Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

The eco-point program is now officially underway with the government accepting applications:

Under the Eco-point system, those who buy designated energy-saving appliances between May 15 and March 31 will be eligible for the points, with one Eco-point worth roughly ¥1.

Points given vary between 6,000 and 9,000 for air conditioners, depending on cooling power, 3,000 and 10,000 for refrigerators depending on capacity and 7,000 and 36,000 for televisions for terrestrial broadcasting depending on the size of screen.

Starting Wednesday, purchasers of these appliances may register Eco-points by mailing applications along with documents such as receipts and copies of product warranties to the Eco-point secretariat. These points may be exchanged for merchandise coupons, electronic money and other items of choice.

For instance, 13,500 Eco-points may be exchanged for ¥12,000 stored in a Suica electronic money card issued by East Japan Railway Co., while 5,000 points are exchangeable for ¥5,000 worth of department store coupons.

So, how can I help the environment by purchasing newer appliances? This is how the points are awarded for refrigerators and TVs:

• Refrigerators
  • 501L or more: 10,000
  • 401L to 500L: 9,000
  • 251Lto 400L: 6,000
  • 250 or less: 3,000
• Digital terrestrial TVs (LCD and plasma)
  • 46-inch or larger: 36,000
  • 40 to 42 inch: 23,000
  • 37-inch: 17,000
  • 26 to 32-inch: 12,000
  • 26-inch or smaller: 7,000

The list of refrigerators eligible for the eco-points program is here [PDF]. TVs are here [PDF].

Note: The links to the lists of eligible appliances seem to have died. They were working a few days ago, but somebody seems to have removed them from this page on the eco-point website.

I currently own a 28-inch Sony TV that is rated at 125W and a 401L Hitachi refrigerator rated at 140W, or 260kWhr/year. Both are 6 years old and in good working order. I want to maximize my points, so that means buying a larger TV and fridge.

Let's go for a Sony 52-inch KDL-52X5050. According to Sony, it consumes 315W, more than double the consumption of my current TV. How about a 46-inch Sharp LC-46AE6? 150 watts. A 40-inch Sharp LC-40AE6? 120W, so I'm better off in terms of consumption, plus I end up with a larger screen although I'm going to have to pay over 100,000 yen for it.

The same goes for refrigerators. The one I have has consumes 260kWhr/year. Let's look at the Hitachi R-SF50YM, which has a capacity of 501L. It consumes approximately 400 kWh/year. How about Panasonic's 470L NR-F473TM? It consumes roughly 390kWh/year. A quick look at the offerings from Panasonic and Hitachi shows that I need to buy a significantly smaller refrigerator if I'm to reduce my energy consumption.

Can you reduce your energy consumption by upgrading to newer appliances? Yes, but only if you pay attention. But when was the last time you thought about power consumption when shopping for an appliance? Sadly, the way the eco-point scheme is structured, consumers are "rewarded" for purchasing larger and more expensive appliances, which also consume more electricity. If you fall into the trap of maximizing your eco-points, you will likely increase your overall electricity consumption instead of reduce it. As I said before, like the 12,000 yen kickback, it's a ploy to boost consumption in the short term under the guise of "being green."

While I'm on the subject of TV, Japan for Sustainability has this interesting bit:

As a special one-day environmental event, Japan's public broadcaster, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), shortened the airtime of its educational TV channel on December 29, 2008, to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and save electricity.

The shorter airtime was instituted to remind both the broadcaster and viewers that daily broadcasting consumes a large quantity of electricity and results in a considerable amount of CO2 emissions. NHK expects such an event will promote efforts in energy saving and CO2 reduction.

The educational TV channel normally broadcasts from 5:00 a.m. to 2:50 a.m. the following day. On that day, however, the channel aired programs for only nine hours, from 12:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., shortening the broadcast by 12 hours and 50 minutes. While broadcasting was suspended, NHK's approximately 3,100 analog transmitting stations across the nation stopped sending TV signals, which resulted in saving about 17,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or a reduction of some 9.4 tons of CO2 emissions, compared to a regular broadcasting day.

If only Japan's commercial broadcasters would do the same, the nation would have the lowest CO2 emissions on earth and save us from the mountains of crap the serve on a regular basis. Snark aside, NHK's move demonstrates that not using energy is the best way to reduce emissions. There's nothing worth watching on TV in Japan anyway, so you might as well do your part and tune out and turn the TV off.

Sort of. They are testing what happens when you put biofuel in one engine:

Triple-digit oil prices are doing their damage across the world. With airlines strugglin to survive, the Business Travel Coalition issued a stark press release warning of bankruptcies by the end of the year.

High oil prices are a serious problem when it comes to food. Peak oil is peak food.

One of the nice things about living and working in Japan is that it's a convenient base for traveling to other parts of Asia. However, with oil hitting $135 a barrel last week, the days of cheap and easy travel look to be at an end.

In the wake of the earthquake in Niigata, Japan's nuclear power program is once again in the spotlight for its failures. After initial reports of a fire and a small leak at the Kashiwazaki power plant, we find out later that things were actually worse: Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) had the facts but waited 12 hours before letting the public know, the fire burned for several hours, radioactive waste spilled from collection pools, and some radiation was released into the ocean and into the atmosphere. Oh, and the reactor appears to have been built on a fault line. But we're told not to worry.

More evidence of the biofuel craze affecting the food supply:

TOKYO, May 14 (Reuters) - Japanese food and service prices are creeping up, a possible sign that companies are finally starting to pass on higher raw material costs to customers despite overall tame consumer inflation, analysts say.

Yet again, another example of the food for fuel problem. Mayonnaise maker Kewpie announced yesterday [in Japanese] that the price of mayonnaise will increase by 10% as of June. As you know, mayonnaise is its own food group in Japan, so this is serious news. The reports on TV made a point of noting how the price of mayonnaise hasn't changed in 17 years.

As I mentioned previously, the media has reported with great fanfare the introduction of bioethanol to Japan. Hooray for technology!