Saving energy in everyday life

After the Fukushima nuclear disaster nuclear power has been discussed a lot in Japan, however unlike other countries Japan has not decided to drop out of nuclear power altogether. After the disaster, several nuclear power plants in Japan were shut down, however gradually they started operating again.

The Japanese government is of the opinion that nuclear power is necessary for Japan, but researchers say that the country could make a lot better use of their environmental-friendly energy.

With a long coastline, Japan has large capacities for wind generation, but you rarely see wind turbines in Japan, do you? Also, with a large number of hot spring areas geothermal energy would be ideal for Japan as well, but there are concerns that the number of tourists would decrease if generators were built.

As a foreign resident in Japan, you do no get the right to vote unless you apply for citizenship, so our ways to have an influence on political decisions here are quite limited, but we can still try to decrease our personal energy consumption and thereby also decrease our electricity bills.

Smart use of air-conditioning

When you use your air conditioning in winter maybe you can set it a few degrees lower and instead put on warmer clothing. In summer it is recommended to have the air conditioning set between 28-30 degrees. This also helps you to avoid air conditioner-related diseases that occur when the difference between the inside and outside temperature is higher than 5 degrees. It also helps to regularly clean the filters and, of course, make sure to not forget to switch it off when you leave the house. 

Regularly cleaning your air conditioning filters helps to save energy.

Things to keep in mind when using the refrigerator

Try to make the time the refrigerator door is open as short as possible. When you want to put your groceries away, first take them out of your pack and put them on a table so that you can put them in the refrigerator more efficiently. Also, make sure to throw away unnecessary items timely. The more stuff you have in the refrigerator the more energy it uses. When you want to store food in the refrigerator that is still warm place it somewhere else for a while so that it can cool down.

Do not keep the refrigerator open longer than necessary.

Make sure to switch off lights 

When you leave a room for a longer period of time, make sure to switch off all the lights. Also, if you use a remote control to switch your light on and off it will use extra energy just for the remote control function. It might be a bit inconvenient but when you leave the house to go to work it is a good idea to switch the lights off at the switch to save some extra energy.

Instead of using the remote try using the switch when you leave the house.

Other things 

Most rice cookers have a function to keep your rice warm. This is very convenient, however it constantly uses energy. Instead, it would a better idea to reheat your rice in the microwave.

When cooking you can make sure that there are no water drops left on the stove before you turn it on, to save energy.

These are just a few things you can do to reduce your energy consumption here in Japan. It might not be easy to watch out for unnecessary energy consumption every day, but if we all watch out a little more, the numbers might add up.