Why IKEUCHI ORGANIC chooses wind power generation

IKEUCHI ORGANIC uses the “Green Power Certificate System” to cover 100% of its electricity consumption with wind power, which is a renewable energy source. This includes not only the head office and factory in Imabari, but also the directly managed Tokyo Store and Kyoto Store.

The Green Power Certificate System is a system under which the environmental added value of electricity generated from natural energy is traded in the form of “Green Power Certificates” after certification by a third-party certification organization (Japan Quality Assurance Organization) by the certificate issuing company.

The fees paid by companies that purchase Green Power Certificates are used to maintain and expand power generation facilities through the Certificate Issuer. The acquisition of a Green Power Certificate contributes to the diffusion of natural energy equivalent to the amount of electricity listed on the certificate, and is regarded as the use of green power, thus attracting growing interest as a mechanism to help prevent global warming.

Becoming the first company in Japan to generate 100% of its electricity from wind power

On January 1, 2002, IKEUCHI ORGANIC (then Ikeuchi Towel Co., Ltd.) decided to generate its own electricity from wind power.

In 1999, IKEUCHI ORGANIC obtained ISO 14001 certification, an international standard for corporate environmental measures, and as the company focused on reducing its environmental impact, Keiji Ikeuchi, then president (current president), had an idea in his mind to “go green” with power generation.

He happened to see a newspaper article that said, “A showroom has started operating on 100% green power.” Ikeuchi learned of the existence of Japan Natural Energy Company, Limited, which issues green power certificate systems, and immediately sent an inquiry.

At the time, Japan Natural Energy Co., Ltd. was only selling electricity in units of 1 million kilowatts per year, and its customers were mainly large corporations. However, they had a desire to expand renewable energy to small and medium-sized companies like IKEUCHI ORGANIC, and they decided to sign a contract with us.

The contracted amount of electricity is 400,000 kilowatts per year. This is a small amount compared to the amount of electricity consumed by large corporations, but it was the total amount of electricity we consumed at that time. Thus, IKEUCHI ORGANIC became the first company in Japan to supply 100% of its electricity from wind power.

We want to fulfill our responsibility as a manufacturer.

In 2001, we switched our electricity use to wind power, which increased our electricity bill by about 20%. Furthermore, since we initially sign a contract for a specified amount of electricity, we cannot afford to pay only for what we use. There is no doubt that this will be a very fixed burden.

However, Ikeuchi, as president of the company, had no hesitation at all. The reason being that Ikeuchi was uncomfortable with the notion that a company is environmentally friendly because it handles products that have a low environmental impact.

Ikeuchi was uncomfortable with this notion. He realized that the company’s production activities themselves were an environmental burden. Unless the company understands this and works to reduce the environmental impact itself, it cannot truly say with pride that it is making environmentally friendly products.

Organic cotton is not unrelated to the drastic decrease in crop yields that is occurring around the world due to climate change. We must fulfill our responsibility as a manufacturer to minimize the effects of climate change and continue to produce towels using organic cotton in a stable manner.

Our efforts have been recognized worldwide with the certification of “WindMade,” one of the environmental labels recognized by the United Nations Global Compact. We generate 100% of the electricity we use in our operations from wind power, and we have met the WindMade certification criteria of at least 25% wind power as a percentage of our electricity consumption with a comfortable margin.

It is not just the towels we make that are WindMade. We, IKEUCHI ORGANIC, are WindMade ourselves.