Power Consumption Instantly Cut 29.4% in Ministry-Wide Trial

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, or METI, ran a ministry-wide energy-saving campaign during the lunch break on May 26, 2003 and measured its effects. The campaign's aims were to raise energy awareness of employees, and to identify quick, concrete and effective countermeasures for the summer's potential electricity shortages.

The campaign was implemented in central Tokyo at METI's main building, its annex, and the Patent Office building. All of the lighting in the offices and three-quarters of the lighting in hallways and entrances were turned off. In addition, office equipment, the central air conditioning system, and half of the elevators were also shut down. The trial resulted in an average reduction of 857 kW at the main building and the annex (29.4 percent reduction) and 780 kW (23.1 percent) at the Patent Office.

Since a recent fiasco involving the Tokyo Electric Power Company's falsification of the maintenance records of its nuclear power plants, 15 out of 17 reactors have been put out of service for safety checks in the Kanto area, which includes Tokyo, reducing the electrical supply by about 14.60 million kW. This is equivalent to about 23 percent of electrical usage during the peak summer consumption in 2001, which was 64.30 million kW, according to the ministry. A nation-wide energy-conservation campaign was launched to cope with the potential shortage that could occur due to the shutdown of nuclear power plants during the time of peak summer power consumption in 2003. METI's in-house initiative was implemented as a part of this campaign.



Posted: 2003/08/18 10:28:56 AM
Japanese version