Japan replaced half of its nuclear reactors by efficiency

Setsuden exampleWe have seen it many times over, energy efficiency is a key component to the energy transition, alongside with renewable energy sources. Energy sobriety / conservation is another often overlooked tool.

As I was reporting all the way back to 2011, after Fukushima, Japan had cut by 15 percent its power usage thanks to conservation measures between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on weekdays to prevent blackouts.

According to Climate Progress : ” Japan has managed to replace half its missing nuclear power capacity through energy efficiency and conservation measures that endure three years later. “

Yeap, that’s right, energy efficiency and sobriety measures helped Japan cut its energy consumption by around 15 percent in just a few years.

As always in this great country, the people have been doing impressive work. Climate Progress brings us more details :

A campaign called ‘setsuden’ (power saving) was established to generate support. It worked, and by allowing dressed-down outfits and rotating air-conditioning schedules, the country averted blackouts.

If you type Setsuden into Google, you find a great article from Japan Today, Summer of Setsuden. There one can learn that ” raising the temperature on your air-conditioning unit just one degree results in about 13% less energy consumption.”

There are many more tips in this article and I strongly recommend it to you if you want to trim down your energy consumption.

If you are into the typically kawaii (cute) stuff from Japan, I strongly recommend you to have a look at the various advertisements / posters that were created for the occasion. Here are a few ones :

setsuden

More great stuff : http://setsuden.tumblr.com/

I just wish the European Union, China or the United States launched similar advertisement campaigns. One for the US could say something like : “ Uncle Sam wants YOU to save energy “

 

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