OREANDA-NEWS. January 05, 2012. Fujitsu today announced the first deployment within the Fujitsu Group of a geothermal heat extraction system at its Nagano Plant. The new system will begin operations starting in January 2012.

The new system employs heat extraction pipes that have been embedded in the ground beneath the plant. Geothermal heat extracted from these pipes is used as a heat source to power water heater equipment for air conditioners used in clean rooms and other 24/7 facilities. By leveraging geothermal heat, which excels in terms of its stability and cost, Fujitsu expects to cut its annual fuel consumption by roughly 47kL (crude oil equivalent) and annual CO2 emissions by roughly 120 tons compared to the existing system.

In the future, after verifying the effectiveness of the new system and collecting operational know-how, Fujitsu will explore lateral application of the system to other Fujitsu Group locations.

As part of the Fujitsu Group Environmental Protection Program (Stage VI)(1), the Fujitsu Group promotes the increased use of renewable energy, and to date, the company has deployed renewable energy generation such as with solar power at its Tatebayashi datacenter, production facilities in Kawasaki and other sites. In an effort to save energy, reduce CO2 emissions, and collect operational know-how, Fujitsu Limited collaborated with Fujitsu Facilities(2), which oversees the control and operation of Fujitsu's facilities, to deploy a stable and cost-efficient geothermal heat extraction system at the Nagano Plant, which is primarily used for the manufacture and development of Fujitsu's print boards. Until now, natural energy utilization within the Fujitsu Group has been focused on office spaces. The new system deployment, however, will be the Fujitsu Group's first trial involving the use of natural energy to power water heater equipment for air conditioners at a manufacturing plant's clean rooms.