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Hints for fighting back against ballooning energy costs

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Just when the meteorologists are forecasting a cold winter in the Northern Hemisphere due to La Nina, the nation's utility companies are in the process of jacking up prices. Tokyo Electric Power Co has already announced a price increase of 133 yen for standard residences from November, and from January the increase is expected to rise by 1,000 yen or higher.

Rika Kashiwagi's "Knowledge for New Survival Living" column in Nikkan Gendai (Oct 27) looks at the emerging picture and offers a few suggestions for keeping down the monthly power bills.

What has happened, she explains, is that the price for liquified natural gas (LNG) has soared by more than tenfold since last year. The causes of the increase are numerous, and include greater demand, rapid recovery of the world's economy from the coronavirus pandemic and heavy purchasing by China. In another year or so, demand is expected to drop, but China's long-term purchases are likely to continue.

Another factor in demand for LNG is that more countries are weaning themselves away from coal to cut down on carbon emissions.

LNG is produced by chilling natural gas to minus 162 degrees Centigrade, which reduces its mass by a factor of 600. Production volume remained relatively low due to the high cost of importing, but faced with increased demand, this does not bode well for long-term consumer costs for gas and electricity.

One of the simplest ways for a family to save, writes Kashiwagi, is for households utilizing propane gas to switch over to city gas, as this will realize a maximum of 30% in savings. She also advises people to bathe before 5 p.m., while the ambient temperature is warmer. The colder the room becomes, the more gas is consumed to maintain the water temperature.

Laundry, if hung to dry in the bathing area, should also be reserved for warmer times of the day, as it will dry faster than at night or on rainy days.

She also offers another suggestion: after bathing, fill as many plastic bottles as practical with hot water left in the tub and set them together in the family room, as this will serve as a primitive heater for several hours without incurring additional utility bills.

By switching individual electric heating pads to the "Low" setting, power consumption is reduced by half.

The thermostat temperature should not be set any higher than 20 degrees. (Each 1-degree increment can raise the bill by 10%.) Another thing people can do is take duct tape to fasten curtains shut (to better insulate from windows). Mattresses and small carpets also work to keep cold from seeping up from the flooring.

To lower gas consumption you can also reduce the amount of cooking time for meat dishes by up to five minutes by dicing them into small segments and stir-frying them.

Energy bills are going up, but you can battle back, by perhaps as much as 20%, by adopting simple and practical measures such as these.

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20 Comments
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You can also:

-Exercise to keep warm. -Eat food that does not need to be cooked and drink water rather than hot drinks. -Use more spices, peppers and alliums in your cooking. -Bathe less or switch entirely to wipes. -A short haircut will require less hot water to keep clean. -Ration water and have a strip wash rather than a bath or shower. -Pick a job that doesn't involve home working, so you can keep warm in the office for free. -Spend your evening doing circles of the Yamanote line. -Wear multiple layers of clothes. A warm hat, fleece-lined coat and gloves indoors will help. -Increasingly insulate your home with bubble-wrap as you accumulate it from parcels. -Switch from electric lighting to candles or purchase a hat with an LED light in the front. -A transistor radio will use less power than a TV or computer. -Get up at dawn and go to bed at dusk, making the most of natural light. -Spend weekends in shops, the library or the local mall. -Switch from gas central heating to individual electric radiators and only use the one near you.

Not looking forward to it? Well, there are loads of people out there who have been doing stuff like this for years because they could not afford heating before the price went up. Older people often live in just one room in their home to reduce their bills.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

The Japanese kotatsu (table with electric foot-warmer) may make a revival. They work on the principle of zukan-sokunetsu (cold head, warm feet). Wearing a wool stocking cap and neck warmer is also a good idea as an uncovered head is responsible for much of the body's heat loss.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Here is a blast from the past: A sweater and a pair of socks.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

The government should impose building standards so that people don't have to waste money heating leaky and poorly insulated homes. A well-built house in Tokyo should need very little heating because it doesn't get that cold. Its another story in Hokkaido, Tohoku and at high altitude, but the biggest cities on the Pacific coast have mild winters. Getting a house to 20C when its 5C outside can be done mostly with sunlight (Tokyo gets 180 hours a month in winter), exhaust heat from cooking, computers etc. Only a small amount of supplementary heat should be necessary.

The recommendations in the article are to help people cope with a fuel price increase, which is probably seen as temporary. However, if everyone is serious about net zero carbon, the same kind of efficiencies and economies are going to have to be done every year to reduce emissions. I struggle to imagine people changing their behaviour to something less comfortable out of choice, but it is part of what will have to happen.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

3LDK place and electric bill always around ¥5000 all year long,and that is with a separate stand alone freezer.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Build more nuclear power plants.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

I'm sorry, but could you imagine someone in either the US or Canada giving this kind of advice to it's citizens! Hey fill up empty pet bottles with hot water and use them as a heater. Cut up your T-bone steak into dice size pieces so it cooks more quickly! Duct tape your curtains!

This just goes to show the complete failure by the government and the construction industry to build safe, energy efficient homes, buildings! I always shake my head when I go to the local home center and see all the bubble wrap being sold to insulate the single paned windows still found in Japan.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

@MarkX there's nothing we ok wrong with giving advice in preparation, the advice won't reach if power really gets cut, energy shortage isn't just in Japan.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

insulate the single paned windows

I have double glazed windows. It's the ridiculous metal frames that let in the cold.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

I live in a temperate area. Changing all of my light bulbs to LEDs brought my energy bill down a lot. We also availed ourselves of Elon Musk's solar panels. The final cost after tax rebates was less than 8,000 US dollars, and brought our yearly electric bill down close to zero. Many of the neighbors have gone with lots of insulation, but it doesn't do all that much in this climate. We also went with double pane windows, but due to where we live, the biggest advantage with them has been the reduced noise.

Most probably don't think too much about it, but the new TVs, with their great picture quality, are also very low-energy users. Thirty years ago we had a 36-inch CRT TV that used about 30 dollars a month in electricity, but our new 55-inch TV uses less than 30 dollars a year in electricity.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

No talk of adequately insulating houses, adopting heat exchangers to overcome extremes of heat and cold, subsidies for installing solar panels, green roofs? Encouraging people to stick a finger in the dike to plug the leak of money, instead of fixing the problem. These measures could also generate employment by encouraging people to do it through simple subsidy schemes - not massively complicated, carefully limited ones, as usually happens in Japan.

Surely just from the point of view of national security and reducing reliance on imported energy, it would make sense, never mind saving people so much money, enabling them to live more comfortably, and even protecting the environment.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Move out of the house, hunt down and kill a wooly mammoth and use the fur to make a coat and boots. Move into a cave and use fire for heat, but first you should watch on YouTube how to make a fire since it's a lost skill.

Catch fish and hunt small animals, cook the meat over a fire and drink from rainwater caught in big leaves.

It's just like camping...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

A thermal camera or phone/tablet add-on can really help you find the areas that are losing heat and seal your home better. $100+

Uniqlo sells thermal underwear that is exceptional.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Nuclear energy debate going full circle.

This is why Japan needs nuclear as an option.

Without affordable energy Japan's economy can be affected.

Currency can be affected if you read previous articles on energy prices rising.

Way of life can be affected for millions of Japanese who have to make tough decisions.

France is getting 70% of it's energy needs from Nuclear Power and they are not an island nation either like Japan is.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Instead of heating your home at night in winter, use a heated blanket and just heat your bed. Once you start using one, you won't want to stop. You can cut back on whole-home gas central heating by using electric oil-filled radiators wherever you are, watching TV or working.

Cheap solutions are good solutions. Landlords won't invest additional cash in rental properties and most owners can't afford big ticket items like heat pumps and solar panels.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Move to Okinawa…

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Ah yes, I miss the good old days in Japan of huddling around the heated toilet seat in the winter to keep warm.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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