Tech Info / HIREC® May Drastically Reduce Life Cycle CO2Emission of Antennas

HIREC®: Super Hydrophobic Coating for Antenna, Radome and Other Public Infrastructure


HIREC® - Environmental Impact Study

Concerns about environmental impacts of infrastructure systems are growing today. The life cycle CO2 emissions were studied for an antenna coated with HIREC® and that with a snow melting heater system. The assessment results show HIREC® may reduce by almost 90% of life cycle CO2 emission of antennas comparing to that of conventional antennas with a snow melting heater system.

Assessment of Environmental Impact Reduction

Antennas set in the snowy area are equipped with a snow melting heater system in order to melt the snow and to prevent deterioration of broadcast reception. Antenna coated with HIREC® prevents the accumulation of the snow and the formation of the water film.

Object : 

Parabolic antenna coated with HIREC®, parabolic antenna equipped with snow melting heater system

Assessed contents : 

Life cycle CO2 emissions

Evaluation conditions : 

Controlling the accumulation of snow on a parabolic antenna during snowfall

Antenna installation locations : 

Sapporo, Kanazawa, Tokyo, in JAPAN

Life time : 

5 years

Duration of heater operation : 

Sapporo: 3627 hrs, Kanazawa: 2400 hrs, Tokyo: 1523 hrs

Degrees of latitude : 

Sapporo: 43.1°, Kanazawa: 36.3°, Tokyo: 35.7°

Study Model



Assessment Results

With HIREC® the life cycle CO2 emissions of antenna can be reduce by about 90%.


Reduction of life cycle CO2 emission: Sapporo 93%, Tokyo 86%, Kanazawa 90%

HIREC® is an effective countermeasure for reducing CO2 emission.