Discharge estimation system, computer program product and discharge estimation method

Abstract

This invention provides an emission estimation system for estimating the emission of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of a product. The system includes: an emission scale determination unit for determining the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in a first step and the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in a subsequent step, i.e., a second step; an intermediate product determination unit for determining intermediate products from the resources used in the second step that are equivalent to the products of the first step; and an association unit for associating the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for resources used in the generation of intermediate products with the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for resources in the second step. A program is provided, executed by a computer, which then functions as the emission estimation system.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a discharge volume estimation system, program, and method. Prior Technology

[0002] Patent document 1 describes: "A carbon dioxide emission calculation device, characterized in that it includes: an input unit, which, regarding the manufacture of various products using common resources, inputs the total usage of the resource and the manufacturing quantity of various types of products; The original unit calculation department calculates the original units of the resources in each category in a manner that satisfies a first condition and a second condition. The first condition is that the total usage quantity is equal to the sum of the product of the original units of the resources in each category and the manufacturing quantity of the category. The second condition is that the proportion of the original units of the resources in each category is equal to the prescribed allocation proportion. The emission calculation unit multiplies the original unit of the resource in each of the various categories by a predetermined ratio representing the amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the manufacture and / or use of the resource, thereby calculating the amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the resource in order to obtain the products of each of the various categories" (Please 1). [Existing Technical Documents] [Patent Literature] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2023-090112 Summary of the Invention

[0003] In a first aspect of the present invention, an emission estimation system is provided, comprising an emission scale determination unit, an intermediate product determination unit, and a correlation unit, for estimating the emission of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of a product. The emission scale determination unit determines the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in a first step and the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in a subsequent step, namely a second step. The intermediate product determination unit determines intermediate products among the resources used in the second step that correspond to the products of the first step. The correlation unit correlates the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances of the resources used in the generation of the intermediate products with the emission scale of environmentally impacting substances of the resources in the second step.

[0004] In the above description, the emission scale of environmental impact substances can be the emission coefficient of environmental impact substances.

[0005] The description may further include a common determination unit, which determines common resources, i.e., common resources, among the resources in the first step and the resources in the second step.

[0006] The description may further include an input section, which inputs the designation of a common resource.

[0007] In the description, common resources may include energy and water.

[0008] In the description, the related unit can aggregate the emission scale of environmental impact substances for each common resource.

[0009] In the above description, the discharge scale determination unit can determine the discharge scale of environmental impact substances according to the different acquisition methods for resources with multiple acquisition methods.

[0010] In the above description, the emission scale determination unit can determine the emission scale of environmental impact substances when obtained from renewable energy sources and the emission scale of environmental impact substances when obtained from energy sources other than renewable energy sources, for resources that can be obtained from both renewable energy sources and energy sources other than renewable energy sources.

[0011] In the above description, the emission scale determination unit can determine the emission scale of environmental impact substances according to the different emission forms for resources with multiple emission forms of environmental impact substances.

[0012] The description may further include a total amount calculation unit, which calculates the amount of environmental impact substances emitted by each resource based on the emission scale of each resource and the usage of each resource.

[0013] In the above description, the intermediate product determination unit may determine the intermediate products based on the bill of materials, which represents the resources used in the production of the product.

[0014] In the above description, the intermediate product determination unit may include a candidate extraction unit and a candidate determination unit. The candidate extraction unit may extract intermediate product candidates, i.e., intermediate product candidates, based on one of the bill of materials from the first step and the bill of materials from the second step. The candidate determination unit may determine the intermediate product based on the intermediate product candidate and the other of the bill of materials from the first step and the bill of materials from the second step.

[0015] The description may further include a display unit that displays the resources used in the production of the product, the results associated with the related unit, and the bill of materials.

[0016] In the above description, the display unit can copy and display multiple items that are equivalent to intermediate products in the bill of materials.

[0017] In a second aspect of the invention, a program is provided, which is executed by a computer, enabling the computer to function as the discharge estimation system.

[0018] In a third aspect of the invention, a method for estimating emissions is provided, comprising an emissions scale determination stage, an intermediate byproduct determination stage, and a correlation stage, wherein the emissions of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of the product are estimated using an emissions estimation system. In the emissions scale determination stage, the emissions scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in the first step and the emissions scale of environmentally impacting substances for each resource used in the subsequent step, i.e., the second step, can be determined. In the intermediate byproduct determination stage, intermediate byproducts from the resources used in the second step that correspond to the byproducts of the first step can be determined. In the correlation stage, the emissions scale of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the first step can be correlated with the emissions scale of environmentally impacting substances from the resources in the second step.

[0019] Furthermore, the description of the invention does not list all the features of the invention. Moreover, further combinations of these feature groups can also constitute an invention. Simple Explanation of the Diagram

[0020] Figure 1 shows the structure of the discharge estimation system 10 of this embodiment. Figure 2 shows an example of the production steps for a product that includes multiple steps. Figure 3 shows an example of the resource details used in the production steps of Figure 2. Figure 4 shows the flow chart of the discharge estimation method of this embodiment. Figure 5 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 3 of Figure 2. Figure 6 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 2 of Figure 2. Figure 7 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 1 of Figure 2. Figure 8 shows an example of a subprocess of S200. Figure 9 shows an example of the record of intermediate products in relation to the bill of materials in Figure 5. Figure 10 shows an example of the record of intermediate products in relation to the bill of materials in Figure 6. Figure 11A shows an example of a bill of materials after being replaced with the bill of materials for raw material 1. Figure 11B shows an example of a bill of materials after being replaced with the bill of materials for raw material 1. Figure 12 shows an example of a rearranged bill of materials. Figure 13 shows an example of a bill of materials after totaling common resources. Figure 14 shows an example of a bill of materials after being replaced with the bill of materials for raw material 1-1. Figure 15 shows an example of a bill of materials after further summarizing common resources. Figure 16 shows an example of the bill of materials for the first variation of this embodiment. Figure 17 shows an example of the bill of materials for a second variation of this embodiment. Figure 18 shows the structure of the information processing system 2500 of a modified example of this embodiment. Figure 19 shows the structure of a modified example of the blockchain network 2502 of this embodiment. Figure 20 shows an example of the data structure of transaction information in a variation of this embodiment. Figure 21 shows an example of the data structure of a blockchain in a variation of this embodiment. Figure 22 illustrates an example of a computer 2200 that can be realized in whole or in part in various forms according to the present invention. Figure 23 shows an example of a sub-process of S200 in the third variation of this embodiment. Figure 24 shows an example of the input / output records for the bill of materials in Figure 7. Figure 25 shows an example of the input / output records for the bill of materials in Figure 10. Figure 26 shows an example of the input / output records for the bill of materials in Figure 9. Figure 27 shows an example of a method for assigning reference order. Figure 28 shows the bill of materials for Figure 25 after the transcription. Figure 29 shows the bill of materials for Figure 26 after the transcribing. Figure 30 shows the structure of the discharge estimation system 10 in the fourth variation of this embodiment. Figure 31 shows the flow chart of the discharge estimation method for the fourth variation. Figure 32 shows an example of the recycling bill of materials for the fourth variation. Implementation

[0021] The present invention will now be described by way of embodiments thereof, but these embodiments do not limit the scope of the invention to the claims. Furthermore, not all combinations of the features described in the embodiments are necessarily necessary for the solution of the invention.

[0022] Figure 1 shows the structure of the emission estimation system 10 of this embodiment. The emission estimation system 10 estimates the emission of environmental impact substances accompanying the production of the product. In production entities such as factories that produce products, the emission estimation system 10 calculates the emission of environmental impact substances such as CO2, methane, and / or chlorofluorocarbons for each resource use environmental impact substance emission scale.

[0023] Production entity 20 can be a production unit with the function of producing products, such as one or more manufacturing facilities, factories, or manufacturers, but typically it can be a factory. During the manufacturing process of product 40, resources such as materials 30 or fuel are consumed, and environmentally impactful substances are emitted in accordance with the resources consumed.

[0024] Environmentally impactable substances are substances that are identified as having the potential to cause adverse environmental effects. Examples of adverse environmental effects include, but are not limited to, global warming, ozone layer depletion, acid rain, river and / or ocean acidification, eutrophication of terrestrial ecosystems, eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems, toxicity to humans or other organisms, and ecological toxicity to aquatic systems. For instance, environmentally impactable substances can be greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and / or methane, which contribute to global warming.

[0025] For example, production entity 20 processes material 30 to manufacture product 40. Here, the manufacture and handling of material 30 are accompanied by the emission of environmentally impacting substances, and the processing of material 30 into product 40 also results in the emission of environmentally impacting substances due to fuel consumption, etc. The emission estimation system 10 estimates the amount of resource consumption and environmentally impacting substances emitted during the manufacture of this product 40.

[0026] Product 40 may be the final product. Product 40 may be an intermediate product, such as parts, tools, or materials, produced in the intermediate stage before reaching the final product. Product 40 may be a symbiotic product (e.g., a byproduct) produced together with the final product, which is the primary goal.

[0027] The discharge volume estimation system 10 includes a discharge scale determination unit 110, an intermediate product determination unit 120, a common determination unit 130, an input unit 140, a correlation unit 150, a total volume calculation unit 160, and a display unit 170. The discharge volume estimation system 10 may also include modules with other functions as needed.

[0028] The emission estimation system 10 can be a personal computer (PC), tablet computer, smartphone, workstation, server computer or general computer, or a computer system composed of multiple computers connected together.

[0029] Instead, the discharge estimation system 10 can be a dedicated computer designed for discharge estimation processing to estimate the discharge of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of products, or it can be dedicated hardware implemented using dedicated circuitry. The discharge estimation system 10 can be installed in a single device (computer), or it can be implemented using multiple devices with shared functions. In the discharge estimation system 10, unless otherwise specified below, it includes memory / hard disks, etc., which appropriately store the information required for processing and transmit information between various processing modules such as the discharge scale determination unit 110 and the intermediate product determination unit 120.

[0030] The emission scale determination unit 110 determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances for each resource used in the production of the product. An environmental impact substance emission scale is a measure of the amount of environmental impact substances emitted along with the use of resources. For example, an environmental impact substance emission scale can be an emission coefficient or an emission quantity of an environmental impact substance.

[0031] When a product is produced through multiple steps, the emission scale determination unit 110 determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances of the resources used in each step. For example, the emission scale determination unit 110 determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances of each resource used in the first step, and the emission scale of environmental impact substances of each resource used in the subsequent step after the first step, namely the second step.

[0032] The intermediate byproduct determination unit 120 determines intermediate byproducts generated during the production of the product. In cases where the product is produced through multiple steps, the intermediate byproducts are produced in intermediate steps and used as resources in subsequent steps. For example, the intermediate byproduct determination unit 120 determines intermediate byproducts that correspond to the byproducts of the first step among the resources used in the second step.

[0033] The intermediate product determination unit 120 may include a candidate extraction unit 122 and a candidate determination unit 124. The candidate extraction unit 122 can extract candidates for intermediate products, i.e., intermediate product candidates. The candidate determination unit 124 can determine intermediate products based on the intermediate product candidates. Details of the operation of the candidate extraction unit 122 and the candidate determination unit 124 will be described later.

[0034] The common determination unit 130 determines common resources among the resources used in multiple steps (i.e., resources used in multiple steps). For example, the common determination unit 130 determines common resources among the resources in the first step and the resources in the second step.

[0035] The input unit 140 receives various inputs from the user of the discharge estimation system 10. For example, the input unit 140 inputs the designation of a common resource. In this case, instead of the common resource being determined by the common determination unit 130, the common resource can be determined based on the input from the input unit 140.

[0036] The correlation unit 150 correlates the emission scale of environmental impact substances from resources used in the generation of intermediate products determined by the intermediate product determination unit 120 with the emission scale of environmental impact substances from steps following the use of intermediate products as resources. For example, the correlation unit 150 correlates the emission scale of environmental impact substances from resources used in the generation of the intermediate product in the first step with the emission scale of environmental impact substances from resources in the second step. For example, the correlation unit 150 can aggregate the emission amount of environmental impact substances from each common resource by correlating the emission coefficients of environmental impact substances from each common resource.

[0037] The total amount calculation unit 160 calculates the amount of environmental impact substances emitted during the production of the accompanying product. For example, the total amount calculation unit 160 calculates the amount of environmental impact substances emitted by each resource based on the emission scale of each resource and the usage of each resource. The total amount calculation unit 160 can use the amount of environmental impact substances emitted by each common resource after the correlation unit 150 has totaled it to calculate the amount of environmental impact substances emitted during the production of the accompanying product.

[0038] Display unit 170 displays information and / or processing results related to the discharge volume estimation system 10. For example, display unit 170 also displays the resources used in the production of the product, the results associated with the related departments, and the bill of materials.

[0039] Thus, based on the emission estimation system 10, the production steps of intermediate products are correlated with the emission scale of environmental impact substances from resources commonly used in subsequent steps. This allows for a more accurate analysis of the impact of each resource on environmental impact substance emissions in the manufacture of products involving multiple steps.

[0040] Figure 2 illustrates an example of a product manufacturing process involving multiple steps. For instance, consider a production unit 20 producing 1000 kg of product A through steps 1 to 3. To produce 1000 kg of product A, in step 3, 500 kg of raw material 1, 400 kg of raw material 2, and 100 kg of raw material 3 are used as resources. In addition, 300 kW of electricity and 120 m³ of fuel gas (e.g., liquefied petroleum gas, LPG) are consumed to perform step 3.

[0041] Raw material 1 (500 kg) used in step 3 is produced in step 2. In step 2, 250 kg of raw material 1-1, 200 kg of raw material 1-2, 50 kg of raw material 1-3, 60 kW of electricity, and 20 m³ of LPG are consumed. Raw material 1-1 (250 kg) used in step 2 is produced in step 1. In step 1, 250 kg of raw material 1-1-1 and 125 kW of electricity are consumed.

[0042] Thus, a byproduct produced in one step may sometimes be used as a resource in other steps. In this case, the byproduct used as a resource is considered an intermediate byproduct, not a final product (e.g., product A).

[0043] Figure 3 shows an example of the resource details used in the production steps of Figure 2. As shown, in the manufacture of raw material 1, in addition to raw materials 1 to 3, electricity 302 and gas 304 are also consumed as resources. Here, in the production of raw material 1 (300) as an intermediate product, in addition to raw material 1-1 (320) and raw material 1-2, electricity 322 and gas 324 are also consumed. In the production of raw material 1-1 (320) as an intermediate product, in addition to raw material 1-1-1 (330), electricity 332 is also consumed.

[0044] In evaluating the environmental impact emissions during the production of product A, if only step 3, the final step, is considered, the electricity consumption is considered to be only electricity 302 and the gas consumption is considered to be only gas 304. However, in reality, electricity 322, electricity 332, and gas 324 are also consumed in the production of raw material 1 (step 2) and raw material 1-1 (step 1), which are intermediate products.

[0045] Therefore, in product A, to evaluate the environmental impact emissions resulting from the use of a specific resource (e.g., electricity), it is necessary to determine not only the amount of electricity 302 used, but also the amounts of electricity 322 and electricity 332 used. Thus, focusing only on a portion of the process (e.g., the final step) can sometimes fail to accurately determine resource consumption and which resource the environmental impact emissions from the product's production actually originate from.

[0046] Here, based on the emission estimation system 10, by correlating the emission scales of environmental impact substances from resources used in multiple steps, it is possible to more accurately determine which resource the emission of environmental impact substances actually originates from.

[0047] Figure 4 shows the flow chart of the emission estimation method of this embodiment. The emission estimation system 10 estimates the emission of environmental impact substances accompanying the production of the product by performing processes such as S100 to S500. The order of processes S100 to S500 can be changed, or some processes can be omitted.

[0048] First, in S100, the emission scale determination unit 110 determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances for each resource. For example, the emission scale determination unit 110 may obtain the emission coefficient of the environmental impact substance as the emission scale of the environmental impact substance. Alternatively, the emission scale determination unit 110 may also obtain the emission amount of the environmental impact substance (also referred to as "eco-impact substance emission amount") as the emission scale of the environmental impact substance. The emission amount of environmental impact substances of a resource is determined by the emission coefficient of that resource and the amount of that resource used.

[0049] For example, the emission scale determination unit 110 can obtain a bill of materials representing the resources used in the production of the product, and obtain the emission coefficients of the environmental impact substances of the resources listed in the bill of materials as the emission scales of the environmental impact substances. Alternatively, the emission scale determination unit 110 can also calculate the emission amount of the environmental impact substances based on the emission coefficients and usage of the environmental impact substances of each resource, and obtain that emission amount as the emission scale of the environmental impact substances. In the processing described later, the emission scale determination unit 110 may use information about the resources that is available, in addition to or in lieu of the bill of materials.

[0050] Resources can refer to raw materials required for product production (such as materials and parts that subsequently become part of the product), energy used in product production (such as electricity, petroleum, coal, natural gas, hydrogen, ethanol, other fuels, oxygen, other oxidants, other chemical energy sources, positional energy, and kinetic energy), auxiliary materials used in product production (such as catalysts, solvents, cooling media, cleaning media, steam, and other media), and other resources related to product production (such as cushioning materials and packaging materials). Resources may include not only those directly used by the producers of the product but also those indirectly used by the producers through the maintenance of facilities / equipment used by the production entity 20.

[0051] Figures 5-7 show examples of the bill of materials in this embodiment. Figure 5 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 3 in Figure 2, Figure 6 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 2 in Figure 2, and Figure 7 shows an example of the bill of materials for step 1.

[0052] The bill of materials (BOM) indicates the resources required to manufacture a specified quantity of products. Figures 5-7 show examples of BOMs used to manufacture various products at different production volumes. However, the production volume for all BOMs can be standardized to, for example, "1000 KG". "Item" indicates information about the product to be produced in this step (e.g., name or model). "Resource" indicates information about the resources used in the production of the product listed in the item (e.g., name or model). "Quantity" indicates the amount of resource used. "Unit" indicates the unit of quantity. "Discharge factor" indicates the discharge factor of the resource (details will be described later). Furthermore, the names of the items in these BOMs are for convenience, and different names can be given to items with the same function.

[0053] Figure 5 shows that raw materials 1 to 3, electricity, and LPG (fuel gas) are used as resources in the production of product A. Figure 6 shows that raw materials 1-1 to 1-1-3, electricity, and LPG (fuel gas) are used as resources in the production of raw material 1. Figure 7 shows that raw material 1-1-1 and electricity are used as resources in the production of raw material 1-1.

[0054] The bill of materials (BOM) indicates the amount of resources required to produce a unit quantity of a product. Resource quantities can be described using common or different units. In Figure 5, the "KG" column indicates weight in kilograms (kg), "KW" indicates power consumption in kilowatts (kW), and "M3" indicates volume in cubic meters (m3).

[0055] The bill of materials may also include emission coefficients for each resource. An emission coefficient is a coefficient related to the amount of environmental impact substances emitted from each resource. For example, it can be a coefficient calculated by multiplying the amount of environmental impact substances emitted with the consumption of that resource. As an example, the emission coefficient could be the CO2 emission coefficient used in MiLCA (a life cycle analysis tool provided by the Sustainable Management Promotion Agency), or the emission coefficients for CO2, CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, NF3, etc., published by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment (https: / / ghg-santeikohyo.env.go.jp / calc).

[0056] For example, Figure 5 shows that the emission coefficient for raw material 1 is 0.5, the emission coefficient for raw material 2 is 0.33, the emission coefficient for raw material 3 is 0.22, the emission coefficient for electricity is 0.4, and the emission coefficient for LNG is 0.3. This indicates that, for example, if the usage of raw material 1 is set to 1 kg, 1 kg × 0.5 = 0.5 kg of environmentally impacting substances (e.g., CO2) will be emitted. The emission scale determination unit 110 can directly obtain the emission amount of environmentally impacting substances from the bill of materials. Alternatively, it can calculate the emission amount of environmentally impacting substances by multiplying the emission coefficient of the bill of materials by the usage amount.

[0057] The exclusion coefficient can be obtained in advance from a database or input by the user. Furthermore, the exclusion coefficient is a value for ease of explanation, and the actual exclusion coefficient may differ from the stated value.

[0058] Next, in S200, the intermediate product determination unit 120 determines the intermediate products generated during the production of the product. The intermediate product determination unit 120 can determine the intermediate products based on the bill of materials.

[0059] Figure 8 shows an example of a subprocess of S200. The intermediate product determination unit 120 can perform the processing of S200 by executing all or part of S220 to S240 in Figure 8.

[0060] In S220, the candidate extraction unit 122 extracts intermediate product candidates, i.e., intermediate product candidates, based on either the bill of materials from the first step or the bill of materials from the second step. The candidate extraction unit 122 can extract intermediate product candidates by exploring those that are considered products in one bill of materials and resources in other bills of materials.

[0061] For example, firstly, the candidate extraction unit 122 selects one of the multiple bills of materials (e.g., the bill of materials in FIG. 6) from the discharge scale determination unit 110 as the bill of materials for the first step. The candidate extraction unit 122 extracts the product (e.g., "raw material 1" recorded in "item") from the bill of materials for the first step (e.g., the bill of materials in FIG. 6) as "intermediate product candidate".

[0062] Next, the candidate determination unit 124 searches for resources with the same name as the "intermediate product candidate" from the resources in the bill of materials other than the bill of materials in the first step. The candidate determination unit 124 determines the bill of materials that are the same as the "intermediate product candidate" and are used as "resources" as the bill of materials for the second step. The candidate determination unit 124 determines the intermediate product from the resources used in the second step that are equivalent to the product in the first step. For example, the candidate determination unit 124 determines the bill of materials in FIG5 as the bill of materials for the second step, and determines "Raw Material 1", which is the same as the intermediate product candidate "Raw Material 1", as the intermediate product from the bill of materials in FIG5.

[0063] In the example described, the candidate extraction unit 122 uses the product of a certain step as an "intermediate product candidate" and explores whether there are any identical products in the "resources" of other steps. Alternatively, the candidate extraction unit 122 may also use the resources of a certain step as an "intermediate product candidate" and explore whether there are any identical products in the "products" of other steps.

[0064] As illustrated in the example of Figure 8, the candidate extraction unit 122 extracts intermediate product candidates, i.e., intermediate product candidates, based on one of the bill of materials in the first step and the bill of materials in the second step. The candidate determination unit 124 determines the intermediate product based on the intermediate product candidates and the other of the bill of materials in the first step and the bill of materials in the second step.

[0065] The candidate determination unit 124 can record the determined intermediate products in the bill of materials.

[0066] Figure 9 shows an example of the recording of intermediate products in relation to the bill of materials in Figure 5. For example, the candidate determination unit 124 can add a record (marked as ○ in the figure) in the "Intermediate Products" column for resources (raw material 1) that are determined to be intermediate products in the bill of materials in Figure 9.

[0067] Figure 10 shows an example of the recording of intermediate products for the bill of materials in Figure 6. For example, the candidate determination unit 124 can add a record (marked as ○ in the figure) in the "Intermediate Products" column for resources (raw material 1-1) that are determined to be intermediate products in the bill of materials shown in Figure 10.

[0068] Next, in S300, the common determination unit 130 determines the common resources used in multiple steps. The common resources can be general resources, such as energy (e.g., electricity, fuel gas such as LPG) and water. For example, the common determination unit 130 determines the resource "electricity" used in the steps shown in the bills of materials in Figures 5 to 7, and determines the resource "LPG" used in the steps shown in the bills of materials in Figures 5 and 6.

[0069] For example, the common determination unit 130 can determine common resources if the wording of "resource" in the bill of materials matches. The common determination unit 130 can determine common resources if the wording of "resource" and / or the wording of "unit" in the bill of materials matches.

[0070] In addition to the condition that the "resource" and / or "unit" are consistent, the common determination unit 130 may further use the consistency of the exclusion coefficient as a condition for determining common resources. As will be described later, even for the same resource, the exclusion coefficient may sometimes be different. In this case, resources can be distinguished for each exclusion coefficient.

[0071] The common determination unit 130 can record the determined common resources in the bill of materials. For example, as shown in the bill of materials of Figures 9 to 10, the common determination unit 130 can add a record (marked as ○ in the figure) for resources determined as common resources ("electricity" and "LPG") in the "common resources" column.

[0072] The common determination unit 130 can associate the determined common resources with each other. For example, the common determination unit 130 can also record other bills of materials in the "common resources" column of the bill of materials where the same resource was found.

[0073] Next, in S400, the correlation unit 150 correlates the environmental impact material emission scale of the resource used in the generation of the intermediate product with the environmental impact material emission scale of that resource in the step of using the intermediate product as a resource.

[0074] For example, when the emission scale of environmental impact substances is the emission coefficient, the correlation unit 150 correlates the emission coefficients of environmental impact substances of common resources. The correlation unit 150 can correlate emission coefficients by merging resources that are common resources in the bill of materials and summing their emission amounts.

[0075] Furthermore, for example, when the environmental impact substance emission scale is the emission amount, the correlation unit 150 can aggregate the environmental impact substance emission scales of each common resource for correlation. As an example, the correlation unit 150 can aggregate the environmental impact substance emission amount of the common resource used to generate the intermediate product with the environmental impact substance emission amount of the common resource used in the step of using the intermediate product as a resource. In any case, the method by which the correlation unit 150 aggregates the emission amounts is always common.

[0076] The related unit 150 can first replace the information related to the intermediate product as a resource in the bill of materials containing an intermediate product as a resource with the information in the bill of materials containing that intermediate product as a product. This allows for a more accurate representation of resource usage in the bill of materials containing intermediate products as resources.

[0077] Figure 11A shows an example of a bill of materials after being replaced with the bill of materials for raw material 1. For example, the related unit 150 refers to the bill of materials shown in Figure 10, which uses the resource "raw material 1" recorded as "intermediate product" in the bill of materials shown in Figure 9 as the product, and generates a bill of materials that replaces the items related to "raw material 1" with the bill of materials shown in Figure 10.

[0078] Additionally, Figure 11B shows an example of a bill of materials after being replaced with the bill of materials for raw material 1. For example, the related unit 150 refers to the bill of materials shown in Figure 10, which uses the resource "raw material 1" recorded as ○ in "intermediate products" in the bill of materials shown in Figure 9 as a product, and sums up the parts of the items related to "raw material 1" that are not equivalent to common resources, and generates a bill of materials replaced with the bill of materials shown in Figure 10.

[0079] The display unit 170 can display the bill of materials being processed (e.g., the bill of materials in FIG11A). In this way, the display unit 170 can copy the items that are equivalent to intermediate products (e.g., raw material 1) in the bill of materials into multiple items (items from raw material 1-1-1 to raw material 1-3) and display them.

[0080] Next, the related department 150 will classify and rearrange the resources in the replaced bill of materials according to predefined rules (e.g., name order). Rearranging may be omitted.

[0081] Figure 12 shows an example of a rearranged bill of materials.

[0082] Next, the linkage unit 150 sums up the emissions of environmental impact substances related to common resources in the rearranged partial table. The linkage unit 150 may also sum up the summable resources among themselves, based on the determination of summable resources within the common resources. For example, the linkage unit 150 may sum up resources shared by units within the common resources.

[0083] Figure 13 shows an example of a bill of materials after totaling common resources. For example, the linkage unit 150 can total the environmental impact emissions of the common resource "electricity" in the bill of materials shown in Figure 12, namely 24 and 120, to obtain 144. Similarly, the linkage unit 150 can total the environmental impact emissions of the common resource "LPG", namely 20 and 120, to obtain 140.

[0084] Next, the linkage unit 150 can further aggregate the resources in the aggregated bill of materials. For example, the linkage unit 150 can replace information related to resources that are intermediate products in the aggregated bill of materials with information from the bill of materials that uses those intermediate products as products.

[0085] Figure 14 shows an example of a bill of materials after replacing the bill of materials with raw material 1-1. For example, the related unit 150 refers to the bill of materials shown in Figure 7, which uses the resource "raw material 1-1" recorded as "intermediate product" in the bill of materials shown in Figure 13 as a product, and generates a bill of materials that replaces the entries related to "raw material 1-1" with the bill of materials shown in Figure 7. Furthermore, it is assumed that intermediate products and common resources have already been recorded in Figure 7.

[0086] Next, the related department 150 can similarly rearrange and aggregate. The related department 150 can also aggregate the aggregateable resources among the common resources in the bill of materials.

[0087] Figure 15 shows an example of a bill of materials after further summarizing common resources. For example, the related unit 150 can sum the emissions of environmental impact substances of the common resource "electricity" in the bill of materials shown in Figure 14, namely 144 and 50, to obtain 194.

[0088] The associated unit 150 may continue to aggregate resources until no further aggregation is possible. For example, in the bill of materials of Figure 15, there are no resources recorded as "intermediate products" (i.e., resources marked with "○"). In this case, no further aggregation can be performed in the bill of materials of Figure 15. The associated unit 150 may continue processing until all or a pre-defined number of resources recorded as "intermediate products" disappear from the bill of materials.

[0089] Next, in S500, the total amount calculation unit 160 calculates the amount of environmental impact substances discharged during the production of the product (also known as "total discharge"). For example, the total amount calculation unit 160 calculates the total discharge by summing the environmental impact substances discharged from each resource used in the production of the product.

[0090] As an example, in the case of the bill of materials in Figure 15, the total amount calculation unit 160 can sum up the discharge amount of raw material 1-1 (50 kg), raw material 1-2 (100 kg), raw material 1-3 (20 kg), raw material 2 (132 kg), raw material 3 (33 kg), electricity (194 kg), LPG (42 kg), etc. to obtain the total discharge amount.

[0091] The total amount calculation unit 160 can sum up the environmental impact substances emitted from sources other than raw materials 1 to 3, in addition to the emissions from raw materials 1 to 3. This allows resources other than raw materials to be taken into account when calculating the amount of environmental impact substances emitted into the environment due to the production of product A. The emission calculation unit 140 can divide the calculated total emission amount associated with the production of product A by the production volume of product A to calculate the emission coefficient associated with the production of product A.

[0092] Display unit 170 can display the bill of materials during and / or after processing in steps S100 to S500. For example, display unit 170 can display the resources used in the production of the product, the amount of environmental impact substances discharged for each resource, and the total discharge amount. The total discharge amount can be the sum of the amount of environmental impact substances discharged for each resource that are discharged along with the production of the product (e.g., product A). Display unit 170 can display this information together with the bill of materials. For example, display unit 170 can display the bill of materials of Figure 15 together with the total discharge amount (e.g., 1000 kg in the figure).

[0093] Thus, according to this embodiment, by associating multiple resources, the actual environmental impact substance emissions of common resources used throughout the entire process can be estimated. This allows for a more accurate analysis of the impact of each resource on environmental impact substance emissions during product manufacturing. Furthermore, according to this embodiment, the number of resources under management can be reduced through association, thereby reducing the computational and memory requirements for calculating environmental impact substance emissions. This conserves computer computing and memory resources.

[0094] The example described illustrates associating similar resources (e.g., "electricity" and "LPG") as common resources. This embodiment is not limited to this; the association unit 150 can associate different resources. For example, the common determination unit 130 can associate resources as common resources based on predefined rules (e.g., materials from the same system, or the same manufacturer), and the association unit 150 can associate these resources.

[0095] As an example, the linkage unit 150 can combine the resources "epoxy resin" and "acrylic resin" into a resource "resin material". In this case, the linkage unit 150 can calculate the discharge coefficient of the resource "resin material" by weighted average of the quantities of the resources "epoxy resin" and "acrylic resin", and multiply the discharge coefficient by the total quantity of the resources "epoxy resin" and "acrylic resin" to calculate the discharge amount of the resource "resin material".

[0096] Figure 16 shows an example of the bill of materials for the first variation of this embodiment. The emission scale determination unit 110 can determine the emission scale of environmental impact substances based on the different acquisition methods for resources with multiple acquisition methods. For example, regarding the resource "electricity", it is envisioned that there are multiple acquisition methods, such as generating electricity using renewable energy such as sunlight, hydropower, or wind power, and generating electricity using energy other than renewable energy.

[0097] In this case, the emission scale determination unit 110 can identify electricity generated by renewable energy (“renewable energy” in the figure) and electricity generated by other energy sources (“other” in the figure) as other resources in the bill of materials. Here, the emission scale determination unit 110 determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances when obtained by renewable energy sources and the emission scale of environmental impact substances when obtained by other energy sources, for resources that can be obtained by both renewable energy sources and energy sources other than renewable energy sources.

[0098] In this way, the association unit 150 can associate resources for the same resource according to each acquisition method. The emission estimation system 10 can determine the emission of environmental impact substances for resources subdivided according to each acquisition method.

[0099] Figure 17 shows an example of the bill of materials for the second variation of this embodiment. The discharge scale determination unit 110 can determine the discharge scale of environmental impact substances according to different forms of discharge for resources that have multiple forms of environmental impact substance discharge. For example, the form of environmental impact substance discharge may include the discharge method and / or discharge path of the environmental impact substance. As an example, the form of environmental impact substance discharge may be the direct discharge or indirect discharge of the environmental impact substance. The indirect discharge of environmental impact substance may, for example, refer to the use of other resources such as electricity when processing (e.g., decomposition or incineration) the resource, and the environmental impact substance is discharged by using other resources (e.g., electricity).

[0100] Figures 16 and 17 illustrate examples of distinguishing a resource according to each acquisition path and discharge pattern, but for other reasons, a resource can be distinguished into multiple resources.

[0101] The amount or increase / decrease of environmental impact substances emitted or disposed of can be transferred among multiple parties. For example, with the sale of a product, the amount and / or increase / decrease of environmental impact substances emitted and / or disposed of can be transferred from the product's producer to the purchaser. Here, the transfer of environmental impact substances, etc., can also be certified using blockchain.

[0102] Here, a third variation of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the discharge coefficients and discharge amounts of each raw material are known; however, in this variation, an example is described where the discharge coefficients and discharge amounts of a portion of the raw materials are unknown. In this variation, during the connection process in S400, the connection unit 150 executes the sub-process shown in FIG23. The connection unit 150 can perform the processing in S400 by executing all or part of S420 to S440 in FIG23.

[0103] In S420, the correlation unit 150 determines the raw materials for the input / output of resources in the bill of materials. The correlation unit 150 determines a resource generated in the bill of materials as an "output" if it becomes a raw material in another step. The correlation unit 150 determines a raw material resource in the bill of materials as an "input" if it is a product of another step.

[0104] Figure 24 shows an example of the input / output records for the bill of materials in Figure 7. For example, in the bill of materials in Figure 24, the candidate determination unit 124 adds a record (marked as ○ in the figure) to the "Intermediate Product" column for the resource (raw material 1-1) that is determined to be an intermediate product (or it can be added in advance in S240). The association unit 150 records "Output" in the intermediate category column based on the determination that the resource (raw material 1-1) will become a raw material in other steps (e.g., the step of generating raw material 1 shown in Figure 10).

[0105] Figure 25 illustrates an example of input / output recording for the bill of materials in Figure 10. For instance, the correlation unit 150 records "Input" in the intermediate category column of Raw Material 1-1 based on the determination that the resource (Raw Material 1-1) identified as an intermediate product in the bill of materials in Figure 25 is a product of other steps (e.g., the step of generating Raw Material 1-1 as shown in Figure 7). Furthermore, the correlation unit 150 records "Output" in the intermediate category column of Raw Material 1-1 based on the determination that the resource (Raw Material 1) identified as an intermediate product in the bill of materials in Figure 25 is a raw material of other steps (e.g., the step of generating Product A as shown in Figure 9).

[0106] Figure 26 shows an example of the input / output record for the bill of materials in Figure 9. For example, the correlation unit 150 records "Input" in the intermediate category column of raw material 1 based on the determination that the resource (raw material 1) identified as an intermediate product in the bill of materials in Figure 26 is a product of other steps (e.g., the step of generating raw material 1 as shown in Figure 25).

[0107] Next, in S430, the linkage unit 150 determines the reference order of the bill of materials. First, the linkage unit 150 determines the bill of materials that does not contain resources with intermediate category as input and contains resources with intermediate category as output as the upstream step. The reason is that steps with bill of materials without input do not use the products of other steps as raw materials. For example, the linkage unit assigns a reference order of 1 to the bill of materials of the upstream step.

[0108] Next, the association unit 150 determines a bill of materials containing resources whose intermediate category is output (also called "output resources") as inputs in the bill of materials with reference order 1, and assigns reference order 2 to that bill of materials. Similarly, the association unit 150 assigns the next number in the reference order of the bill of materials containing resources whose intermediate category is input (also called "input resources") to the bill of materials containing those input resources as output resources. That is, the association unit 150 assigns reference order to consecutive steps in sequence.

[0109] Figure 27 illustrates an example of a method for assigning reference order. When a bill of materials contains multiple input resources, the reference order can be assigned according to the different systems of the input resources. In the example of Figure 27, the product of step 270 becomes the raw material for step 271; the products of steps 271 and 273 become the raw materials for steps 272; and the products of steps 272 and 274 become the raw materials for steps 276.

[0110] In this case, bills of materials 270, 273, and 274 do not contain resources with intermediate category as input, but contain resources with intermediate category as output; therefore, the reference order is 1 for all of them. The association unit 150 is a system that can distinguish the reference numbers of each of bills of materials 270, 273, and 274.

[0111] For example, the related unit 150 assigns a reference order A-1 (the first in system A) to bill of materials 270, a reference order B-1 (the first in system B) to bill of materials 273, and a reference order C-1 (the first in system C) to bill of materials 274. Thus, the bill of materials for steps after bill of materials 270 are assigned a reference order including A, the bill of materials for steps after bill of materials 273 are assigned a reference order including B, and the bill of materials for steps after bill of materials 274 are assigned a reference order including C.

[0112] The related unit 150 determines that bill of materials 271 follows bill of materials 271 (reference order A-1) and assigns it reference order A-2. The related unit 150 determines that bill of materials 272 follows bill of materials 271 (reference order A-2) and assigns it reference order A-3. The related unit 150 determines that bill of materials 272 follows bill of materials 273 (reference order B-1) and assigns it reference order B-2. Thus, bill of materials 272 has both reference order A-3 and reference order B-2.

[0113] Similarly, the related unit 150 determines that the bill of materials 276 is after the bill of materials 272 (reference order A-3, reference order B-2) and the bill of materials 274 (reference order C-1), and assigns reference order A-4, reference order B-3 and reference order C-2 to the bill of materials 276.

[0114] Next, in S440, the correlation unit 150 calculates the discharge coefficient of each resource. First, the correlation unit 150 obtains the output resources and their discharge coefficients from the bill of materials with the smallest reference order (also known as the "minimum bill of materials"). For example, the correlation unit 150 obtains the discharge coefficient (0.40) of raw material 1-1, which is the output resource of the minimum bill of materials, i.e., the bill of materials in FIG24.

[0115] The associated unit 150 transfers the acquired output resources and their discharge coefficients to the next level of the minimum bill of materials. For example, the associated unit 150 transfers the discharge coefficient (0.40) of raw material 1-1 to the discharge coefficient of raw material 1-1 in Figure 25. Furthermore, the associated unit 150 calculates the discharge quantity of the resource based on the transferred discharge coefficient and the quantity of the resource in the target bill of materials. The associated unit 150 can also further calculate the discharge quantity and discharge coefficient of the product generated in the target bill of materials.

[0116] Figure 28 shows the bill of materials in Figure 25 after the transfer. For example, the related unit 150 transfers the discharge coefficient of resource 1-1, 0.4, to the bill of materials for raw material 1. Then, the related unit 150 calculates the discharge quantity of resource 1-1 as 100 by multiplying the discharge coefficient of resource 1-1, 0.4, by the quantity of resource 1-1, 250. The related unit 150 calculates the discharge quantity of raw material 1 as 250 by summing the calculated discharge quantity of raw material 1-1 with the discharge quantities of other resources. The related unit 150 divides the production quantity of raw material 1, 500 (KG), by the discharge quantity of raw material 1, 250, to calculate the discharge coefficient of raw material 1 as 0.50.

[0117] Similarly, the associated unit 150 can transfer the discharge coefficient of the output resource of the preceding bill of materials to the input resources of the subsequent bill of materials, and calculate the discharge quantity and discharge coefficient of the product generated by the subsequent bill of materials in turn.

[0118] Figure 29 shows the bill of materials of Figure 26 after the transfer. The related unit 150 transfers the discharge coefficient of resource 1 (0.50) to the bill of materials of product A. Furthermore, the related unit 150 calculates the discharge quantity of resource 1 as 250 by multiplying the discharge coefficient of resource 1 (0.5) by the quantity of resource 1 (500). The related unit 150 can also calculate the discharge quantity and discharge coefficient of product A in the same way.

[0119] Thus, according to this variation, even when the discharge volume and discharge coefficient of some resources are unclear, the overall discharge coefficient of the process can be calculated based on the upstream side. In particular, the discharge volume estimation system of this variation can significantly reduce computational resources by determining the reference order of the bill of materials. Specifically, by determining the reference order of the bill of materials, the relationship between the products and raw materials of each step can be clarified, achieving efficient calculation. If the discharge coefficient is calculated without using the method of this variation when the order of N bills of materials is unclear, it may be necessary to perform up to N calculations for each of the N bills of materials before achieving an accurate result. As a result, it may be necessary to perform N squared calculations. According to this variation, the number of calculations can be minimized, enabling rapid and accurate discharge volume estimation.

[0120] Figure 30 shows the structure of the discharge estimation system 12 in the fourth variation of this embodiment. The discharge estimation system 12 supports the production of the product and the adjustment of the discharge of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of the product. The discharge estimation system 12 can be implemented by one or more computers, but if it is implemented by one computer, it can be a support device. In addition to the discharge estimation system 10 or a part of the discharge estimation system 10, the discharge estimation system 12 may also include a target acquisition unit 162, a manufacturing plan correction unit 164, and a control unit 166.

[0121] The target acquisition unit 162 acquires target values ​​for the emission amounts of environmentally impacting substances. The target acquisition unit 162 may acquire target values ​​from the user, or it may acquire predetermined target values ​​instead.

[0122] The Manufacturing Planning Revision Unit 164 revises the manufacturing plan used for manufacturing products. The manufacturing plan can specify the quantity of products manufactured, the amount of energy used, the type of energy used, the presence or absence of recycled resources (e.g., resources manufactured and / or obtained through recycling), and / or the amount of recycled resources used. For example, the Manufacturing Planning Revision Unit 164 calculates the amount of resources used to achieve the target value (e.g., the amount of recycled resources used) based on a recycled bill of materials representing one or more recycled resources, and sets or revises the amount of recycled resources based on the calculation results. Details regarding the recycled bill of materials, etc., will be described later.

[0123] The control unit 166 executes product production and resource recycling in a manner that achieves the recycling amount calculated by the manufacturing plan correction unit 164.

[0124] Figure 31 shows the flow chart of the discharge estimation method in the fourth variation. In this variation, after S500, processes S600 to S800 are performed. Processes S100 to S500 can be performed in the same way as described above.

[0125] In S600, the target acquisition unit 162 acquires a target value for the emission amount of environmental impact substances. For example, the target acquisition unit 162 acquires the target value from the user. The target acquisition unit 162 may acquire a value smaller than the emission amount of environmental impact substances calculated in S500 as the target value. The target acquisition unit 162 may acquire a reduction in the emission amount or emission coefficient of environmental impact substances as the target value.

[0126] Instead, the target acquisition unit 162 can calculate the target value of the amount of environmental impact substance emissions by calculation. For example, the target acquisition unit 162 can set the value obtained by multiplying the amount of environmental impact substance emissions calculated in S500 by a predetermined coefficient (e.g., 0.8) or by subtracting a predetermined reduction amount from the amount of environmental impact substance emissions calculated in S500 as the target value.

[0127] Next, in S700, the manufacturing planning correction unit 164 corrects the manufacturing plan to achieve the target value calculated in S600. For example, in this variation, the recycling amount of resources is calculated. The manufacturing planning correction unit 164 calculates the recycling amount based on the recycling bill of materials.

[0128] Figure 32 shows an example of the recycling bill of materials for the fourth variation. The recycling bill of materials represents discharge factors, etc., related to resources derived from recycling. Figure 32 shows the discharge factors, etc., for recycled raw material 1. Recycled raw material 1 is the same or equivalent resource as raw material 1 shown in the bill of materials, etc., of Figure 5, and is a resource manufactured and / or obtained based on recycling, but different from raw material 1.

[0129] The discharge coefficient of raw material 1 shown in Figure 5 is 0.5, while the discharge coefficient of recycled raw material 1 is 0.3, indicating that the environmental impact of recycled raw material 1 is less than that of raw material 1. That is, by using 1 kg of recycled raw material 1 instead of raw material 1, the amount of environmentally impacting substances discharged can be reduced by (0.50-0.30)×1 kg=0.20 kg.

[0130] In addition to changing the material of raw material 1 or the material that replaces raw material 1, the environmental impact can also be reduced by replacing conventional electricity with electricity from renewable energy sources, as shown in Figure 16. For example, by using 1 KW of electricity (renewable energy) instead of electricity (other), the amount of environmentally impacting substances emitted can be reduced by (0.90-0.09) × 1 KW = 0.81 kg.

[0131] The manufacturing planning correction unit 164 can calculate the usage of recycled resources / renewable energy resources by dividing the difference between the product's emission coefficient and the target value by the difference between the emission coefficient of the resource and the emission coefficient of resources that are the same or equivalent to the resource and are manufactured and / or obtained by recycling / renewable energy.

[0132] For example, if the objective obtained in S600 is to reduce the product exclusion coefficient by 0.1, the manufacturing planning correction unit 164 calculates (1000 KG × 0.1) ÷ (0.50 - 0.30) = 500 kg as the recycling amount of raw material 1. That is, the target value can be achieved by using 500 kg of recycled raw material 1 instead of using 500 kg of raw material 1. For example, if 500 kg of raw material 1 is used in the bill of materials in Figure 5, the objective can be achieved by replacing it entirely with recycled raw material 1.

[0133] When using renewable energy resources (electricity) to replace recycled raw material 1, the manufacturing planning revision unit 164 calculates (1000 KG × 0.1) ÷ (0.90 - 0.09) = 0.12 KW as the amount of electricity (renewable energy) used. That is, the target value can be achieved by using 123 KW of electricity (renewable energy) instead of using 123 KW of electricity (normally).

[0134] The manufacturing planning correction unit 164 can calculate the recycling amount by taking into account resources other than raw materials used in the recycling process. The manufacturing planning correction unit 164 can calculate the amount of resources other than raw materials used in the recycling process by multiplying the production quantity of the product by the amount of resources other than raw materials used per unit of the product produced. The manufacturing planning correction unit 164 can limit the recycling amount to prevent the amount of resources from exceeding a predetermined limit.

[0135] For example, the bill of materials in Figure 32 shows that 0.5 kW of electricity is required to manufacture and / or obtain 1 kg of recycled raw material 1. That is, if 500 kg of recycled raw material 1 is used, an additional 0.5 kW / kg × 500 kg = 250 kW of electricity is required. In the case of manufacturing 1000 kg of product A, the required additional electricity is 250 kW. Here, if the remaining electricity available in the factory for manufacturing product A is 100 kW, the manufacturing planning correction unit 164 can suppress the additional electricity within the remaining electricity by setting the recycling amount (the amount of recycled raw material 1 used) of each 1 kg of product A to 200 kg.

[0136] Next, in S800, the control unit 166 performs product production and resource recycling to achieve the recycling amount calculated in S700. For example, the control unit 166 controls the manufacturing equipment of recycled raw material 1 to manufacture the amount of recycled raw material 1 calculated in S700 (e.g., 200 kg).

[0137] Thus, according to this variation, the emission of environmentally impacting substances can be reduced to the target value. Furthermore, according to this variation, recycling necessary to reduce the emission of environmentally impacting substances to the target value can be performed. Moreover, this variation illustrates an example of recycling to reduce the emission of environmentally impacting substances to the target value; however, alternatively, the manufacturing planning modification unit 164 may achieve the target value by adjusting the production quantity of the product itself (e.g., reducing the production quantity from the initial plan).

[0138] Figure 18 shows the structure of an information processing system 2500 according to a modified embodiment of this invention. The information processing system 2500 is a system for supporting resource recycling. For example, the information processing system 2500 stores and manages information related to increases or decreases in the emission of environmentally impacting substances, their transfer, etc., and determines whether to accurately authenticate whether the transfer of increases or decreases in the emission of environmentally impacting substances accompanying product orders (e.g., the transfer of emission credits) has been carried out. The information processing system 2500 includes terminal devices 2510a, 2510b, 2510c, and a blockchain network 2502. Terminal devices 2510a, 2510b, 2510c, and the blockchain network 2502 can communicate with each other via network N. In the example shown in Figure 18, the information processing system 2500 includes three terminal devices, but the number of terminal devices is arbitrarily set, and can be two or less, or four or more. Terminal devices 2510a, 2510b, and 2510c may each have the same structure or different structures. In one embodiment, when terminal devices 2510a, 2510b, and 2510c are referred to as terminal device 2510 without distinguishing them from each other, they are collectively referred to as terminal device 2510.

[0139] Terminal device 2510 is an information processing device used by a user utilizing the services provided by information processing system 2500. Terminal device 2510 may also be, for example, a personal computer, smartphone, tablet computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), or a dedicated information processing device. At least one of the multiple terminal devices 2510 may be a communication terminal used by the production entity 20, the seller of the product, and / or the purchaser of the product.

[0140] Blockchain Network 2502 is a platform for utilizing blockchain technology. Blockchain Network 2502 is a decentralized system that uses multiple computers (hereinafter referred to as "node devices") located on the network for processing. Communication between node devices is typically conducted through peer-to-peer (P2P). By employing P2P, even if some node devices malfunction, it is difficult for the entire system to go down, thus ensuring system continuity. In a blockchain, transaction information between participants is aggregated into transactions in blocks. These blocks are linked in a chain, and memory management is performed on each node device according to time sequence. The recognition of a new block is achieved through consensus processing within the decentralized network. Each block in the blockchain stores the hash value of the previous block. If any block is tampered with, the hash value will also be changed, therefore the hash value of subsequent blocks must also be changed. Therefore, by adopting blockchain technology, a highly secure system that is difficult to tamper with can be built.

[0141] Blockchain network 2502 is configured to include node devices 2520a, 2520b, 2520c, and 2510d. In the example shown in Figure 18, four node devices are represented as nodes in blockchain network 2502, but the number of node devices can be arbitrarily set, ranging from three or fewer to five or more. Node devices 2520a, 2520b, 2520c, and 2520d each have the same structure. In one embodiment, when node devices 2520a, 2520b, 2520c, and 2520d are referred to as node device 2520 without distinguishing them from each other, they are collectively referred to as node device 2520.

[0142] As an example, node device 2520 may be one or more emission estimation systems 10 and / or other computers. In this case, communication is conducted individually with a portion of multiple communication terminals used by the emission estimation system 10, the seller of the product, and / or the purchaser of the product, thereby decentralizing the management of increases or decreases in the emission of environmental impact substances (e.g., emission credits).

[0143] As a variation, the blockchain network 2502 can also be replaced by other structures that store and process data, such as server devices, cloud computing, or edge computing. Moreover, it can be not a single blockchain network 2502, but a combination of any number of blockchain networks 2502, server devices, cloud computing, or edge computing.

[0144] Network N includes both wireless and wired networks. Examples of networks include the Internet, Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), Sensor Network or Wireless LAN, 5th Generation (5G), 4th Generation (4G), Long Term Evolution (LTE), WiMax (registered trademark), Infrared Communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wired LAN, Telephone Line, Wire Network, and networks conforming to IEEE 1394.

[0145] Figure 19 illustrates the structure of a modified example of the blockchain network 2502 according to this embodiment. In the example shown in Figure 19, each node device 2520 in the blockchain network 2502 includes a transaction information acquisition unit 2600, an authentication unit 2608, a consensus establishment processing unit 2610, and a memory unit 2612, which serve as the main functional structure. These functions are implemented, for example, by the control unit (processor) of each node device 2520 reading and executing computer programs stored in the memory device.

[0146] Figure 20 shows an example of the data structure of transaction information stored in the memory unit 2612 in a modified embodiment of this embodiment. Furthermore, the data structure shown in Figure 20 is an example; the transaction information can be set to any data structure.

[0147] The transaction information in this variation includes identification information as event information. The transaction information in this variation can also be recorded as a block containing event information corresponding to a change in the amount of environmentally impacting substances emitted.

[0148] In this variation, node device 2520 manages the transfer and assignment of increases or decreases in environmental impact substance emissions as "transaction information." In the example shown in the figure, the transaction information specifies the transfer date and time, transferee, transferor, and quantity information. The transferee and transferor information is information that can be associated when the increase or decrease in environmental impact substance emissions from this transfer is further used for other transfers.

[0149] The information of the transferee and transferor here may also specify the hash value of the public key of the transaction object. The hash value of the public key of the information designated as the transaction object may also be the destination (address) for the increase or decrease of environmental impact substance emissions specified in the outflow.

[0150] Furthermore, transaction information may contain one or more event information. Details will be described later, but transaction information is verified through consensus processing. If approved, it is stored as a structure called a block in the blockchain. Moreover, the structure of transaction information is not limited to the example in Figure 20 and can be any structure.

[0151] The transaction information acquisition unit 2600 acquires information from event information concerning one or more events that should be recorded in the blockchain. The transaction information acquisition unit 2600 then aggregates the acquired event information concerning one or more events into a set of transaction information.

[0152] The transaction information acquisition unit 2600 can aggregate event information about a number of events that can be recorded in the memory space of each predefined block into a set of transaction information. Furthermore, the transaction information acquisition unit 2600 can aggregate one or more event information acquired within a predefined period into a set of transaction information in each predefined period. Alternatively, the transaction information acquisition unit 2600 can include event information about a single event in the transaction information and allocate a block for each event.

[0153] In the example of Figure 20, transaction information T01 includes: an event corresponding to the generation of a 100 kg (quantity information) discharge reduction box in the reduction generator "XXX" (identification information "discharge box generation 000"); and an event corresponding to the transfer of the discharge reduction box (CO2 100 kg) from "XXX" to "YYY" (identification information "discharge box transfer 001").

[0154] Transaction information T02 includes: an event corresponding to "YYY" acquiring an emission reduction box (CO2 100 kg) from "XXX" (identification information "emission box acquisition 002"); and an event corresponding to the further transfer of the emission reduction box (CO2 100 kg) from "YYY" to "XYZ" (identification information "emission box transfer 011").

[0155] Certification Department 2608 grants certification for the generation and transfer of such emission containers. Certification Department 2608 grants certification when it is confirmed that the emission of environmentally impacting substances has been actually reduced (e.g., by accurately using alternative resources).

[0156] Figure 21 shows an example of the data structure of the blockchain stored in the memory unit 2612 in a modified embodiment of this embodiment. Figure 21 is a diagram showing the structure of the (N+1)th block in a block arranged in chronological order.

[0157] The "header" of a block can also store, for example, the digest, timestamp, target, and nonce of the Nth block.

[0158] The "summary of the Nth block" may, for example, store identification information used by each node device 2520 and terminal device 2510 to uniquely identify the Nth block on the blockchain network. The hash value of the block may be used as the summary of the Nth block, for example.

[0159] The "timestamp" stores information related to the timestamp or block number attached when the block was created.

[0160] "Target" and "One-Time Number" are values ​​used, for example, when using algorithms such as Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT) or Endorsement-Ordering-Validation for consensus building. "Target" is a value related to the difficulty of consensus building. "One-Time Number" is an arbitrary value created during block creation through consensus building.

[0161] This section describes the consensus establishment process performed by the consensus establishment processing unit 2610. In this process, the consensus establishment processing unit 2610 discovers a one-time number based on the digest (hash value) of the (N+1)th block. When a suitable one-time number is found, it is saved, and the (N+1)th block is created. The consensus establishment processing units 2610 of each blockchain node (node ​​device 2520) performing the consensus establishment process repeatedly calculate the digest of the block header while changing the value of the one-time number, with the aim of discovering this suitable one-time number.

[0162] Furthermore, in the case of a private or consortium-type blockchain, a structure that does not require consensus processing can also be established.

[0163] In the example shown in the diagram, multiple transaction details are stored in the "body" of the block. However, this is not a limitation; a single transaction detail can also be stored in the "body." Transaction details stored in a block have the same timestamp information.

[0164] Furthermore, the structure of the block is not limited to the example in Figure 21, and can be any structure.

[0165] According to this variation, the emission estimation system 10 can save event information to the blockchain network 2502. In this way, the emission estimation system 10 can securely save event information to prevent tampering. Furthermore, the emission estimation system 10 can use the event information, which is securely saved in the form of transaction information, to prove the process of generating a reduction frame for environmentally impacting substances, the transaction process, etc.

[0166] Various embodiments of the present invention can be described with reference to flowcharts and block diagrams, wherein a block may represent (1) a stage of a process of performing an operation or (2) a section of a device having the function of performing an operation. Specific stages and sections may be implemented by dedicated circuitry, programmable circuitry provided together with computer-readable commands stored on a computer-readable medium, and / or a processor provided together with computer-readable commands stored on a computer-readable medium. Dedicated circuitry may include digital and / or analog hardware circuitry, and may include integrated circuits (ICs) and / or discrete circuitry. Programmable circuits may include reconfigurable hardware circuits, which include logical AND, logical OR, logical exclusive OR (XOR), logical not AND (NAND), logical not OR (NOR) and other logical operations, flip-flops, registers, memory elements such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and programmable logic arrays (PLAs).

[0167] Computer-readable media may contain any tangible element capable of storing commands that can be executed by appropriate elements. As a result, a computer-readable medium having commands stored therein will include products that contain commands that can be executed for the purpose of creating components to perform operations specified in a flowchart or block diagram. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic memory media, magnetic memory media, optical memory media, electromagnetic memory media, semiconductor memory media, etc. More specific examples of computer-readable media may include floppy disks, floppy diskettes, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), static random access memory (SRAM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray discs, memory sticks, integrated circuit cards, etc.

[0168] Computer-readable commands may include any one of source code or object code described in any combination of one or more programming languages, including assembly commands, instruction set architecture (ISA) commands, machine commands, machine-dependent commands, microcode, firmware commands, state setting data, or object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Smalltalk (registered trademark), JAVA (registered trademark), C++, and conventional programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages.

[0169] Computer-readable commands can be provided locally or via a wide area network (WAN) such as a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other computer to the processor or programmable circuitry of a programmable data processing device, such as a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other computer, in order to create components for executing the operations specified in flowcharts or block diagrams. Examples of processors include computer processors, processing units, microprocessors, digital signal processors, controllers, microcontrollers, etc.

[0170] Figure 22 is an example of a computer 2200 that can be embodied, either wholly or partially, in various forms of the present invention. A program installed on the computer 2200 can cause the computer 2200 to function as an operation associated with an embodiment of the present invention or one or more segments of said device, or to execute said operation or said one or more segments, and / or to execute a process or stage of an embodiment of the present invention. Such a program may be executed by the CPU 2212 to enable the computer 2200 to perform specific operations associated with several or all of the blocks in the flowcharts and block diagrams described in this specification.

[0171] The computer 2200 of this embodiment includes a CPU 2212, RAM 2214, a graphics controller 2216, and a display element 2218, which are interconnected via a main controller 2210. The computer 2200 also includes input / output units such as a communication interface 2222, a hard disk drive 2224, a digital versatile disc read-only memory (DVD-ROM) drive 2226, and an IC card driver, which are connected to the main controller 2210 via an input / output controller 2220. The computer also includes conventional input / output units such as a ROM 2230 and a keyboard 2242, which are connected to the input / output controller 2220 via an input / output chip 2240.

[0172] The CPU 2212 operates according to the program stored in the ROM 2230 and RAM 2214, thereby controlling each unit. The graphics controller 2216 retrieves the image data generated by the CPU 2212 from the frame buffer provided in RAM 2214 or from itself, and displays the image data on the display element 2218.

[0173] Communication interface 2222 communicates with other electronic components via a network. Hard disk drive 2224 stores programs and data used by CPU 2212 within computer 2200. DVD-ROM drive 2226 reads programs or data from DVD-ROM 2201 and provides the programs or data to hard disk drive 2224 via RAM 2214. IC card drive reads programs and data from IC card and / or writes programs and data to IC card.

[0174] ROM 2230 stores the boot program and / or programs that depend on the hardware of computer 2200, which are executed by computer 2200 when activated. Input / output chip 2240 can also connect various input / output units to input / output controller 2220 via parallel ports, serial ports, keyboard ports, mouse ports, etc.

[0175] The program is provided via a computer-readable medium such as a DVD-ROM 2201 or an IC card. The program is read from the computer-readable medium and installed into a hard disk drive 2224, RAM 2214, or ROM 2230, which are also examples of computer-readable media, and executed by the CPU 2212. The information processing described within these programs is read by the computer 2200, resulting in interaction between the program and the various types of hardware resources. The apparatus or method can be configured to perform information manipulation or processing based on the use of the computer 2200.

[0176] For example, when communication is performed between the computer 2200 and external components, the CPU 2212 can execute a communication program loaded into the RAM 2214, and, based on the processing described in the communication program, command the communication interface 2222 to perform communication processing. Under the control of the CPU 2212, the communication interface 2222 reads transmission data stored in the transmission buffer processing area provided in the recording medium such as RAM 2214, hard disk drive 2224, DVD-ROM 2201, or IC card, and sends the read transmission data to the network, or writes received data received from the network to the receive buffer processing area provided on the recording medium.

[0177] CPU 2212 can read all or a portion of files or databases stored in external recording media such as hard disk drive 2224, DVD-ROM drive 2226 (DVD-ROM 2201), IC card, etc., into RAM 2214, and perform various types of processing on the data in RAM 2214. Next, CPU 2212 writes the processed data back to the external recording media.

[0178] Various types of information, such as programs, data, tables, and databases, can be stored in recording media and processed. The CPU 2212 can perform various types of processing on data read from RAM 2214 and write the results back to RAM 2214. These various types of processing include operations, information processing, conditional judgments, conditional branches, unconditional branches, information retrieval / replacement, etc., as described throughout this disclosure and specified by program command sequences. Furthermore, the CPU 2212 can retrieve information from files, databases, etc., within the recording media. For example, if multiple entries, each with an attribute value associated with a second attribute, are stored in the recording media, the CPU 2212 can retrieve entries from these entries that match the condition specifying the attribute value of the first attribute, read the attribute value of the second attribute stored within those entries, and thereby obtain the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute that satisfies a predefined condition.

[0179] The program or software module described above can be stored on computer 2200 or on computer-readable media near computer 2200. Furthermore, recording media such as hard disks or RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as computer-readable media, thereby providing the program to computer 2200 via the network.

[0180] The present invention has been described above using embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the embodiments. Those skilled in the art will understand that various modifications or improvements can be made to the embodiments. It is clear from the description within the scope of the claims that such modifications or improvements can also be included within the technical scope of the present invention.

[0181] It should be noted that the execution order of actions, processes, steps, and stages in the apparatus, system, program, and method shown in the claims, specification, and drawings can be implemented in any order unless specifically indicated by "before," "before," etc., and the output of the preprocessing is used in the post-processing. Regarding the action flow in the claims, specification, and drawings, even if "firstly," "nextly," etc., are used for convenience, it does not mean that it must be implemented in this order. The reference "A and / or B" can mean "A, B, or A and C." The reference "A, B, and / or C" can mean "any one of A, B, and C, or any combination of two or more of them."

[0182] 10: Estimated Discharge System 12: Estimated Discharge System 20: Production Entity 30: Materials 40: Products 110: Discharge Scale Determination Department 120: Intermediate product determination section 122: Candidate Extraction Department 124: Candidate Determination Department 130: Jointly Determined Department 140: Input Section 150: Related Department 160: Total Calculation Department 162: Target Acquisition Department 164: Manufacturing Planning Revision Department 166: Control Department 170: Display Section 270: Bill of Materials 271: Bill of Materials 272: Bill of Materials 273: Bill of Materials 274: Bill of Materials 276: Bill of Materials 300: Raw material 1 302: Electricity 304: Gas 320: Raw material 1-1 322: Electricity 324: Gas 330: Raw Material 1-1-1 332: Electricity 2200: Computer 2201: DVD-ROM 2210: Main Controller 2212: CPU 2214:RAM 2216: Graphics Controller 2218: Display Components 2220: Input / Output Controller 2222: Communication Interface 2224: Hard drive 2226: DVD-ROM drive 2230:ROM 2240: Input / Output Chip 2242: Keyboard 2500: Information Processing System 2502: Blockchain Network 2510a~2510c: Terminal devices 2520a~2520d: Node devices 2600: Transaction Information Acquisition Department 2608: Certification Department 2610: Consensus Establishment Processing Department 2612: Memory Department N: Network

Claims

1. A discharge estimation system for estimating the discharge of environmentally impacting substances associated with the production of a product, the discharge estimation system comprising: The system comprises: a discharge scale determination unit, which determines the environmental impact substance discharge scale of each resource used in the first step and the environmental impact substance discharge scale of each resource used in the subsequent step (the second step), and records them in the bill of materials for the resources used in the production of the product; an intermediate product determination unit, which determines intermediate products among the resources used in the second step that are equivalent to the products of the first step, and records them in the bill of materials; a common determination unit, which determines common resources among the resources of the first step and the resources of the second step, and records them in the bill of materials; and an association unit, which associates the environmental impact substance discharge scale of the resources used in the production of the intermediate products with the environmental impact substance discharge scale of the resources of the second step, wherein the association unit replaces the items related to the intermediate products in the bill of materials corresponding to the second step with the items in the bill of materials corresponding to the first step, which uses the intermediate products as products; sums up the environmental impact substance discharge amounts based on the environmental impact substance discharge scales related to the common resources in the replaced bill of materials; and repeats the replacement and the summation until no resources containing the intermediate products are recorded.

2. The discharge estimation system as described in claim 1, wherein, The emission scale of environmental impact substances is the emission coefficient of environmental impact substances.

3. The discharge estimation system as described in claim 1, further comprising: The input section allows you to input the designation of the shared resource.

4. The discharge estimation system as described in claim 1, wherein, The common resources include energy and water.

5. The emission estimation system as described in claim 1, wherein, The associated unit aggregates the environmental impact material emission scales for each of the aforementioned common resources.

6. The emission estimation system as described in claim 1, wherein, The discharge scale determination unit determines the discharge scale of environmental impact substances according to the different acquisition methods for resources with multiple acquisition methods.

7. The emission estimation system as described in claim 6, wherein, The emission scale determination unit determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances when the resources are obtained from renewable energy sources and when they are obtained from energy sources other than renewable energy sources.

8. The emission estimation system as described in claim 1, wherein, The emission scale determination unit determines the emission scale of environmental impact substances according to the different emission forms for resources with multiple emission forms.

9. The emission estimation system as described in claim 1, further comprising: The total amount calculation unit calculates the amount of environmental impact substances emitted by each resource based on the emission scale of each resource and the usage of each resource.

10. The discharge estimation system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the intermediate product determining unit comprises: The candidate extraction unit extracts candidates for the intermediate products, i.e., intermediate product candidates, based on either the bill of materials in the first step or the bill of materials in the second step. And a candidate determination unit, which determines the intermediate product based on the intermediate product candidate and the other of the bill of materials in the first step and the bill of materials in the second step.

11. The emission estimation system as described in claim 1, further comprising: The display unit also displays the resources used in the production of the product, the results associated with the associated unit, and the bill of materials.

12. The discharge estimation system as described in claim 11, wherein, The display unit copies the items in the bill of materials that are equivalent to the intermediate products into multiple items and displays them.

13. A computer program product comprising a program executed by a computer to enable the computer to function as an emission estimation system as described in claim 1.

14. A method for estimating emissions, comprising estimating the emissions of environmentally impacting substances accompanying the production of a product using an emissions estimation system, the emissions estimation method comprising: The process involves several phases: Phase 1: Determining the emission scale of environmental impact substances (EIPs) for each resource used in the first step and for each resource used in the subsequent second step; Phase 2: Determining the EIP scale of each resource used in the production of the product; Phase 3: Determining intermediate byproducts (IFs) for resources used in the second step that are equivalent to byproducts of the first step; Phase 4: Determining common resources (CRMs) for resources used in the first and second steps; Phase 5: Associating the EIP scales of the first and second steps with the EIP scales of resources used in the second step. In the association phase, items related to the intermediate byproducts in the EIP corresponding to the second step are replaced with items in the EIP corresponding to the first step where the intermediate byproducts are used as byproducts; summing the EIP emissions based on the EIP scales of the common resources in the replaced EIPs; and repeating the replacement and summing until no resources containing the intermediate byproducts are recorded.

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