Japanese conglomerate Panasonic Corp is proposing a switch from fluorescent to light-emitting diode (LED) technology in different sectors in the Japanese economy and in certain Asean countries, culminating more than five years of research into LED-related electronics and solutions.
The company has proposed customised LED-technology solutions to Thailand and Vietnam and is seeking to do so in Malaysia.
“Our group’s research into LED technology has sped up considerably after the 2011 Fukushima twin earthquake-tsunami disaster which saw a national blackout,” said Panasonic Eco Solutions Company general manager Yuji Toshimitsu.
He was speaking to a group of Asean reporters on a visit to view its LED-technology solutions installed at a convenience store in Okegawa in Saitama prefecture, about 50km from Tokyo recently. The store opened in 2010.
“As a result of that tragedy, the emphasis in Japan today is reducing energy consumption on all fronts - residential, commercial sectors and in public areas - and the use of alternative energy,” Toshimitsu said.
He said the company combined LED-technology in lighting and marketing solutions for the retail sector, which could be customised in the schools, hospitals, offices, rail transportation and museums.
“We used a convenience store as a test bed for our lighting and marketing solutions because convenience stores - numbering about 50,000 throughout Japan - became a meeting point for the community during the 2011 tragedy,” he said.
Panasonic currently supplies lighting solutions to 30 per cent of them.
He added that while LED lighting solutions helped to cut energy consumption by a third, they also costmore, with a return on investment after the third year.
It must be viewed as a long-term investment, he said, with the driving motivation being managing energy usage.
He said the three main areas of energy consumption in a convenience store were refrigeration, lighting and air-conditioning.
Toshimitsu said the company manufactured LED lights - both slim or thick tubes - to resemble fluorescent tubes to make the switch easier.
Light control is done via a tablet. A light projector can be strategically and together with LED technology, they become a marketing tool, said Toshimitsu.
“The idea is to propose light devices, which combine with audio-visual, to boost overall sales.”
Panasonic has installed LED-related technology - ranging from lighting to security, marketing and other energy-saving solutions - at the Okegawa store as part of its research.
The spotlight moves along a railing, to project pictures on a wall or on the floor, to promote certain products.
Sixty per cent of customers who entered the Okegawa convenience store noticed the light projections with half of them buying the promoted products.
He said for decades, the Panasonic emphasis was individual consumers - business to consumers, adding that globalisation had forced the company to expand its vision to include business to business solutions.
Besides LED -related technology, the company is also involved in the manufacture of automotive parts, agriculture, property development and household appliances.
The Tokyo Skytree, a broadcasting, restaurant, and observation tower in Sumida, is lit by Panasonic LED technology.
At 634m, it is one of Japan’s tallest standalone structure. Panasonic also lit up World Heritage site Kiyomizu-Dera Temple in Kyoto.
It is proposing customised solutions for several Asean countries.
