MOE Launches Online Guide to Facilitate Energy Efficient Appliance Usage

The "Team Minus 6%" committee of the Japanese Ministry of the Environment has developed an online guide named "Shinkyusan" in cooperation with domestic manufacturers and home electric appliance retailers, and launched its operation on February 6, 2009. To promote replacement of conventional home appliances with more energy-efficient ones, the guide helps consumers to easily compare energy consumption data of old and new home appliances on mobile phones, computers, at stores and at home.

There are four product categories this year: air conditioners, refrigerators, television sets and lighting fixtures. Just by scanning barcodes for old and new items at stores, consumers can get the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions displayed on their phone.

With a personal computer, by inputting manufacturer and model information of existing and new products, consumers can get comparative information on annual energy consumption, electric bills, CO2 emissions and the reduction in CO2 emissions in terms of number of trees no longer required to absorb the CO2. There are five options on the menu including simple comparison, detailed comparison by usage level, and comparison for usage of multiple products.

Thanks to help from the Energy Conservation Center, industry associations and manufacturers of electric appliances, the system's database covers information on almost all products in the domestic market in Japan. The Ministry plans to gradually add more product categories to the above four every year.

Posted: 2009/05/17 06:00:15 AM

TAG Energy , Government