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Global warming mitigation requires worldwide action in a wide range of fields, including waste treatment and management. In Japan, demands to transform waste into energy as a greenhouse gas emissions reduction strategy are increasing. The use of steam generated from waste treatment plants as a source of energy in industries is a promising energy recovery method. In recent years, the feasibility and economic potential of conversion of waste into energy have been evaluated; however, economic efficiency is not always achieved. Therefore, it is necessary to classify steam supply targets based on profitability. Herein, we selected appropriate industries from different types and scales of industries for steam supply based on analyses carried out in Aichi Prefecture. Therefore, industries were classified based on their production shipment value. We also calculated the maximum profit potential from steam supply from waste treatment plants and the steam demand potential of each mesh. We applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate energy efficiency and regression analysis to evaluate the potential effects on growth. The appropriate industry was estimated through decision tree analysis based on DEA scores for the mixed industries cluster. We extracted four appropriate industries: pulp, textiles, ceramics, and steel. For each industry, we calculated the number of firms required in the mesh for economic benefit. We also selected industries that could be used to explore the potential of adopting the developed methodology for other regions and industries and for identification of waste treatment plants that could participate in steam supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 11, 2011, the Tohoku earthquake caused major damage to almost all public infrastructures including energy and water facilities in Fukushima Prefecture. Following the nuclear disaster, which lead to a shortage of energy, the government of Japan enacted new policy measures to redefine its energy-mix after its earlier commitment to the Copenhagen Climate Summit in 2009 to reduce greenhouse gas emission by 25% from 1990 levels by 2020. In 2015, Japan ratified the Paris Accord and set a national greenhouse gas reduction goal - 26% below 2013 levels by 2030. To meet this requirement, Japan needs to restructure its current electricity consumption by identifying the optimal demand of electricity by households, commercial buildings, and public utilities. This calls for public infrastructures to manage their electricity consumption efficiently by adopting appropriate electricity conservation methods using precision monitoring systems. To support the policy of the government of Japan toward conservation of energy, in this paper, we outline the energy demand of a public utility system, namely a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, and based on the data obtained using an innovative information and communication technology (ICT) tool. Using the monitored data, we further predict the electricity demand for each process of the WWTP using a Markov switching model. These models have high repeatability of monitoring results for each process according to various indices. In our results, all R2 values were more than 0.8; mean absolute percentage error values were under 10% for total electricity consumption and the water treatment process, and the relative root mean square error rate of each process was under 20%. Based on the results, we developed a future electricity consumption prediction model for WWTP total electricity consumption and the consumption of each process. The study emphasizes the need for an innovative ICT and advanced analysis system for supporting the governance of public facilities. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]