Chapter 4 　Birth of Setsuden-mushi (a profitmaking device) 　4.3 Received the Energy Conservation Grand Prize 4.3.3 How the second round of screening by face-to-face was

　I was given 8 minutes as planned to explain the results in front of the jury consisting of 29 academic experts, chaired by Professor Emeritus Isshiki of the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

　Since the judges had already been familiar with Setsuden-mushi to some extent through the first round of screening by document, I explained the excellent energy-saving functions, data, patentability, and versatility of Setsuden-mushi while trying not to be too wordy.

　I had not given presentations in public for a long time, except for research presentations when I was working for TOYOBO and solo performances of classical guitar as my hobby, but I had room to breathe and to look around the hall.

l  Electricity consumption and standby electricity consumption have been rising steadily regardless of the economy.

l  In general households, various types of standby electricity consumption account for 10-15% of total electricity consumption.

l  Introduction of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun editorial of "Information technology is a burden on the global environment?” and the fact that 99.3% of the electricity consumption of household facsimile machines is due to standby electricity consumption.

l  To point out the imbalance between the low operation rate of facsimile machines in use in the office and the large amount of standby electricity consumption.

l  To explain the principle of operation of Setsuden-mushi to switch on the connected devices.　

l  The standby electricity consumption of Setsuden-mushi itself is zero.　

l  Explanation of the electricity consumption data using the actual facsimile machines.

l  Introduction of experimental examples other than facsimile machines.

l  Introduction examples of Setsuden-mushi installation and use.

l  Explanation of the limitations of the external type device, the importance of the built-in type, and the issues of improving the convenience for consumers.

　The above contents were explained using an overhead projector within the time limit of about 8 minutes.

　Mr. Isshiki, the chairman of the screening committee, said that it was inconceivable that Setsuden-mushi could operate with zero energy, but I explained that, as mentioned above, this power-saving device, Setsuden-mushi, uses the line current that rings the telephone bell only for an instant, and turns on the fax machine connected to Setsuden-mushi. I explained how this power-saving device, called Setsuden-mushi, uses the line current to ring the telephone bell for an instant, and then turns on the fax machine connected to Setsuden-mushi and holds the power while it is communicating. In other words, I explained how the current that rings the bell was converted to DC and used as a trigger to turn on the switching circuit.

　As for the use of line current, I was concerned that I might be stealing NTT's line current, so I consulted with an acquaintance of NTT. Then I confirmed that it is not considered theft because it is used for instantaneous and not permanent use, just like when it is used to start operation of telephones and other communication devices.

　After the presentation, I received words of praise from two members of the screening committee, a professor from Meiji University and a representative from the Energy Conservation Center, Japan, and they immediately expressed their intention to purchase Setsuden-mushi.

　I estimated that Setsuden-mushi can save the electricity enough to supply for about 600,000 households (about the same as the total number of households in Onomichi City, where I live, and Fukuyama and Hiroshima Cities, which represent Hiroshima Prefecture, with a total population of about 1.6 million) just by connecting Setsuden-mushi to facsimile machines.

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