nuclear-news

Japan can survive without nuclear power, by smart energy saving

 When he returns to
Japan in the spring, Okamura will be able to tell METI what would be
necessary to achieve its energy savings goal of 20 percent in the
years ahead, especially as the effectiveness of voluntary pleas wears
off.

Sacrifice and luck help Japan survive without nuclear power, Stanford
visiting scholar says, Stanford News, Stanford Report, January 4, 2013
In the wake of the Fukushima disaster, nuclear-dependent Japan began
shutting down its other reactors. Toshiya Okamura, a Tokyo Gas
executive and visiting scholar at Stanford University, explains how
the country survived the summer, and expresses deep concerns about
this winter and his country’s energy future.

BY MARK GOLDEN In the 18 months since the disaster at the Fukushima
Daiichi nuclear power plant following an earthquake and tsunami, as
Japan’s other nuclear reactors shut for routine maintenance, popular
opposition kept them from restarting. The country entered the summer
of 2012 with all its nuclear generators shuttered. With a fourth of
its pre-Fukushima power supply gone, blackouts were expected,
especially in the country’s western region.

Surprisingly, that did not happen. The electric utilities got through
the air-conditioning season primarily because consumers sacrificed
their comfort, but luck also played a role, according to Toshiya
Okamura, an executive with Tokyo Gas Company and a visiting scholar at
Stanford University’s Precourt Energy Efficiency Center.

“People did everything they could,” said Okamura. “To minimize air
conditioning, they raised thermostats in homes, offices and stores to
83 degrees Fahrenheit, as the government asked. They set every
appliance and electronic device to the most energy-efficient settings.
They kept the lights off as much as possible. Escalators were shut
off.”

It worked. While government forecasters expected voluntary reductions
in consumption to shave peak demand by about 6 percent, in fact,
residents and businesses cut about 11 percent, according to government
analysis…..
Since he arrived in April, the utility executive has studied how to
establish efficiency programs on sound research and cost-effectiveness
analysis, and then to verify and assess outcomes. When he returns to
Japan in the spring, Okamura will be able to tell METI what would be
necessary to achieve its energy savings goal of 20 percent in the
years ahead, especially as the effectiveness of voluntary pleas wears
off.

“My job is not to say we can’t get to 20 percent. My job is to tell
them what we have to do to achieve that,” Okamura said…..
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2013/january/japan-nuclear-power-010413.html

January 7, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | ENERGY, Japan