Aiming for harmony with the global environment Environmental initiatives at Amagasaki Factory in Japan

At the world's largest plasma display panel production facility, Amagasaki's latest factory, we employ a photocatalytic coating on exterior walls, which has the same effect on the reduction of Nitrogen Oxide (NO_x) as approximately 1,800 poplar trees would.

The factory also uses a "Kaze-Kamome" system to harness solar and wind power to create electricity. This clean energy, produced without emitting CO₂, is used for such power sources as exterior lighting for the factory. Trapped rainwater is also reused by sprinklers to water the landscaping on the factory grounds.

As we pursue increased productivity, we also give consideration to the environment. Success in both aspects is our vision for production factories.

Contributions to the prevention of global warming in Japan and around the world "Modal Shift" and "Eco-truck"

Panasonic is looking at ways of reducing our transportation impact around the Globe.

In Japan, our "Modal Shift" program employs rail and ship transport, which is said to emit 1/8th of the CO₂ emitted by trucks. We used 10 times as many rail containers in 2005 as compared to 1998 and these efforts have earned us the "Eco-Rail Mark."

Additionally, our employee's cafeteria in Kusatsu District produces 7,000 liters (1,849 gallons) of used cooking oil annually. By converting this waste into bio-fuel, we are able to provide the fuel used by some of our trucks.

We hope to take such initiatives, which have proved successful in Japan, and apply them in other districts, to continue to produce positive, meaningful results. This is an example of our ways of dealing with environmental issues globally.

The pursuit of longer operating life, energy and resource conservation Viera's environmental efficiency

A lifespan of approximately 60,000 hours*1 has been achieved for Viera by improving the luminous efficiency of the plasma. Considerable energy savings have also been realized by reducing the number of parts through circuit integration, thorough reviews of circuitry, adding settings such as automatically powering down during periods of inactivity and including functions to control the brightness of the screen in accordance with the brightness of the room.

By making reductions in materials, such as decreasing the thickness of the plasma's large glass panel from 2.8 mm (0.1") to 1.8 mm (0.07"), the current 50-inch model was reduced in weight from the 2003 model by 23.5 kg (51.8 lb)*2.

We remain committed to the pursuit of improvements in operating life, energy conservation and resource conservation in order to further reduce our environmental burden.

Elimination of materials that are harmful to the environment The world's 1st "Lead-free Panel"

"Lead-free soldering," one of our efforts to eliminate lead, a substance which is potentially damaging to both humans and the environment, has now been successfully expanded from a basic technique to the higher hurdle of producing "Lead-free plasma display panels."

Despite being among the list of materials to be exempted under the RoHS directives *1 - stringent environmental standards for products - development of a lead replacement has been extremely difficult for a variety of reasons. However, with the development of the alternative material bismuth, we have succeeded in its commercial application for the first time ever *2. All of Panasonic's Viera plasma televisions currently being sold use bismuth, which has lead to the annual reduction of about 300 tons (331 US tons) of lead, a weight equal to that of a large-size jet aircraft.

We carefully select our materials in order to create products that do not negatively impact the environment.

An idea to prevent deforestation and a remarkable material High-quality speakers using bamboo fibers

Although we previously used mainly the conifers of Northern Europe in the diaphragms of our high-quality speakers, these high-quality materials can take decades to grow, and can raise the potential risk of deforestation where the wood is not harvested sustainably.

For these reasons, we have made the transition to a remarkable material: bamboo. Bamboo is a useful natural material that matures over a short period - just one year - and allows for stable, continuous re-growth. Thanks to collaboration with Japan's Doshisha University, we have succeeded in the use of the fibers in our diaphragms. At the same time, we have achieved high-quality sound due to bamboo's physical properties, which excel when compared to other natural fibers. It is our sense of responsibility as a company with a leading share in the world's Hi-Fi speaker systems market that drives us to further usage of environment-friendly materials.

Environmental awareness spreading throughout the world Global recycling initiatives

Legislation regarding recycling and voluntary recycling movements is on the increase around the world. We are constructing recycling programs that are most appropriate for each regional situation. Japan's Matsushita Eco Technology Center was established in 2000 in Japan, and researches ideas for improved design for easy-to-recycle products while recycling about 700,000 air conditioners, TVs, refrigerators and washing machines annually. In the 27 EU countries and parts of the United States, such as California, where plasma TVs have been designated for recycling by law, recycling programs are brought into action.

We are committed to being legislatively compliant with the recycling laws of each region, and implementing Design for Environment technologies in product development that make Panasonic products even more recyclable.