Showa Shell Sekiyu, parent company of Solar Frontier, announced today the winner of the Solar Frontier Award in the 8th Showa Shell Environmental Photo Contest. The award is in a photo category entitled My Town Good and Bad. This is the first year for Solar Frontier to co-sponsor the award. Among the 3,678 photos entered, each accompanied by a small essay, the winner of the Solar Frontier Award is Reaching for the Sky by Koto Morita, a high-school student in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Reaching for the Sky is a pair of contrasting photographs on the theme of urban development. The photographs emphasize the need for urban development in harmony with nature, by contrasting the intrusive array of power lines suspended on poles in a town with trees growing straight upward to make a canopy of leafy branches in a forest. Things built to make life convenient dont harmonize well with nature, commented the award-winning photographer, Koto Morita. Now that people are questioning how energy is delivered in Japan, this photograph pair highlights a major issue, commented a Solar Frontier spokesperson. The winning photos in the contest will be presented in a travelling exhibition at the Shell Museum in Showa Shell Sekiyus head office in Daiba, Tokyo, and at shopping malls nationwide, as well as being published on Showa Shell Sekiyus website.
Showa Shell Sekiyu considers environmental conservation an important pillar of social responsibility, and for years has participated in tree planting projects, energy conservation education, and clean technology investment, culminating with more than a billion dollars invested in Solar Frontier itself.
Following more than three decades of research and development, Solar Frontier began to focus on CIS photovoltaic technology in 1993. The CIS solar modules manufactured and sold by Solar Frontier were developed not only to have high power generation performance, but also for better environmental traits than other types of solar modules.
CIS modules are designed and manufactured with the environment at top of mind, at all stages in the product lifecycle, from raw materials to recycling. Consequently, they achieve a shorter energy payback time compared with silicon modules. Moreover, the Kunitomi Plant, Solar Frontiers main manufacturing facility, has acquired ISO14001, the global certification for environmental management. Looking ahead, Solar Frontier will continue to enhance the environmental performance of its CIS modules and participate in environmental conservation activities to fulfil its social responsibility.
Winner of the Solar Frontier Award
Reaching for the Sky by Mito Morita (15)
Comment: When you look up in town, power poles and cables obstruct your view of the sky, making you feel closed in. It seems that things built to make life convenient dont harmonize well with nature. On the other hand, roadside trees have been planted by people, and though they obscure the sky like power poles, you dont feel shut in by them. On the contrary, the trees harmonize with the partly visible sky, and make you feel good. So, I think we need to get rid of power poles by installing power lines underground, or plant trees alongside power poles, so that urban development makes life both convenient and pleasant.
About My Town Good and Bad
My Town Good and Bad in the Showa Shell Environmental Photo Contest is an effort to discover a new way of looking at environmental issues that we tend to overlook in familiar surroundings, and cause a social movement that links corporations and individuals in thinking about and acting on solving these problems. Applicants submit two photographs, one representing what they consider good in their local area, and one that they consider bad, as well as a comment outlining their thinking. In this 8th year of the photo contest, we have received the backing of the Ministry of the Environment as well as co-sponsorships from TOMY Company, Ltd., FUJIFILM Corporation, Brother Industries, Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ NICOS Co., Ltd. and Solar Frontier K.K.
Prize winning entries are displayed on the Showa Shell Sekiyu website: http://www.showa-shell.co.jp/photo/index.html (Japanese). The works will also be displayed at the Shell Museum (Daiba Frontier Building, Daiba 2-3-2, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan) from November 26, 2012 January 31, 2013.
