A MESSAGE TO PEOPLE AND
A MESSAGE TO PEOPLE AND THE EARTH FROM SHARP ADVERTORIAL Extracts from “SHARP ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL REPORT 2008” & Cleverdis SPECIALreport 2008 TWO NEW VISIONS LOOKING AHEAD TO THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF SHARP’S FOUNDING According to reports from the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the discussions at the G8 Heiligendamm Summit, a broad international consensus is emerging that dealing with global warming is a critical issue facing the world. Sakai Factory WORKING TOWARDS “CARBON NEUTRAL LIFE” Since the 19th century, the impact on the environment has grown as a result of increased economic and social activity. As an electronics manufacturer, Sharp has recognised and is now focusing on three main problems: global warming, pollution from toxic chemicals and depletion of resources. SHARP – ALMOST 50 YEARS’ SOLAR RESEARCH Sharp began R&D on solar cells in 1959. Today, they are the only company that has continuously developed and produced solar cells without any interruption to the present day. At present, Sharpmanufactured solar cells account for approximately one-fourth of the world total. Against this backdrop, the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol finally began this year. This pressing situation demands a drastic transformation in social structure – from a massconsumption society that since the Industrial Revolution has depended on fossil resources, to a sustainable low-carbon society focused on the use of renewable energies. In 2012, the final year of the first commitment period, Sharp will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its founding. As the company prepares to mark this milestone at this critical turning point, Sharp has explored anew the role that it should play in the coming era and created two new corporate visions for the future. One is “Realize a truly ubiquitous society* 1 with the world’s No. 1 LCDs.” And, the other is “Contribute to the world through environment- and health-conscious business, focusing on energy-saving and energy-creating products.” * 1 A “ubiquitous society” is a concept of how, through the rapid development of IT infrastructure, networks will always be accessible to users; thus, the whole society will be connected. DIVERSE NEW APPLICATIONS Thin-film silicon solar cells can now be used as architectural materials! The new “see through” type will allow for innovative new applications like this to expand to windows and wall surfaces of homes and buildings. MAKE ENERGY… AND USE LESS ENERGY! Sharp is, of course, continuing its efforts to improve power consumption in TVs. Today, the amount of power consumed by the latest 52-inch LCD TV is less than the electricity consumed by a 32- inch CRT TV eight years ago. Compared to similar-sized 32-inch models, the latest 32-inch LCD TV consumes less than half the power per year than a CRT TV introduced in 2000. To obtain the full report in PDF format: www.sharp-world.com/corporate/eco/csr_report/index.html Kameyama Factory Hall 3.2 / Stand 101 28 www.ifa-international.org IFA International • Tuesday, 2 nd September 2008
THE GREEN PAGE THE GROWING IMPORTANCE OF “GREEN” FOR LG DIGITAL APPLIANCES “A WORD FROM THE TOP” ABOUT THE KOREAN GIANT’S ONGOING POLICIES… YOUNG HA LEE, CEO LG DIGITAL APPLIANCE COMPANY By Richard Barnes From left to right: Young Ha Lee, CEO of LG Digital Appliance Company and Richard Barnes, IFA International Editor-in-chief LG Electronics has been making major headway in terms of “Green” products in the field of Home Appliances. We asked Young Ha Lee, CEO of LG Digital Appliance Company, to tell us about the advances LG is making in eco-responsibility… As you mentioned, the green issue is already very important, but with this requirement to reduce CO2 emissions along with a higher awareness of global warming, green issues will continue to grow in importance as time passes. There are various ways of approaching the green issue. One would be to improve the energy efficiency of our current major products or we can also think of adopting renewable energy resources into our products… also, on the governmental level, we can think of solar energy products or solar energy power plants. Because the products that we manufacture are very energy consuming within the household, we believe we need to do our best and to put all of our resources in making the most energy saving products that we can. That’s the immediate focus. In the long term, we are looking into ways to expand into renewable energy and attaching it with our existing technology. In terms of energy saving in our immediate products, when we look at our product line it’s mainly the air conditioners and refrigerators that consume the most energy out of all our products. As you know, refrigerators are running 24h a day. Air conditioners are more seasonal but during their season, they do consume more energy than a refrigerator. So these two are very key in producing something that has more energy saving. Within the air conditioner and refrigerator, the key source of energy saving comes from the compressor, it’s like the heart. The reason why we maintain our own compressor operation in house is because that is the core of energy savings and we invest a lot in our compressor technology. One example would be the new compressor we have developed for ourselves for the refrigerator. In the past, it was a 3- axle compressor. What we’ve developed now is a 2- axle type linear compressor which reduces the amount of energy or power loss by 20-30% during the delivery. When it’s put into a product it still has about 10-20% loss than the existing 3 axel compressor. We developed this for the first time 3-4 years ago and this has been one of the reasons why we have been able to introduce quite surprisingly energy efficient products. The second key area is the inverter, which controls speed of the motor or compressor. Without an inverter, we would basically have an on mode and off mode, but the inverter controls the motor or the RPM of the compressor so that if necessary you could raise it to a high RPM, but if it’s not necessary you can adjust the speed to a lower RPM. That is also a major way of saving energy because you will be able to control the speed much better. And so, in our immediate products, the compressor is the key component along with the controlling technology where we find further room for energy efficiency. We are also looking into renewable energy sources combining them with our existing technology. There are various examples, but one is an air conditioner that uses geothermal energy to cool. The basic principle is that, the existing conventional air conditioners use a fan to bring in the outside air, pass it through a coolant, bring down the temperature, and supply it indoors. What this geothermal air conditioner does is that it drills pipes deeply into the ground, where there is always a constant temperature of about 15 degrees, so what we do is use that cool water and circulate that to lower the temperature of the air instead of using coolant. This means that we can have an air conditioner that does not need a fan to bring-in outside air, which is much more energy efficient. This is already introduced in Korea. It also fits very well in government policy trying to promote more energy efficient solutions. We are very much looking forward to seeing how it will do. IFA International • Tuesday, 2 nd September 2008 www.ifa-international.org 29
