It is an old story. When the word of postwar was not yet commonplace, I wanted to be an electrical engineer, and I received hands-on training at your Togatta Hydroelectric Power Station for about one month during the summer vacation. At that time, electricity was used mainly for lighting, and then for listening to radio. Compared to those days, it is no exaggeration to say that the present electricity supply is as important as determining the fate of the Earth.

Every year, I read "Environmental Reports" of several companies. As for this report, the flow of contents seems to take the needs of readers into consideration according to the environment policies and plans of your company. I could feel how sincerely and delicately your company addresses each of these issues and I could fully understand your efforts as if I can see the difficulties you have as a person who was responsible on-site for environmental protection.

The efforts that you enhanced in January 2005 to promote CSR are expected to shorten more than ever the distance between many interested parties and your company, and also enhance your reliability and safety. So, I would like to give words of encouragement to your company-wide efforts and expect to see the results of your efforts in the future.

Next, as for the differences of going beyond, reaching and going close to the target values that are set based on the actual results achieved, priorities may be necessary to reach or go beyond them according to their levels of comparative importance. To achieve some of the target values, you may have to go through hardships. However, I want you to believe that you can resolve such hardships without fail based on years of efforts you have made to date, and I want all of your employees to challenge and surmount many hard problems as a famed company in the Tohoku region with confidence but without being eaten up with pride, setting an example to others.

Mr. Tadashi Sugaya President Miyagi Environment Councilor Association, a specified nonprofit organization

If I should be allowed to say with expectation, I want your company to stress the efforts to enhance the awareness of the companies dealing with the companies of your Company Group about the actions to protect the environment from your leading position through your Group Companies. This is because the on-site activities of the companies you deal with are most noticeable to your interested parties. Consequently, the activities of such companies directly affect the image of your company.

Lastly, I expect "eco tsumuri" to go steadily ahead through your constant efforts toward the targets you set.

As a teaching staff of the specialist course established in FY2002 in the School of Engineering of Tohoku University, I have been in charge of education of and research on energy society systems. In addition to academic exchanges with overseas researchers in the same field, the opportunities to participate as an expert in environmental management and energy policies of Sendai city and Miyagi prefecture are also increasing.

Environmental action reports are important collections of data for the experts in the fields of energy and environment. I am impressed by such a wide range where the electricity industry is involved such as the characteristics of energy resources, progress of power generation technology, environmental impact, waste management, etc. At the same time, I have learned to understand the scale and influence of the electricity industry. As for the construction of the report, different fields that tend to become vague are roughly divided and organized into five themes. This is easy to understand. The modest color tones of diagrams help readers visually grasp numerical information. The supporting reasons for cited information and sources of numerical data are also mentioned.

In view of the trends in the future, I would like to suggest the following three points as the issues to be discussed in the report in the future:

1. In setting the target values of emissions such as carbon dioxide and air pollutants, the portion that can be expected to be improved by self-help efforts and the portion that cannot be avoided because of the structure of energy use should be separately evaluated. In so doing, I believe that the scope to be covered by effects of corporate efforts and that by society as a whole are naturally clarified.
2. I suggest that you work out a super-long-term plan with an eye toward 50 years from now, rather than the near future. As a core firm in the energy industry, your company is required to construct diversified visions and strategies to control global warming, ensure energy security as a national policy, and challenge the liberalizing international energy market. Toward the desirable energy source portfolio in the future, the roles and scope of utility technology of biomass, natural energy, hydrogen, fuel cells, etc. will be clear.
3. The grounds for quantification of "eco-efficiency" as the indicator to link environmental consideration and corporate management together should be defined. With the formulation of the relations between the external diseconomy of environment and corporate performance, the scope of responsibility of businesses and local communities in addressing environmental issues will be clear.

Mr. Toshihiko Nakata Associate Professor School of Engineering Graduate School of Tohoku University

As a postscript, the roles played by Tohoku EPCo for local communities are not limited to economic effects and employment but they inestimably extend to environmental education at elementary and junior high schools as well as assistance to local events. How Tohoku EPCo develops from now on capitalizing on its excellent human resources and equipment assets is dependent on how sincerely our local communities commune with the environment.