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Sake Brewery in Yamanashi Shifts to Zero-Emission Hydroelectric Power

Yamanashi Meijo, a Japanese sake brewery in Hokuto City has eliminated its CO2 emissions from electricity by switching to the prefecture's hydropower plan.

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Tsushima Kitahara, CEO of Yamanashi Meijo (right), with the deputy director of the Yamanashi Prefectural Enterprise Bureau, announcing the zero CO2 emissions from electricity consumption on January 30, 2023, Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture (©Sankei by Takashi Hirao).

Yamanashi Meijo is a long-established sake brewery and producer of the Shichiken brand of Japanese sake, located in Hokuto City of Yamanashi Prefecture. On January 30, 2023, the company announced a shift of all electricity usage to that derived from hydroelectric power generation.

With this transition, the company's annual 510 tons of CO2 emissions from electricity use have been reduced to zero. The brewery is the first alcoholic beverage manufacturer in Yamanashi Prefecture to carry out such an initiative. And according to the company, it is only the second in Japan.

Electricity Consumption at the Sake Brewery

The brewery consumes a considerable amount of electricity to make its sake, including that used for washing rice, temperature control during fermentation, and refrigeration.

It has now switched its power supply over to the "Yamanashi Power NEXT Satoyama Hydropower Plan." This plan limits the power source to electricity generated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Enterprise Bureau's hydroelectric power plants.

sake brewery
Exterior view of the Yamanashi Meijo brewery in Hokuto City, Yamanashi Prefecture, January 30, 2023 (©Sankei by Takashi Hirao).

The brewery's annual power consumption stands at approximately 1.13 million kilowatt hours. By switching to this hydroelectric power plan, the company brought its electricity-related CO2 emissions down to zero.

Continue reading the full story on Japan 2 Earth.

And find more great articles on the environment and the challenges of achieving the SDGs on our new website Japan 2 Earth (J2E), sparking a transition to the future.

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(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: The Sankei Shimbun

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