Nippon Energy

This is not a blog about global warming.  There are several arguments for and against it, and if it helps the reader, I will preface this blog by stating plain and clear that I support the evidence that humans are contributing to global warming.  However, like I said, this is not about global warming.  Instead I want to focus on what I consider a greater catastrophe, the inefficient use of our limited resources.  I think that it is something that concerns everyone.  When they are gone, they are gone, so why not focus on creating a more efficient harmony with those resources - both renewable and non-renewable.  Perhaps this quote from Thomas Friedman's, Hot, Flat, and Crowded, states it better:

"We humans are now playing lead electric guitar in Mother Nature's symphony orchestra.  In doing so, we forget a fundamental truth: We are the only species in this vast web of life that no animal or plant in nature depends on for survival - yet we depend on this whole web of life for our survival.  We evolved within it.  As we adapted to it, it shaped us into what we are.  We humans need that web to survive - it doesn't need us.  But we sure need it - and it thrives only if the whole system works in harmony."

It is true that changing the way we harness and use energy will be expensive, problematic, and come without road blocks and failures.  But that's what happens in the natural cycle of development.  And if we don't change, those scarce resources become more and more expensive.  So, doing nothing now, will cost us dearly in the end.  I believe an energy revolution is the next great revolution and it would be very beneficial to invest in now.  The wheels of ingenuity are spinning all over the globe, even in the countries that choose not to reign in their carbon emissions like China and India.  It is a race, and right now, America seems stalled at the start line.  Private investment is always the preferred method, but there is a case to be made for government initiatives to stir that inventive and entrepreneurial spirit that Americans are famous for.


Japan is a great example of a country off and running.  After living in Japan for nearly two years, it became quite clear that there is a completely different mentality.  There is a greater sense of urgency and a greater spirit for change. Consider this article from Tokyo by Martin Fackler in The New York Times (January 6, 2007):

"In many countries, higher oil prices have hurt pocketbooks and led to worries about economic slowdowns. But here in Japan, Kiminobu Kimura, an architect, says he has not felt the pinch. In fact, his monthly energy bill is lower than a year ago...Energy -efficient appliances abound in the many corners of his cramped home. There is the refrigerator that beeps when left open and the dishwasher that is compact enough to sit on the kitchen counter. In some homes, room heaters have a sensor that directs heat only toward occupants; there are enegy navigators that track a home's energy use. And then Mr. Kimura, 48, says there are the little things that his family of four does to squeeze fuel bills, like reusing warm bath water to wash laundry and bicycling to buy groceries...Japan is the most energy-efficient developed country on earth, according to most specialists, who say it is much better prepared than the United States to prosper in an era of higher global energy prices...Its population and economy are each about 40 percent as large as that of the United States, yet in 2004 it consumed less than a quarter as much energy as America did, according to the International Energy Agency, which is based in Paris.
Japan's obsession with conservation stems from an acute sense of insecurity in a resource-poor nation that imports most of its energy from the volatile Middle East, a fact driven home here by the 1970's shocks. The guiding hand of government has also played a role, forcing households and companies to conserve by raising the cost of gasoline and electricity far above global levels. Taxes and price controls make a gallon of gasoline in Japan currently cost...twice America's more market-based prices. The government in turn has used these tax revenues to help Japan seize the lead in renewable energies like solar power, and more recently home fuel cells...Higher energy prices have also created strong domestic demand in Japan for more conventional and new energy-saving products of all sorts. That has spurred the invention and development of things like low-energy washing machines and televisions and high-mileage cars and hybrid vehicles, experts say. Japanese factories also learned how to cut energy use and become among the most efficient in the world. Companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries are now reaping the benefits in booming overseas sales of their highly efficient electric turbines, steel blast furnaces and other industrial machinery, particularly in the United States. The environmental ministry forecasts that exports will help turn energy conservation into a $7.9 billion industry in Japan by 2020, about 10 times its size in 2000."

Japan, the article noted, has also encouraged development of energy-saving appliances with its Top Runner program,

"which has set goals of reducing energy use. Products that meet the goals are awarded a green sticker, while those that fail get an orange sticker. Japan's trade and industry ministry says consumers heed the stickers, pushing manufacturers to raise the energy efficiency. The average air-conditioner now uses two-thirds less electricity than in 1997, and the average freezer 23 percent less, the ministry said. The savings add up. The average household here used 4,177 kilowatt-hours of electricity in 2001, the most recent figure, according to the Jyukankyo Research Institute in Tokyo. In the same year, the average American household consumed more than twice that, or 10,655 kilowatt-hours, according the the Energy Department."

After our time in Japan, I was inspired inspired to take a look at how our energy use while living in Nagoya, Japan compared to our energy use while living in the States (Michigan to be precise).  Using old bills, I compared the energy use from the same time span over the course of 10 months.  The Michigan data is from 2007-2008, while the Nagoya, Japan data is from 2008-2009.  To take the size of each apartment out of the equation, I have calculated the cost and energy use per square foot.  Also, the climates of the two locations are slightly different, so the average monthly temperature is shown.  Finally, it should be noted that I used the average daily exchange rate for 2009 (93 JPY = $1).  The results are below:

It is clear that while living in Japan, we paid quite a bit more for energy per square foot despite using significantly less kilowatt-hours of electricity in every month but January.  Friedman suggests in his book that the US will be on the right track when our monthly energy bill begins showing an increase in cost per kilowatt-hour of electricity, while the overall bill remains the same or has been reduced.  In this 'energy revolution' there are two phenomenon's:

1. A smarter grid paid for by the increased cost per kilowatt-hour
2. A move to cleaner power and efficient means of delivering it

Is this revolution possible?  It'll be up to you and I, and a healthy nudge from the government.  Japan did it, and is continuing to move forward trying to optimize that balance and harmony with our resources.