This group engages in research aimed at proposing, through analysis and assessment, what form materials and energy should ideally take in a sustainable society.

Major research subjects for 2008 are as follows.

Materials:

*Assessment of material stocks
Based on the assessment of social stocks of durable consumer goods such as automobiles and household electric appliances that have a high resource value, the group is working on a resource management strategy designed to make effective use of these ‘urban mines.’
*Analysis of the export-import flow of used goods and secondary resources
 The group is evaluating exports and imports of used goods and secondary resources that are currently difficult to quantify and examining measures for dealing with problems such as resource dispersion and global cycles of waste materials.  
*Recycling assessment
The group is assessing the effects of non-ferrous metals and plastics recycling on a reduction in greenhouse gases and a restraint on resource depletion, and studying the ways that will lead to export-import oriented recycling.
  
Energy

*Traffic system assessment
To establish environmentally sustainable transport, the group is conducting a technical assessment of various alternative fuel vehicles and evaluating the potential for their adoption, taking into account consumers’ preferences and vehicle use in the real world.
*Assessment of energy technology acceptance:
The group is working on the analysis of public environmental awareness, including their acceptance of new technologies, especially trade-offs between environmental soundness and the costs of renewable energy and energy-saving technologies.
*Biomass assessment:
The group aims at drafting a proposal for sustainable utilization of biomass through assessment of the environmental, social and economic effects of utilizing biomass as feedstock.

Methods of analysis and assessment:
*The group is carrying out research to upgrade such approaches in the form of material flow analysis, lifecycle assessment, industry-related analysis and social surveys.

 
Conceptual research diagram of the Material and Energy Sustainability Assessment Group

Assessment of biomass from environmental, economic and social aspects

Analysis of traffic systems