Price determination system

Abstract

To determine an appropriate price.SOLUTION: A price determination system includes: an emission calculation unit which calculates emissions of a greenhouse gas related to at least one of direct or indirect activity of a business operator and activity of another business operator located upstream or downstream of the business operator in a supply chain; a charge-for-use determination unit which determines a charge for the use of the system in accordance with the emissions; and a basic charge storage unit which stores a basic charge of the charge for use. The charge-for-use determination unit determines a charge for use by adding the amount to be paid according to the emission, to the basic charge.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a pricing system. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a system that determines appropriate prices for products and the like depending on the number of people in a group. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-163047 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When determining the fees for using a system to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, the current pricing system is too expensive for use in calculating emissions for small facilities.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and has an object to provide a technique that can determine an appropriate price. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The main invention of the present invention for solving the above problem is a price determination system, characterized in that it comprises an emission calculation unit that calculates greenhouse gas emissions, and a usage fee determination unit that determines a system usage fee based on the emissions.

[0007] Other problems and solutions disclosed in this application will be made clear in the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention and the drawings. Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the present invention, an appropriate price can be determined. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of an emission amount calculation system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a server device 2. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a software configuration of the server device 2. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the server device 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] <System Overview> An emission calculation system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The emission calculation system is intended to calculate greenhouse gas emissions. In the emission calculation system of this embodiment, the usage fee is determined according to the amount of emission.

[0011] 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an emission amount calculation system. The emission amount calculation system of this embodiment is configured to include a server device 2. The server device 2 is communicably connected to a user terminal 1 via a communication network. The communication network is, for example, the Internet, and is constructed by a public telephone line network, a mobile phone line network, a wireless communication path, Ethernet (registered trademark), or the like.

[0012] The user terminal 1 is a computer used by a user, such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, or a personal computer.

[0013] The server device 2 is a computer that calculates greenhouse gas emissions. The server device 2 may be a general-purpose computer such as a workstation or a personal computer, or may be logically realized by cloud computing.

[0014] <Server device> FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the server device 2. Note that the illustrated configuration is an example, and other configurations may be used. The server device 2 includes a CPU 201, a memory 202, a storage device 203, a communication interface 204, an input device 205, and an output device 206. The storage device 203 is, for example, a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, or a flash memory that stores various data and programs. The communication interface 204 is an interface for connecting to the communication network 3, and is, for example, an adapter for connecting to Ethernet (registered trademark), a modem for connecting to a public telephone line network, a wireless communication device for wireless communication, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connector or an RS232C connector for serial communication, etc. The input device 205 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a touch panel, a button, a microphone, etc. that input data. The output device 206 is, for example, a display, a printer, a speaker, etc. that output data. Each functional unit of the server device 2 described below is realized by the CPU 201 reading a program stored in the storage device 203 into the memory 202 and executing it, and each storage unit of the server device 2 is realized as part of the storage area provided by the memory 202 and the storage device 203.

[0015] 3 is a diagram showing an example of the software configuration of the server device 2. The server device 2 includes a base fee storage unit 231, an emission coefficient storage unit 232, an emission amount storage unit 233, an emission amount calculation unit 211, an emission amount output unit 212, and a usage fee determination unit 213.

[0016] The basic fee storage unit 231 stores the basic fee for the system usage fee. The basic fee storage unit 231 may store a uniform basic fee, or may store a different basic fee for each user. The basic fee storage unit 231 may also store a basic fee for each type of contract between the user and the system operator.

[0017] The emission coefficient storage unit 232 stores emission coefficients for calculating emission amounts. The emission coefficient storage unit 232 can store emission coefficients in association with, for example, direct or indirect emission activities by businesses (users or the companies to which the users belong, etc.) or emission activities by businesses upstream or downstream in the supply chain, related to each of Scopes 1 to 3 of the GHG Protocol. The emission coefficient storage unit 232 can store, for example, emission coefficients provided by the Ministry of the Environment. Furthermore, the emission coefficient storage unit 232 may store emission coefficients calculated by businesses themselves in addition to or instead of emission activities, in association with the businesses.

[0018] The emission amount storage unit 233 stores the emission amount. The emission amount storage unit 233 can store the emission amount for each activity. The activity can be associated in advance with the scope (scope 1 to 3) and / or category (category 1 to 15) of the GHG Protocol.

[0019] Furthermore, the emission amount storage unit 233 can store the aggregated emission amount. For example, the emission amount storage unit 233 can store the emission amount for each scope (scope 1 to 3) and / or category (category 1 to 15) of the GHG Protocol. The emission amount storage unit 233 can store the emission amount in association with information indicating a user (user ID). The emission amount storage unit 233 can store the emission amount in association with the user ID and information indicating the type of greenhouse gas. The emission amount storage unit 233 can store the emission amount in association with the user ID, the scope and / or category, and the type of greenhouse gas.

[0020] The emission calculation unit 211 calculates the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The emission calculation unit 211 can acquire the amount of activity related to the activities of Scopes 1 to 3, read the emission coefficient corresponding to the activity from the emission coefficient storage unit 232, and calculate the amount of emission by multiplying the acquired amount of activity by the read emission coefficient. The amount of activity can be, for example, the amount or price of fuel used, the amount or price of electricity purchased, the number of parts purchased, etc.

[0021] The emission calculation unit 212 can register the calculated emission amount in the emission storage unit 233. For each activity for which the activity amount has been acquired, the emission calculation unit 212 can register the calculated emission amount in the emission storage unit 233 in association with information indicating the activity. Furthermore, in addition to or instead of the emission amount for each activity, the emission calculation unit 212 can register the emission amount tallied for each scope and / or category and user. The emission calculation unit 212 can register the emission amount tallied for each combination of the scope and / or category, the type of greenhouse gas, and the user.

[0022] The emission amount output unit 212 outputs the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The emission amount output unit 212 can aggregate (for example, sum) the emissions for each user and activity stored in the emission amount storage unit 233 for each scope category and output the aggregation result. For emissions related to Scope 3, the emission amount output unit 212 can output the aggregation result of the emissions for each Scope 3 category in addition to or instead of the Scope 3 emissions.

[0023] The usage fee determination unit 213 determines the usage fee of the system. The usage fee determination unit 213 can determine the usage fee of the system according to the emission amount. The usage fee determination unit 213 can determine the usage fee according to, for example, the emission amount calculated by the user using this system (the emission amount of the business entity to which the user belongs). The usage fee determination unit 213 can set a fee coefficient corresponding to the emission amount or the emission rank, for example, uniformly or for each user, and determine the usage fee by multiplying the total value of the emission amount of the user in a predetermined period (for example, one month or one year) by the fee coefficient corresponding to the user. The usage fee determination unit 213 can also determine the usage fee by adding an amount according to the emission amount to the basic fee corresponding to the user stored in the basic fee storage unit 231.

[0024] <Operation> FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the server device 2. As shown in FIG.

[0025] The server device 2 acquires the user's activity data related to scopes 1 to 3, and multiplies the acquired activity data by an emission coefficient to calculate the emissions (S301), and can, for example, aggregate and output the calculated emissions (S302).

[0026] The server device 2 can determine the system usage fee according to the total amount of emissions by the user (or the business to which the user belongs) during a predetermined period (S303). The server device 2 can perform billing processes related to the determined usage fee (for example, issuing an invoice, settlement processes such as credit card and bank transfer, outputting a message instructing the operator to make a bill, etc.).

[0027] As described above, according to the emission calculation system of this embodiment, the system usage fee can be set according to the emission amount of the business operator.

[0028] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the above embodiment is intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. The present invention may be modified or improved without departing from the spirit of the present invention, and equivalents thereof are also included in the present invention.

[0029] For example, in the above embodiment, the usage fee is determined according to the emission amount of the user or the business entity to which the user belongs, calculated by the user using the system, but the usage fee may be determined according to the number of bases related to the user or business entity. The user can count (e.g., add up) the emission amount for each base, and the usage fee determination unit 213 can determine the usage fee according to the number of bases, which is the unit for counting the emission amount (e.g., the higher the number, the higher the usage fee).

[0030] In addition, the usage fee determination unit 213 may determine a usage fee for each location based on the emissions tabulated (e.g., totaled) for each location, and may add up the usage fees determined for each location to determine the usage fee to be charged to the user or the business entity to which the user belongs.

[0031] The usage fee determination unit 213 may determine the usage fee according to, for example, the scale of the business operator. The scale of the business operator can be represented by, for example, the sales, consolidated sales, number of employees, amount of capital, amount of procurement, etc. of the business operator. [Explanation of symbols]

[0032] 1 User terminal 2. Server equipment

Claims

1. An emissions calculation unit that calculates greenhouse gas emissions from direct or indirect activities of a business operator; a usage fee determination unit that determines a usage fee for the system so that the fee increases as the number of bases of the business increases; An emission calculation system comprising:

2. 2. The emission calculation system according to claim 1, aggregating the emissions for each of the locations; An emissions calculation system characterized by:

3. 2. The emission calculation system according to claim 1, the usage fee determination unit determines the usage fee for each of the base stations in accordance with the emissions totaled for each of the base stations; An emissions calculation system characterized by:

4. A method of calculating greenhouse gas emissions from direct or indirect activities of a business; determining a system usage fee such that the fee increases as the number of bases of the business increases; A method characterized by being executed by a computer.

5. A method of calculating greenhouse gas emissions from direct or indirect activities of a business; determining a system usage fee such that the fee increases as the number of bases of the business increases; A program that causes a computer to execute the following.

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