This is a good article on some of the electricity-conserving measures ravaging the lives of workers in Japan and the productivity thereby lost. I have no criticism (shockah!), as this is a healthy response to an awful set of circumstances. There a few good answers, and plenty of worse ones. I think Japan’s approach is right on the mark with power-savings.
I worry a little about some of the numerical targets, in that a company which never gave a damn about saving power can easily generate a 15% reduction year-to-year for 2011, whereas a “green” plant will be hard pressed to improve what they were already doing. I hope that penalties (which are expected to be fierce) will be assessed with an eye toward that fact, but as I said, so far I see no problems.
Except it’s so damned hot.
One manager at a major data management company said, “It can’t be good for productivity. Everyone just sits there fanning themselves all day.”
via Japan trudges into power-save mode as summer looms | Reuters.
Yes, we have similar reduction goals where I work here in Japan as well–so far, so good.
