JP7715433B2 - Information processing system, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and a program.

Estimation of carbon dioxide emissions has been carried out (see Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2022-091900

Use restrictions may be placed on emissions intensity.

The present invention was made in light of this background, and aims to provide technology that can appropriately utilize emissions intensity.

The primary invention of the present invention for solving the above-mentioned problems is an information processing system comprising: an activity amount storage unit that stores activity amounts related to activities that emit greenhouse gases; an emission intensity storage unit that stores emission intensity units for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions; a user storage unit that stores information for identifying users who can use the emission intensity units; an emission calculation unit that calculates the amount of emissions by multiplying the activity amount by the emission intensity units; a determination unit that references the user storage unit to determine whether the user of the output destination can use the emission intensity units; and an output unit that outputs at least one of the activity amount and the emission intensity units and the amount of emissions if the user of the output destination can use the emission intensity units; and an output unit that outputs the amount of emissions without outputting either the activity amount or the emission intensity units if the user of the output destination cannot use the emission intensity units.

Other problems and solutions disclosed in this application will be made clear in the detailed description of the invention and drawings.

The present invention allows for appropriate use of emission intensity.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an emission management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a management server 2. FIG. 2 illustrates an example of the software configuration of a management server 2. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the flow of a process for calculating an emission amount. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the flow of output processing of an emission amount. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an output of a discharge amount.

<System Overview>
An emissions management system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The emissions management system of this embodiment is intended to manage greenhouse gas emissions from emitters such as companies. The emissions management system of this embodiment accepts input of the activity data of the emitter or other emitters located upstream or downstream in the emitter's supply chain, and calculates emissions by multiplying this data by an emissions intensity (emission coefficient).

In this embodiment, it is assumed that emissions units are sold by a business (hereinafter referred to as a provider) and that a license to use the emissions units is granted. The emissions management system of this embodiment manages users who have been granted a license to use the system, and while displaying the calculated emissions to all users, it does not display the emissions units to users who have not been granted a license to use the system. Furthermore, the emissions management system of this embodiment does not display activity data to users who have not been granted a license to use the system, thereby preventing the emissions units from being estimated.

Figure 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an emissions management system according to this embodiment. The emissions management system according to this embodiment includes a management server 2. The management server 2 is communicatively connected to a user terminal 1 via a communications network 3. The communications network 3 is, for example, the Internet, and is constructed using a public telephone network, a mobile phone network, a wireless communication path, Ethernet (registered trademark), or the like.

User terminal 1 is a computer operated by a user of a waste-generating company or other such entity. User terminal 1 can be, for example, a smartphone, tablet computer, or personal computer. The user can use user terminal 1 to access management server 2 and calculate waste emissions.

The management server 2 is a computer that calculates and manages emissions. The management server 2 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or personal computer, or may be logically realized using cloud computing.

<Management Server>
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware configuration of the management server 2. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may also be used. The management server 2 includes a CPU 201, memory 202, storage device 203, communication interface 204, input device 205, and output device 206. The storage device 203 stores various data and programs, and is, for example, a hard disk drive, solid state drive, or flash memory. The communication interface 204 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 3, and is, for example, an adapter for connecting to Ethernet (registered trademark), a modem for connecting to a public telephone network, a wireless communication device for wireless communication, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or an RS232C connector for serial communication, etc. The input device 205 is used to input data, and is, for example, a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, button, microphone, etc. The output device 206 is used to output data, and is, for example, a display, printer, speaker, etc. Each functional unit of the management server 2 described below is realized by the CPU 201 reading a program stored in the storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it, and each storage unit of the management server 2 is realized as part of the storage area provided by the memory 202 and the storage device 203.

Figure 3 shows an example of the software configuration of the management server 2. The management server 2 includes an activity amount storage unit 231, an emission intensity storage unit 232, a user storage unit 233, an emission amount storage unit 234, an activity amount acquisition unit 211, an emission intensity registration unit 212, an emission amount calculation unit 213, and an output unit 214.

<Storage section>
The activity amount storage unit 231 stores activity amounts related to activities that emit greenhouse gases. Examples of activity amounts include the number of products produced (units), the number of products purchased (units), the weight multiplied by the distance transported (ton-kilometers), and the amount of fuel consumed (liters) and monetary value (yen). The activity amount storage unit 231 can store activity amounts in association with information identifying the activity amount (activity amount ID), information identifying the emitter (company ID), information identifying the activity that emits greenhouse gases (activity specification information), and time information. The activity specification information can take any form as long as it is information for specifying an activity. For example, if an ID (activity ID) that uniquely identifies the type of activity is set in the data input to the management server 2, the activity ID can be used as the activity specification information. Furthermore, information including the type of data and conditions for the values of items included in the data can also be used as the activity specification information. For example, if the data is financial accounting data, the activity specification information can include information specifying "financial accounting data" and conditions that the "account item" is "travel and transportation expenses" and the description includes "taxi." In addition, as activity specification information, functions or learning models that input data and output activities can be set. Time information is information that specifies the period during which an activity was performed. Time information can be, for example, a date, a year, or an academic year.

The emission intensity memory unit 232 stores information including emission intensity units for calculating greenhouse gas emissions (hereinafter referred to as emission intensity unit information). Emission intensity units can be primary data (data collected by the emitter itself, obtained from direct measurement, or obtained from calculations based on direct measurement at the initial information source) or secondary data (data other than primary data, such as data standardized (statistically processed) from emissions from multiple companies offering the same type of product). In this embodiment, the emission intensity units are assumed to be secondary data sold by a provider. The emission intensity unit information may include activity-specific information and emission intensity units associated with information identifying the emission intensity unit (intensity unit ID), information identifying the provider providing the emission intensity unit (provider ID), information identifying the set of emission intensity units (intensity unit name), and the version of the set of emission intensity units. The provider ID may be, for example, the name of the emission intensity unit sold by the provider. The version may be, for example, the fiscal year. There may be multiple pairs of activity-specific information and emission intensity units corresponding to a single provider ID, intensity unit name, and version combination.

The user storage unit 233 stores information for identifying users who can use the emissions intensity units. For example, the user storage unit 233 stores, in association with information identifying the user (user ID), a company ID that identifies the emitter to which the user belongs, a provider ID that indicates the provider, the version of the emissions intensity units provided by the provider, and a usage permission flag that indicates whether the user is authorized to use the emissions intensity units.

The emissions memory unit 234 stores information about calculated greenhouse gas emissions (hereinafter referred to as emissions information). The emissions information can include a company ID, information specifying the time period when the activity was carried out (time information), a scope, a category, an activity amount ID and an emission intensity ID indicating the activity amount and emission intensity used to calculate the emissions, and the emissions amount. The time information can be set to any period, such as fiscal year, year, month, date, or date and time range. The scope and category can be the scope and category registered in the classification memory unit 232 described above.

<Functional department>
The activity amount acquisition unit 211 acquires the activity amount. The activity amount acquisition unit 211 can receive the activity amount from, for example, the user terminal 1. For example, the activity amount can be an item included in data exported from an ERP system (export data) or data converted from the export data. These data can be, for example, CSV data, JSON data, or XML data. For example, in CSV data, it is known which item corresponds to which activity, and an activity can be identified by the value entered in which item of the CSV data in the activity identification information. Furthermore, in JSON data, XML data, or the like, the type of item of the set data may be tagged or set as an attribute.

The emission intensity registration unit 212 registers the emission intensity related to the activity in the emission intensity storage unit 232. The emission intensity registration unit 212 can receive the emission intensity from, for example, the user terminal 1. The emission intensity registration unit 212 may, for example, access the provider's computer (not shown) to obtain the version and emission intensity and register them in the emission intensity storage unit 232.

The emission calculation unit 213 calculates the emission amount by multiplying the activity amount by the emission intensity. The emission calculation unit 213 can aggregate the emission amount by scope and category. Note that when aggregating the emission amount by scope and category, for example, the scope and category corresponding to the activity amount can be identified and aggregated by setting the corresponding scope and category for each activity. The emission calculation unit 213 can create emission information including the calculated emission amount, an activity amount ID indicating the activity amount used to calculate the emission amount, and an intensity ID indicating the emission intensity used to calculate the emission amount, and register this in the emission memory unit 234.

The output unit 214 outputs the calculated emissions. The output unit 214 can refer to the user memory unit 233 to determine whether the user to whom the output is to be sent (for example, the user currently logged in to the management server 2 via access from the user terminal 1) can use the emissions intensity unit used to calculate the emissions. If the user can use the emissions intensity unit, the output unit 214 can output at least one of the activity amount and emissions intensity unit used to calculate the emissions amount, in association with the emissions amount.

If the user is unable to use the emission intensity units, the output unit 214 will not output either the activity amount or the emission intensity units used to calculate the emissions. If the user to whom the data is output is unable to use the emission intensity units, the output unit 214 may mask the activity amount and emission intensity units before outputting them.

<Operation>
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the flow of the process for calculating the emission amount.

The management server 2 displays the version of the emission intensity unit that the user can use (S301). For example, the management server 2 can read the intensity unit name and version corresponding to the user ID indicating the user who is logged in to the management server 2 from the user terminal 1 from the user storage unit 233, and send screen data displaying the read intensity unit name and version to the user terminal 1. At this time, the management server 2 can also send a list of activity amounts to the user terminal 1.

The management server 2 accepts from the user the activity amount and the emission intensity unit to be used (S302). The emission intensity unit may be the intensity unit name and version specification sent in step S301, or the activity specification information and emission intensity unit specification corresponding to the intensity unit name and version sent in step S301 (for example, it can be specified by intensity unit ID). Note that the management server 2 can refuse to accept emission intensity units that differ from the intensity unit name and version sent in step S301.

The management server 2 calculates the amount of emissions by multiplying the specified activity amount by the emission intensity (S303), creates emission information including the activity amount, emission intensity, and emission amount, and registers this information in the emission memory unit 234 (S304).

Figure 5 is a diagram explaining the flow of the emission amount output process.

The management server 2 reads out the emission amount information stored in the emission amount storage unit 234 and outputs the emission amount included in the read emission amount information (S321). The management server 2 can, for example, acquire a company ID corresponding to a user ID indicating a user who has logged in to the management server 2 from the user terminal 1, and read out the emission amount information corresponding to the acquired company ID from the emission amount storage unit 234. The management server 2 may also accept time information specified by the user and narrow down the results to emission amount information corresponding to the specified time information.

The management server 2 identifies the emission intensity name and version corresponding to the intensity ID included in the emission information containing the output emission amount from the emission intensity storage unit 232 (S322). The management server 2 reads the user ID indicating the user and the usability flag corresponding to the identified emission intensity name and version from the user storage unit 233, and determines whether the user can use the emission intensity value based on the read usability flag (S323).

If the user can use the emissions intensity unit (S323: YES), the management server 2 outputs the emissions amount along with the corresponding emissions intensity unit and activity amount (S324).

If the user is not permitted to use the emission intensity units (S323: NO), the management server 2 outputs a masked version of the corresponding emission intensity units and activity amount (S324). Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the output of emissions amounts. In the example of Figure 6, it is assumed that sales restrictions have been placed on emission intensity units related to coal consumption. If emission intensity units are permitted, the activity amount and emission intensity units are displayed along with the emissions amount, as shown in the upper diagram of Figure 6. However, if the user is not permitted to use the emission intensity units related to coal consumption, both the activity amount and emission intensity units are masked, as shown in the lower diagram of Figure 6. As a result, users who are not permitted to use the emission intensity units cannot check the emission intensity units on the screen, nor can they reverse-calculate the emission intensity units from the emissions amount.

As described above, the emissions management system of this embodiment allows for appropriate use of the emissions intensity units for which usage permissions have been set.

Second Embodiment
In the above-described embodiment, whether or not the emission intensity unit can be used is set on a user-by-user basis, but the number of units that can be used simultaneously can also be set on a company-by-company basis.

In the second embodiment, the management server 2 may further include an online number determination unit 215 and an organization information storage unit 235.

The user memory unit 233 stores organization identification information that identifies the organization to which the user belongs and the number of simultaneous uses that can be used.

The organization information storage unit 235 stores a company ID that identifies the organization to which each user belongs.

The online number determination unit 215 determines the online number, which is the number of users belonging to the same organization who are currently accessing the emissions management system. The online number determination unit 215 can count the number of users who correspond to a specific company ID and are logged in to the management server 2.

The output unit 214 refers to the organization information storage unit 235 to identify the organization (company ID) to which the destination user belongs, and can determine that the emission intensity can be used if the number of available units corresponding to the company ID is equal to or greater than the online number.

The present embodiment has been described above, but the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from its spirit, and equivalents thereof are also included within the present invention.

<Disclosures>
The present disclosure also includes the following configurations.
[Item 1]
an activity amount storage unit that stores an activity amount related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
an emission intensity storage unit that stores an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emitted;
a user storage unit that stores information for identifying a user who can use the emission intensity unit;
an emission calculation unit that calculates the emission amount by multiplying the activity amount by the emission intensity;
a determination unit that refers to the user storage unit and determines whether or not a user of an output destination can use the emission intensity unit;
an output unit that outputs at least one of the activity amount and the emission intensity unit and the emission amount when the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputs the emission amount without outputting either the activity amount or the emission intensity unit when the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing system comprising:
[Item 2]
the output unit masks the activity amount and the emission intensity unit before outputting them when the user of the output destination cannot use the emission intensity unit;
Item 1. The information processing system according to item 1.
[Item 3]
the user storage unit stores organization identification information that identifies an organization to which the user belongs and the number of simultaneous uses that the user can use;
an organization information storage unit that stores the organization identification information that identifies the organization to which each user belongs;
an online number determination unit that determines an online number, which is the number of users belonging to the organization who are currently accessing the information processing system;
Equipped with
the output unit refers to the organization information storage unit to identify the organization to which the user of the output destination belongs, and determines that the emission intensity unit is usable when the available number corresponding to the organization is equal to or greater than the online number;
Item 1. The information processing system according to item 1.
[Item 4]
the emission intensity storage unit stores the emission intensity for each activity in association with set identification information that identifies the set of emission intensity;
the user storage unit stores the set identification information in association with information for identifying the user who can use the emission intensity unit included in the set identified by the set identification information;
the emission calculation unit receives designation of the set identification information from an input user different from the user of the output destination, and refers to the user storage unit to determine whether the input user can use the emission intensity unit corresponding to the designated set identification information, and if the input user can use the emission intensity unit, reads out from the emission intensity unit storage unit the emission intensity unit corresponding to the set and the activity related to the activity amount specified by the designated set identification information, and calculates the emission amount by multiplying the read emission intensity unit by the activity amount;
2. The information processing system according to item 1,
[Item 5]
storing an amount of activity related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
Storing an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions;
storing information for identifying a user who can use the emission intensity unit in a user storage unit;
calculating the emissions by multiplying the amount of activity by the emissions intensity;
a step of referring to the user storage unit and determining whether or not a user of an output destination can use the emission intensity unit;
a step of outputting the amount of emissions and at least one of the amount of activity and the amount of emissions in a case where the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputting the amount of emissions without outputting either the amount of activity or the amount of emissions in a case where the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing method characterized by being executed by a computer.
[Item 6]
storing an amount of activity related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
Storing an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions;
storing information for identifying a user who can use the emission intensity unit in a user storage unit;
calculating the emissions by multiplying the amount of activity by the emissions intensity;
a step of referring to the user storage unit and determining whether or not a user of an output destination can use the emission intensity unit;
a step of outputting the amount of emissions and at least one of the amount of activity and the amount of emissions in a case where the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputting the amount of emissions without outputting either the amount of activity or the amount of emissions in a case where the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
A program that causes a computer to execute the following.

1 User terminal 2 Management server

Claims (5)

an activity amount storage unit that stores an activity amount related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
an emission intensity storage unit that stores an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emitted;
an emission calculation unit that calculates the emission amount by multiplying the activity amount by the emission intensity;
an output unit that outputs at least one of the activity amount and the emission intensity unit and the emission amount when the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputs the emission amount without outputting either the activity amount or the emission intensity unit when the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing system comprising: 2. The information processing system according to claim 1,
the output unit masks the activity amount and the emission intensity unit before outputting them when the user of the output destination cannot use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing system characterized by: 2. The information processing system according to claim 1,
a user storage unit that stores organization identification information that identifies an organization and the number of available users ;
a determination unit that refers to the user storage unit and determines whether the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit;
an organization information storage unit that stores the organization identification information that identifies the organization to which the user belongs for each of the users ;
an online number specifying unit that identifies the organization to which the user currently accessing the information processing system belongs by referring to the organization information storage unit, and specifies an online number that is the number of users currently accessing the information processing system who belong to the identified organization;
Equipped with
when the available number corresponding to the organization is equal to or greater than the online number, the determination unit determines that the user is able to use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing system characterized by: storing an amount of activity related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
Storing an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions;
calculating the emissions by multiplying the amount of activity by the emissions intensity;
a step of outputting at least one of the activity amount and the emission intensity unit and the emission amount when the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputting the emission amount without outputting either the activity amount or the emission intensity unit when the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
An information processing method characterized by being executed by a computer. storing an amount of activity related to an activity that emits greenhouse gases;
Storing an emission intensity for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions;
calculating the emissions by multiplying the amount of activity by the emissions intensity;
a step of outputting at least one of the activity amount and the emission intensity unit and the emission amount when the user of the output destination is able to use the emission intensity unit, and outputting the emission amount without outputting either the activity amount or the emission intensity unit when the user of the output destination is unable to use the emission intensity unit;
A program that causes a computer to execute the following.