE100, which emphasizes additionality. In the future, Epson aims to create a closed-loop power plant, including by developing technology for the fixation and utilization of CO2 produced during power generation.
Epson’s internal initiatives to promote use of renewable energy
Internally, and still as part of its ongoing drive to promote the use of renewable energy, Epson has begun drafting the blueprints of its first in-house biomass power plant. To ensure overall by having all stakeholders on board, Epson is working with its suppliers, with support from partners, to reduce their environmental impact by assisting their logistics and transition to renewable energy.
“We have committed to invest 100 billion yen over the 10 years to 2030 to reduce GHG (greenhouse gases) emissions in our supply chain by 55% (over 2 million tons) compared to FY2017, in line with the 1.5°C scenario. We will increase the feasibility of de-carbonization by driving innovations in production and upgrading equipment at our manufacturing sites, including by switching to low-carbon fuel, adopting renewable electricity, and replacing technologies that use fossil fuels with those that use electricity. We will utilize previously mined underground resources as existing above-ground resources (circular resources) to reduce consumption of new underground resources,” states Epson in one of its internal documents.
To become not just carbon neutral but to become carbon negative, Epson has further committed to sharply reduce the amount of energy used for production, raw materials processing, and other business activities while also transitioning to renewable electricity and working with partners to avoid GHG emissions in manufacturing.
The company is also seeking to establish technology for capturing and absorbing CO2 to offset its own residual CO2 emissions. Overall, Epson is striving to reduce its total resource inputs, eliminate wastes, and attain a sustainable resource rate of 100% to become underground resource free.
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