Provided by: Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Co.,Ltd.
Aiming to be a cheerful and open company based on respect for people, a creative company full of vitality, a company that coexists with the community, and consequently a materially and spiritually rich company, we are contributing to a sustainable society.
Provided by: Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Co.,Ltd.
The hot bath facility at the roadside station “Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town Michi-no-Eki Tsudoi-no-Sato,” which opened in September 2019, uses brine as a natural hot spring and natural gas as fuel.
Wellness Town is a unique facility in Japan: it uses a gas power generation system to continue supplying electricity even in the event of a disaster, and utilizes the exhaust heat generated during power generation for hot bath facilities, thereby recycling the energy without waste.
We intend to promote one of the three main pillars of the SDG Action Plan 2020, “Regional Revitalization Driven by the SDGs: Creating Attractive Cities That Are Resilient and Environmentally Friendly,” and also to continue to support the local community as well as the local production and consumption of energy.
Provided by: CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy Co.,Ltd.
Provided by: CHIBA Mutsuzawa Energy Co., Ltd.
On September 9, 2019, Typhoon No.15 hit the Kanto region, causing power outages in a wide area of Chiba Prefecture. In Mutsuzawa-machi, the entire area lost power, and it was not fully restored until six days later, on the 14th. During that time, many residents were forced to
live without electricity.
However, on the night of the 9th, while the town was in total darkness, the roadside station and surrounding houses were lit brightly. This is because two gas cogeneration systems in Wellness Town had started operating independently and supplying electricity. On the 10th, it became possible to supply hot water to hot bath facilities using exhaust heat, and hot showers were provided free of charge to around a thousand people.
In this way, Mutsuzawa Smart Wellness Town fulfilled its role as a disaster response and countermeasure facility, which is one of its objectives, providing a safe refuge for local residents.
This was the first attempt in Japan to combine local production for local consumption of energy and improvement of local resilience in terms of supplying electricity and heat to the town by installing cogeneration power generation using locally produced natural gas and facilities to use solar power and solar heat.
In 2023, 46 students from Chosei-mura Yatsumi Elementary School and 28 students from Ichinomiya-cho Torami Elementary School each visited the plant.
The tours included a visit to the Mukojima Plant, a natural gas well, and an easy-to-understand experiment using iodine produced at the plant. The content of the tours was designed to interest the children, who are our future leaders, in local industries, natural gas and iodine resources, and the global environment. Blessed with fine weather on both days, the children enjoyed learning while taking precautions against heat stroke.
Also very popular this time was a tour of the Ore Museum, which was newly opened last year. The director explained to the students how to look around the various stone specimens, and at the end of the tour, they were able to lift a meteorite, which surprised not only the students but also their teachers.
We donated to local municipalities and the conclusion of a memorandum of understanding to lend facilities to a police station in Chosei-gun City in the event of a major disaster (to temporarily use our facilities and equipment as an alternative security headquarters to maintain police functions in the event that the police station and other facilities become unusable).
Chiba Works (currently Chiba Plant) received a certificate of appreciation from the Governor of Chiba Prefecture for its outstanding cooperation among the fire company-cooperating business sites certified by municipalities and other organizations in the prefecture.
We will continue to cooperate with local disaster prevention activities as a team, such as providing backup for disaster relief activities by employees of fire companies and holding practical first-aid training sessions with invited lecturers.
We donated a 75-inch large-screen TV to mark the completion of Chosei Village Exchange Center, which was built to improve the convenience and attractiveness of the area around the station as the gateway to the village (the face of the village) and offer a space where various people can interact and relax as an exchange base.
On September 30, 2023, we held our first concert in the entrance lobby of our company, inviting the Mobara Citizens Life Committee and the Mobara City Longevity Association Headquarters. Dr. Mikako Tsuruoka, an industrial physician, and Ensemble Miraco performed a wide range of music, from classical pieces that everyone has heard at least once to familiar Japanese children's songs.
