Japanese, in Shortage, Willingly Ration Watts

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

Already a leader in conservation, Japan consumes about half as much energy per capita as the United States, according to the United Nations Population Fund. But it has been pushed to even greater lengths since the nuclear disaster even as it tries to revive its economy. The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and the resulting backlash against nuclear power have left only 17 out of Japan’s 54 reactors online as the nation steels itself for August, the hottest month of the year.

Preliminary figures indicate that regions under conservation mandates have been able to meet reduction targets and even exceed them, providing a possible model of conservation’s potential when concerns about global warming are mounting. In the Tokyo area, the government is pushing to cut electricity use by 15 percent between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays to prevent blackouts — and on Thursday, for example, that target was met compared with last year.

Japanese are bringing to the conservation drive a characteristic combination of national fervor, endurance, sloganeering, technology and social coercion.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/29/world/asia/29electricity.html?pagewanted=all

[Art_from_Ark]

1. I can testify to that

The buzzword is "setsuden" ("saving electricity"). In this Tokyo office where I'm typing this post from, the lighting is currently at half strength, and the lights are completely turned off during the lunch hour. The temperature in the office is close to 80 degrees F, and the company has given employees each a paper fan to cool themselves off with. Lighting is also at half strength in most commercial establishments as well, with notices posted to explain about the situation. They have even shut off some street lights, and glitzy night-life districts like the Ginza are far less bright than they were before the disasters. On a personal level, lights in unoccupied rooms are turned off, and the air conditioner is used only sparingly, and only in "energy-saving" mode.

[kestrel91316]

2. The Japanese have social consciences. We don't. In fact, such a thing is

a hallmark of godless communism (insert frothing mouth here).