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Ihara Lab
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A lab that explores the relationships between urban heat, health, and energy through life cycle thinking.
AboutAbout the lab
Seeing the big picture to find real solutions to environmental problems.
The Ihara Lab studies how changes in urban climate caused by global warming and the urban heat island effect affect heatstroke, sleep disorders, energy consumption, and more.
The lab analyzes a variety of data to assess these impacts and designs countermeasures based on life cycle thinking.
The lab also conducts research on life cycle assessment (LCA) of energy technologies and consumer behavior.
The lab accepts undergraduate students from Course C of the Department of Systems Innovation (the Intelligent Social Systems Course and the PSI Course), and graduate students from the Department of Environment Systems and from the Graduate Program in Sustainability Science (GPSS), both in the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences.
The lab is based mainly at Kashiwa Campus, but undergraduate students can also choose a room at Hongo Campus.
Key terms
- Life cycle thinking
- Thinking about things from an overall, big-picture perspective rather than looking at only one part
- Life cycle assessment (LCA)
- A method for comprehensively evaluating the environmental impact of a product or service from raw materials through manufacturing, use, and disposal
- Urban heat island effect
- A phenomenon in which temperatures in a city become higher than in the surrounding suburbs, due to heat from buildings and human activity
NewsLab news
A paper by a doctoral student was published in Applied Energy
A graduate school admissions information session was held at Kashiwa Campus
A paper by a doctoral student was published in SOLA
A paper by a doctoral student was published in Building and Environment
Associate Professor Ihara received the Society Contribution Award from the Japan Society of Energy and Resources as a member of its steering group
ResearchResearch themes
The lab studies how to assess environmental impacts and design countermeasures (mitigation and adaptation) based on life cycle thinking. It currently focuses in particular on urban climate and consumer behavior.
*Illustrative imageUrban Heat and Energy
The lab analyzes the relationship between temperature, humidity, and electricity demand using observational data and data from electric power companies. It also evaluates how effective countermeasures are through simulations that link urban weather with building energy demand.
*Illustrative imageUrban Heat and Human Health
For sleep disorders and fatigue, for which no official statistics exist, the lab conducts social surveys using its own questionnaires and analyzes how they relate to weather. It is also developing portable measuring devices that capture the heat people actually experience.
*Illustrative imageConsumer Behavior and CO2
The lab analyzes statistics to assess which consumers emit more CO2 in which situations, and whether those emissions can be reduced. It also uses social surveys to investigate people's attitudes toward environmentally conscious behavior, and proposes actions that people are more likely to accept.
MembersFaculty
The Ihara Lab consists of faculty members, project researchers, project specialists and administrative assistants, visiting collaborative researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, and research students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorTomohiko IharaPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Running Through Paris Heat (153178 - vir 20240806 lrg)” NASA Earth Observatory images by Wanmei Liang and Michala Garrison / Public domain (cropped)
- Urban Heat and Energy: “Stone wall of a building with air conditioning units and a satellite dish in a sunny outdoor setting” Shixart1985 / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Urban Heat and Human Health: “Analog WBGT meter” Morn / CC0 (cropped)
- Consumer Behavior and CO2: “Shopping Trolleys ( ) (cropped)” Martin Burns / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Long Lab): “Blue Marble Eastern Hemisphere” NASA（Reto Stöckli） / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Fujii-Komiyama Lab): “Liverpool Transmission Substation, New South Wales 04” Chris.sherlock2 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yoshida Lab): “Power County Wind Farm 002” ENERGY.GOV / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Murakami Lab): “Bingham Canyon Mine (2) - Salt Lake County, Utah - May 11, 2012” David Ratledge / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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