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Hitachi Embraces Green Technologies to Stay Afloat

<p>The 100-year-old technology company has announced a shift of focus to environmental technologies and businesses, from green data centers to hybrid vehicles, as a way to revive its flagging revenue.</p>

Alongside the countless new companies focused on environmental sustainability, add a very old one: the 100-year-old Hitachi, led by its new president, Hiroaki Nakanishi, will put environmental innovations at the core to the company's operations for the next 100 years.

Hitachi, which has been a money-losing company in recent years, posting a $2 billion loss for the fiscal year that ended March 31, is shifting its focus to green technologies as a way to revive the company.

In a speech to employees last week, Nakanishi called Hitachi's financial base "not satisfactory" on a global basis. "As we move forward, our basic stance is to bolster shareholders' equity by generating profits," he said.

To move back to the black, Hitachi is going green, starting with three main foci: A global focus on operations, a fusion ICT with social infrastructure, and an environmental focus in all its activities.

"Hitachi is a unique company that embodies both ICT and social infrastructure technologies," Nakanishi said. "We intend to create unrivaled value in domains that fuse these two technologies. Eco-friendly data centers, smart grids and other businesses are expected to enjoy robust growth in this domain."

{related_content}This month, Hitachi launched its Smart City Business Management Division, focused on smart grid technologies for utilities, grid operators, and utility back-office operations.

The company's European division also signed an agreement this month with Green Data Systems to develop and deploy green data centers across Europe, including the creation of what the companies expect to be the continent's greenest computing facility, in the Netherlands.

The data center announcement comes three years after the launch of the Hitachi Group's energy efficient data center project, which, includes Hitachi's modular data center technologies.

Among the other technologies that fall under Hitachi's overall shift to green technologies include nuclear power plants, high-efficiency thermal power generation plants, hybrid rail systems, hybrid vehicle batteries, and other innovations.

Nakanishi also announced a goal to make all Hitachi Group products comply with the company's Eco-product guidelines by 2025. He said that nearly half of the firm's products currently meet those guidelines, which must meet eight assessment criteria, including weight reduction, resource recycling, energy efficiency and environmental conservation.

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