degree offices, the new standard. Lights are dimmed and printers are on only when necessary. Companies chart their energy use, and at one bread factory on this northern island, an employee jumps on the PA system when electricity usage spikes, ordering air conditioners off and asking select workers to stop what theyÂ’re doing.
But many Japanese companies are tired of cooperating. Asked by the government to use less electricity, companies say the cutbacks curb their productivity, thin their profits and could eventually stall the worldÂ’s third-largest economy.
I'm an engineer, not an economist, but I understand that!
The energy-saving push was seen on a smaller scale last year after an earthquake and tsunami triggered a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on JapanÂ’s east coast and caused shutdowns at several others, and Japanese companies obliged without complaint. Unlike last summer, when severe shortages were confined to the northeast, even regions far removed from the Fukushima plant now face shortages, with all but two of JapanÂ’s 50 viable reactors shuttered amid public opposition. Utility companies are importing record levels of fossil fuels, but even that hasnÂ’t covered the gap.
Fossil fuels? Global warming fuels? Aren't they worried about going awash when the oceans rise 3,000 feet?
That leaves companies — many that were already energy-efficient — straining for unorthodox ways to meet peak-hour summer reduction targets. Electronics giant Panasonic told employees at its Osaka headquarters to take a nine-day paid vacation in late July. Manufacturer Nippon Tungsten, in Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, bumped work shifts to the weekend to avoid peak hours and, to use less air conditioning, started spraying factory rooftops with cold water. Breadmaker Nichiryo, based in Hokkaido, leased a 200 kilovolt-ampere diesel generator, which supplies electricity at four times the cost of the regional utility company.
Anti-nuclear activists
Or the twenty-second century, whichever comes first.
In Hokkaido, households and companies are being asked to shave 7 percent from their 2010 peak-hour consumption levels. Were the local utility able to operate even a single reactor, such a request wouldnÂ’t be necessary.
The energy shortages are particularly vexing for companies because nobody knows how long theyÂ’ll last. Energy experts say that the best way for corporations to reduce consumption is with heavy investment, particularly in energy-
efficient lighting and in modern machinery. Companies, though, are hesitant to spend the money before they know JapanÂ’s long-term plan for the nuclear plants.
The ol' uncertainty bugaboo, eh?
