Snow in July

ASEE Prism, Mar 2003

TOKYO-Most of the Japanese islands are under snow in winter, and with the exception of ski resort owners, coping with and clearing the white stuff has always been considered a costly nuisance. But in recent years corporations and local governments have invested in a blizzard of ways to harvest and exploit this bounty of winter precipitation. Among the most aggressive in snow-harvest technology is the village of Numata, population 4,000, on the northernmost island of Hokkaido. Averaging almost 400 inches of snowfall a year, Numata tops the list of Japan's snowiest localities. Six years ago it began research into storing snow for use in refrigerated rice warehouses during the summer months, when air temperatures reach around 86 degrees. A producer of cut flowers such as larkspur, the village has also tapped snow as a coolant for cultivating heat-sensitive flowers during summer. Last year, exploring non-agricultural uses for their winter resource, the village began using snow to air-condition the library."Usually snow is simply tossed on the sides of the road," says Numazu village researcher Hiroki Itoh, who has received inquiries about the system from as far away as Germany and Scandinavia. "We're at the forefront of efforts to harness it" A neighboring city, Bibai, has built an apartment house cooled by snow.

Itoh acknowledges the start-up construction costs of snow-- coolant systems are high but mitigated by the innovation's two great virtues: By storing snow nearby, the costs of melting and removal are reduced. Just as important, this natural coolant, unlike "dirty" conventional air conditioning systems, is environment-friendly.