Developed "Asapp," an application that visualizes each office worker’s CO2 emissions and reduction amounts to encourage environmentally conscious behavior
~Promoting decarbonization through an approach that focuses on changing user behavior rather than building renovations~

Nikken Sekkei Ltd. (Headquarters: Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo; President and CEO:Atsushi Omatsu; hereinafter “Nikken Sekkei”) has developed “Asapp*1” (patent pending), a smartphone application that fosters environmental awareness and encourages eco-friendly behavior by visualizing the CO2 emissions and reductions of each individual office worker during work.A pilot program will begin on March 1, 2023, at Nikken Sekkei’s Tokyo office.
Through this development, Nikken Sekkei aims to propose new ways for people and buildings to interact in order to realize a decarbonized society. Furthermore, having confirmed that behavioral change is an effective method for energy conservation, the company plans to contribute to society through proposals for carbon neutrality and workplace solutions.

Until now, most energy-saving measures have involved optimally controlling air conditioning and lighting based on factors such as temperature, humidity, illuminance, and occupancy status. Implementing such retrofits in existing buildings requires extensive construction work, such as renovating the exterior and upgrading building systems. The reality is that these projects require significant funds for retrofitting and maintenance, making them difficult for most people to undertake.On the other hand, in recent years, nearly everyone owns a smartphone, making it possible to send notifications to each individual. By not only implementing building-side measures but also suggesting desirable ways to use the building and encouraging behavioral changes, we can achieve significant energy savings without the need for large-scale renovations. We developed this application to build this kind of interactive relationship between people and buildings.

*1 The name “Asapp” is derived from “As app says” and the commitment to “ASAP (As soon as possible)”—meaning we should immediately take action on what we can do to address the urgent threat of climate change.

This application displays each office worker’s individual CO2 emissions during work hours and encourages environmentally conscious behavior. It visualizes office workers’ daily CO2 emissions based on information they enter about their “workplaces” (such as offices, homes, and third places) and “modes of transportation” (such as trains, cars, and airplanes), as well as location data detected by sensors within the office.

In addition, based on office occupancy levels, the system sends notifications encouraging employees to move from floors with fewer people to those with more, and automatically turns off the air conditioning and lighting on floors that are unoccupied. When workers follow the recommendations provided by the application, the reduction in energy consumption per person is converted into CO2 reduction figures. Furthermore, this results in the accumulation of points that can be used at the company cafeteria and other locations, thereby fostering new opportunities for communication in the cafeteria.

We are currently developing this application with the Nikken Sekkei Tokyo Building in mind; however, it can be used in any office that employs a hot-desking system and has implemented a location-based system.

We will continue to develop this app’s features, such as its ability to automatically detect various eco-friendly behaviors in the office (such as taking the stairs) and its gamification mechanisms designed to encourage daily use. We also plan to seek partners with whom we can collaboratively develop features that foster environmental awareness, such as donating points to environmental initiatives, making purchases, and delivering environmental articles within the app.

In March 2021, Nikken Sekkei declared a climate emergency*2 as a stakeholder in urban and architectural development, with the aim of realizing a carbon-neutral society by 2050. As part of a phased effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our corporate activities to zero by 2050, our Tokyo office is upgrading equipment to improve energy efficiency with the goal of reducing energy consumption by 40% by 2030 compared to 2013 levels. However, we recognize that this alone has its limitations. We must change the very way we use our buildings through the awareness and daily actions of each and every employee, and we believe this application will help achieve that.

Nikken Sekkei is a professional services firm specializing in architectural and civil engineering design and supervision, urban design, and related research, planning, and consulting services. For 120 years since its founding in 1900, Nikken Sekkei has been committed to creating value through "social environment design," which aims to solve both explicit and implicit social issues, in order to meet the demands of society and the diverse needs of its clients. To date, it has been involved in various projects in Japan, China, ASEAN, and the Middle East, and in recent years has expanded into India and Europe.

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