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Ricoh to Install 100% Eco-Powered Electronic Billboard in London

Tokyo June 28, 2011. Ricoh Company, Ltd. (President and CEO: Shiro Kondo) today announced the completion of an eco-board that will be 100% eco-powered, located on the motorway which runs from London to London Heathrow airport, the gateway to Europe, United Kingdom. Solar- and wind-generated electricity will be stored and used to light the billboard. It will gain and store electricity for lighting from a private power generator that harnesses the energy of the sun and the wind. The billboard may not light up in poor weather because it receives no power supply from outside sources.

The eco-board in London will communicate the Company’s stance to promote “sustainable environmental management” that simultaneously conserves the environment and creates profit. They are part of a global project the Company is advancing with a focus on natural energy. 96 solar panels and five wind turbines will produce an average of 12,612 wh of electricity per day. However if there is insufficient wind or solar power, the sign may not light up; that is an eventuality Ricoh readily accepts. The Company previously installed an eco-board of this type, which lights up exclusively with solar-generated electricity in Times Square, New York, in April 2009. (The billboard made its debut in June 2010 following test lighting that began in April 2009.)

All employees of the Ricoh Group are united in their efforts to move forward with initiatives to lower the Group’s environmental impact, with the ambitious goal of reducing it to one-eighth of the Fiscal Year 2000 levels by 2050. The Group has been working aggressively to conserve energy with full use of natural energy in areas other than the eco-board. With the adoption of an eco-powered system for street lights at the Atsugi Plant in 1999 as a start, the Group introduced the system to the Numazu Plant for waste water treatment in 2006, and to a US production subsidiary for use at its office building in February 2011.

Details of the signage

1.Location: on the motorway which runs from London to London Heathrow airport

2.Dimensions: 3 m(height) × 12 m(width)

3.System specs: Solar panels 96 panels Wind power generators 5 units turbines Average daily power generation 12,612 wh

4.Scheduled presentation period upon completion: June 28, 2011

100% Eco-Powered Electronic Billboard in London

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Related Subject CSR/Environment