Factor X (eco-efficiency) assessment on global warming a household in Japan

This paper proposes a new method for evaluating the eco-efficiency of a household based on Factor X, which was proposed by Yamamoto and colleagues in 1999. We had proposed methods for evaluating Factor X of a household which consists of a building and home appliances, and implemented empirical evaluations. However, there remained the following two issues to be considered. One is how to quantify the function of a household. The other is how to take account of the so-called synergy effects. It proposes the method for calculating the overall functions of one household using the purchasing price as a weighting coefficient. This method is the same as Laspeyres quantity index in economics fields. As a synergy effect, the insulating effect in the building, etc. are considered. The result showed that the annual greenhouse gas emission of a typical household drastically decreased by 52.2% from 1990 to 2009 while the aggregated function of the household slightly decreased by 0.2% during the same period so that Factor X was 2.1 with respect to global warming. It was thus shown quantitatively that Factor X of households in Japan presumably improved during the period although only limited assessments were implemented.