Sustainability Context

For the last two weeks, I've been living out of the Family Mart, one of the largest chains of convenience stores in Japan. It happens that the two closest stores from my apartment is Family Mart. It's provided me with food and even shelter during the rain! Of course, IGES has a cafeteria that serves excellent food but it's always nice to get something quick in the morning and on the weekends you need to find your own food.

And so I was quite pleased to hear this bit of news. In this article from Mainichi Daily News:

Wooden structures can cut down CO2 emissions in the process of construction from 81 tons to 33 tons per store compared to steel-framed stores. FamilyMart is also going to use insulation panels to reduce annual electrical usage by 15 percent, including air conditioners.

It’s not clear how they came up with these values but I would presume they took into account the life cycle of the different building materials. Processing steel is very energy intensive and can contribute greatly to emissions. Depending on the where the wood came from and how it is grown, the overall emissions associated with the wooden structure could be as low as they suggest.

While Family Mart’s target of building a thousand of their stores using wood is commendable, this blog points out that this number is only a fraction of the nearly 15,000 stores already standing.

So, we may be left wondering, ”Is Family Mart really committed?” Is this greenwashing? Nevertheless, when a high profile corporation like Family Mart takes these initiatives, other corporations are tempted and perhaps compelled to follow.

One interesting fact I learned about my breakfast from Family Mart. I usually get an anpan and milk. It turns out that anpans have twice the calorie as a can of Coke!