Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

What do we get money for? It is to live. What do we spend money to live? If you survey the destination of money in detail, about 1/3 is spent on "food and water" and "heat and electricity (energy)". Self-sufficiency rather than purchasing these would reduce the carbon footprint and provide a lifeline guarantee. I propose this “Basic infrastructure type society". However, self-sustaining food and energy is a part of returning dependent life to a part of self-sustaining life, which is a big barrier for current people. Therefore, I proposed an eco-friendly lifestyle that could be entered even by a company employee in the city, and decided to live in Kawasaki town located next to Sendai city, which is rich in water resources, as a member of the local community. I practice self-sufficient food and energy as much as possible in Kawasaki town, and study on the technology for the university to self-sufficient energy. In Japan since long ago, food has been produced in the fields, wood has been used as firewood and charcoal as a heat source, and the flow of the river has been used as a source of power and electricity. However, it is necessary not only to imitate them, but to create utilization in a form adapted to modern technology. For example, biorefinery technology that produces chemical products using wood as a raw material, and utilization as energy source of hydrogen synthesized by electrolysis of water. I develop technologies to utilize the resources in Satoyama in a way that conforms to modern technology, and incorporate them into my own lifestyle to realize an environmentally friendly, safe and secure lifestyle.