In the months to come, OIST will become one of the first
sites to implement an innovative sustainable energy system that promises to be
considerably more viable and efficient compared to other systems to date. This
will generate enough electricity for household use in the OIST Faculty Houses.
This system, designed by Prof. Hiroaki Kitano of the OIST Open Biology Unit and
by a team of researchers in Sony Computer Science Laboratories Inc., will come
into practice with funding from the Okinawa Prefectural Government and in
collaboration with the local contractor Okisokou and the Sony Group. In this
initiative, called the Open Energy System (OES) Project, solar panels will be
installed on the roofs of the OIST Faculty Houses. These panels will be
connected to a newly developed ‘energy server’ that houses power management
equipment and a new type of battery which will be placed in the utility room of
each house. The final goal is to eventually connect the houses via direct
current (DC) so that they create an intelligent and distributed power grid
covering the entire Faculty Housing area.