Seven Eleven Japan opens Ehime store built entirely with domestic wood

Last week, Seven-Eleven Japan opened a new store in Ehime Prefecture, built entirely on domestic timber and primarily sourced from within the prefecture. The facility is designed to fopcus on using regional wood and renewable energy.

The location operates on 100 per cent renewable electricity derived from biomass. Shikoku Electric Power supplies this energy using regional wood as fuel. Seven-Eleven Japan previously introduced biomass power to approximately 300 stores in the Shikoku region, but this new store marks the first to rely completely on this energy source for its operations.

The facility also serves as a testing ground for advanced energy technologies. The company collaborated with prominent regional firms to install rooftop solar panels, space-saving vertical solar fences, and next-generation perovskite solar cells. A smart energy management system works alongside Panasonic HVAC CLOUD, an artificial intelligence service provided by Panasonic HVAC & CC Co., Ltd., to optimise air conditioning based on user data.

Seven-Eleven Japan plans to manage the entire lifecycle of the building materials. When the store eventually requires rebuilding or demolition, the company intends to convert the recovered wood into biomass fuel. Furthermore, the retailer is exploring ways to use the resulting biomass ash as fertiliser for local agriculture. This approach aims to link store construction directly with local food production, eventually bringing agricultural products grown with the fertiliser back to the store shelves.