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Tokyo, 15 other prefectures facing power shortage

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set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

The ministry said power saving will likely be needed between 8 a.m. and 11 p.m. on Tuesday

Give us all an extra national day off, so that we don't need to go to the company with a cold office.

And if we should save electricty, I am fine to switch off all lights, printers, fax machines, PCs after running out of battery...

An extra national holiday is always welcome.

28 ( +37 / -9 )

Simple, turn off all these streets, signs, display, and all the unnecessary lights in Tokyo alone and watch the consumption rate drop to 70 ~ 60%.

50 ( +56 / -6 )

TEPCO seems to be running a procarious power grid. While maintaining a massive profit. Balance seems off.

37 ( +47 / -10 )

Close the pachinko parlors to conserve electricity.

62 ( +66 / -4 )

TEPCO

'nuff said.

23 ( +28 / -5 )

Pachinko parlors are one of private business sectors. Govt/tepco/any can't force them to stop electricity. Japan is not dictatorship country.

-26 ( +12 / -38 )

Pachinko parlors are one of private business sectors. Govt/tepco/any can't force them to stop electricity. Japan is not dictatorship country.

Uh, did you read the article?

It says: "The Japanese government on Monday issued a warning over tight energy supply, urging people in Tokyo and some other areas to save electricity".

It also says: "TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity".

Urging and asking. Nowhere in the article nor in m post does it say "force".

Whatever.

21 ( +30 / -9 )

Have they unified the national power grid yet? They said they would in the future in case of emergencies just after 3/11.

22 ( +26 / -4 )

Pachinko parlors are one of private business sectors. Govt/tepco/any can't force them to stop electricity. Japan is not dictatorship country.

It was planet-be-damned business as usual for Pachinko parlours during the last 節電.

So much for SDGs!

14 ( +20 / -6 )

@Tom San

"force" is not proper word. People would conserve as much electricity as they can, otherwise power failutre would happen in the middle of the day.

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

You know, if the gov subsidized solar panels for homes instead of bailing out that USELESS company...just saying.

Give us all an extra national day off, so that we don't need to go to the company with a cold office.

And if we should save electricty, I am fine to switch off all lights, printers, fax machines, PCs after running out of battery...

An extra national holiday is always welcome.

Excellent idea Monty! Or just let people work from home and turn off the office lights..

9 ( +22 / -13 )

TEPCO abhorrent company and inept at every level!

25 ( +31 / -6 )

MontyToday  07:11 am JST

Give us all an extra national day off, so that we don't need to go to the company with a cold office.

An extra national holiday is always welcome.

Are you happy to take it as an unpaid day off? Or do you expect your company to absorb the cost?

-17 ( +7 / -24 )

Why can apparently uneducated plebs on this site actually know what to do? And Tokyo university educated management of a huge power company (government) be so clueless? Think there might be a problem with management? The solution is obvious stop these, as above annoying tv screens, loop music and yelling. I’m in your shop to shop? I don’t need all of these electrical devices to encourage me… I m there already! And huge Screens doors open at convenience stores AC pumping. Not even a start of energy waist., 20 degrees in the 3rd largest economy in the world. Phuuuut

12 ( +20 / -8 )

@Tom San

"force" is not proper word. People would conserve as much electricity as they can, otherwise power failutre would happen in the middle of the day

Nowhere in any of my posts did I use the word "force". You're the one who did.

In my original post, I said "Close the pachinko parlors, blah, blah, blah...

You have a problem with that?

2 ( +7 / -5 )

The OLs will still have their heaters under the desks and hot pads on their chairs otherwise they cannot function, apparently.

13 ( +21 / -8 )

"supply from its solar plants will likely be limited due to weather", highlighting the unreliability of solar power when reliable power is needed.

And, they should add, refrain from charging up the EV batteries for the time being.

Welcome Spring! Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

It's very rare for me to be on the same side as TEPCO, but I am all in favour of this.

I am utterly sick of spending all day, every day sheened in perspiration in a 27°C office while arafo "office ladies" of no determinate job description pretend it's still cold inside because the calendar states it's still March outside.

Check the dictionary for what "room temperature" means. If my Snickers bar is melting, it isn't cold

9 ( +17 / -8 )

In my original post, I said "Close the pachinko parlors, blah, blah, blah...

You have a problem with that?

I wonder why you chose pachinko parlors only to conserve electricity? So many people enjoy it. I'm sure you know there are millions of other places using a lot of electricity besides pachinko. Why pachinko?

-15 ( +6 / -21 )

And next will come the price increases to secure stable energy supply.

anyone wanna bet?

14 ( +16 / -2 )

time to listen to everyone repeating the word "samui" 50 times while wearing an expensive down jacket with heat tech underneath and a blanket over their shoulder in 20 degree temperature.

13 ( +18 / -5 )

I wonder why you chose pachinko parlors only to conserve electricity? So many people enjoy it. I'm sure you know there are millions of other places using a lot of electricity besides pachinko. Why pachinko?

A pachinko parlor with 300 machines spends approx. 12,000,000 yen on electricity annually.

A pachinko parlor with 780 machines spends something in the range of 42,000,000 yen annually.

As of 2020, there were 9,035 pachinko parlors in Japan.

FYI, 50% of that electricity is used to keep the AC running, 20% to operate the machines, another 20% to provide lighting while the rest goes to misc. electrical devices such as fax machines, surveillance cameras, etc. used in the store.

Hey, Tokyo alone has 730 pachinko parlors.

That's quite a lot of electricity that's being wasted on a useless, but popular form of gambling here in Japan that resulted in some 1,329 cases of addiction-related crime in 2017.

To be honest, I haven't the slightest idea as to what the number is right now.

Your guess is as good as mine.

18 ( +22 / -4 )

It’s 11 years now.

after the nuclear disaster and the hidden information on the 1000 year cost of NPP…

if I was PM, 10 yrs ago… New rules. Every new house and company Must have solar panels. Utilize geothermal, wind and wave technology. Double glaze houses. Develop technologies for chargeable electric car with back-up solar chargers on the car/trucks roof. Hydroelectric.

but we have maybe drunken rich dinosaur bosses all over 75 years who make all the decisions.

like trade war with China and Russia. If we innovate and cooperate…the world is our oyster.

9 ( +16 / -7 )

@Tom San

You must be an expert about pachino parlors business. I'm very impressed. I understood pachinko parlors use a lot of electricity. However pachinko parlors business pay enormous a lot of tax to the government and it uses that money for people's benefits. Today is hardest time for people but power plants are recovering soon. No worry about saving electricity next week.

-16 ( +3 / -19 )

Further proof, as if we still need any, that solar and wind power are nice as auxiliary power supplies but completely useless when it comes to maintaining baseload power. Japan needs to look at safer nuclear tech such as thorium if it wants to ensure a stable energy supply while keeping the watermelons at bay.

Otherwise, if TEPCO and the other power companies can't keep their nukes running safely (and they should be able to do this without too much trouble), it'll be rolling blackouts every time there's a decent quake. Most people have absolutely no idea about the long-term, overall cost vs benefit balance of low-density energy from wind and solar compared to high-density energy supplies like nuclear and fossil fuels. They've just fallen for the fawning press and subsidy fountain paid for with other people's money.

-10 ( +5 / -15 )

supply from its solar plants will likely be limited due to weather

Yes, of course, officially I believe everything, as always. lol

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Turn off the mains power in all Tokyo offices at 5:30 on the dot.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

If you set the heating to 20°C in an average Japanese apartment or house, you might as well be asking them to live outside in the cold. The absolute lack of insulation and ridiculously drafty rooms means that houses and apartments are freezing in winter. No thanks. Why not instead, shut down those blinding neon billboards and signs (pachinko parlors, I'm looking at you), ask shops to turn off those relentless speakers promoting gods only knows what, and make WFH mandatory so people don't need to go into offices?

9 ( +16 / -7 )

Aly - Many people live in flats and lack space for any realistice solar-panel energy. I have a portable 100W/H and only if I constantly move it can I get anything close to 20W/H from it. I charge a battery and get enough daily power to re-charge all my small electric devices include a chrome-book.

For sure. I'm not saying everyone can have solar panels- especially if they live in apartments, but for those that do have houses, it would be good- just to release pressure off of others who don't have that option.

I personally liked it after fukushima when shops reduced lighting, the railway companies turned off lighting and everyone was a bit more careful with their energy use. Sadly this will be a short term thing and as soon as people can waste energy they will.

agree

-2 ( +8 / -10 )

Restart nuclear .

In a day like today, solar and wind energies are nearly useless.

No lesson learned from the 2011 Fukushima accident regarding energy savings. Since then, all the useless lights and screens etc have been turned on, consommation is at its maximum.

Reduce lights in offices.

Turn off all the unnecessary electrical appliances. It must apply to businesses.

Do energy savings on a daily basis

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

You must be an expert about pachino parlors business. I'm very impressed. I understood pachinko parlors use a lot of electricity. However pachinko parlors business pay enormous a lot of tax to the government and it uses that money for people's benefits. Today is hardest time for people but power plants are recovering soon. No worry about saving electricity next week.

Are you aware that much of the money pachinko parlors earn finds its way to North Korea?

Also, we were on the topic of energy consumption, not taxes or how they're used.

Don't deflect.

Stay on topic.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Are you aware that much of the money pachinko parlors earn finds its way to North Korea?

Also, we were on the topic of energy consumption, not taxes or how they're used.

Don't deflect.

Stay on topic.

@Tom San

I've heard many years ago about sending money to NK, but according to govt, so they can't send money now because long time sanction is still going on. NK ships even can't come to Japan. Hey! I think this is off topic. Pachinko business is one of the biggest industries in Japan. So most pachinko owners will not close parlors but they conserve electricity.

-7 ( +2 / -9 )

Whilst it may be true that TEPCO is a shitty company which badly let us all down with regards to nuclear safety, I think we should all use a bit of common sense here. They're asking us to try and cut consumption so that we don't have power cuts. I would personally prefer not to have a power cut, so I will be taking some small steps to reduce my consumption. Perhaps if we all do that, as requested, nobody will have a power cut and TEPCO's revenues will be ever-so-slightly reduced.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

For a self proclaimed modern futuristic looking society where the population live in housing that is a fancy garage at best (I’m in a new one) it seems odd to say the least that after 11 years of nuclear being pretty much off line we again have official please don’t use too much power? What have the Government been doing for 11 years? It’s madness.

5 ( +12 / -7 )

but they conserve electricity.

Those numbers I gave were from 2020 which means those pachinko parlors that cared enough would have already been making use of energy conservation technologies and taking advantage of the associated government subsidies, of course.

The numbers are still pretty big even after the conservation, aren't they?

So, that brings me back to my original argument that pachinko parlors should be high on the list of companies to cut back on electricity consumption, even more so since this particular form of gambling destroys the lives of so many Japanese and their families. Just because the pachinko parlors pay taxes and air commercials on TV doesn't get them off the hook.

Oh, and just as a reminder, there are ways to move money to NK through Chosen Soren (The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) and with the help of criminal organizations with close ties to NK, even though that's off topic.

I don't know about you, but I'm finished with this thread.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

What have the Government been doing for 11 years?

Lots of studies and meetings of course. Mustn't make any quick hasty decisions. That would be reckless and irresponsible.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Turn all the nukes back on.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

Matthew HopkinsToday  12:20 pm JST

vaatharian - Nuclear energy has a cost on building and destroying plants. It also has a small amount of waste that is dangerous for 100's of years after, that needs to be stored safely. I would agree solar/wind are not stable but nuclear has never been a good long-term solution.

I personally think hydrogen production and use is the answer. It however is very early in development, needs billions to be spent on infrastructure and R&D, it would also need to be installed into every-home in the country. A massive task and a long-term goal. Therefore all countries needs short and mid term solutions which was effectively gas until it all went wrong in Ukraine and fracking was thought to cause earthquakes.

Having said that the nuclear lobby is rich and powerful and it looks quite obvious it has won and more nuclear plants will be built around the world.

Matthew, thanks for your answer.

Unfortunately nothing is free of cost - everything has a trade-off. That's what I mentioned thorium. Yes, it's a nuclear technology but far safer than uranium or plutonium fuel because there's no risk of a runaway chain reaction that would cause a meltdown. Thorium was trialled back in the 50s and 60s and worked well, but couldn't produce any fissile material for bombs so was eventually ignored. There are some small trial reactors operating or being built now though, so there's potential for it yet. And the waste's radioactivity level is far lower and easier to manage.

Regarding hydrogen, it has some merits, especially that it's clean-burning, but I haven't looked into it that deeply. A major issue is storage and transportation. Hydrogen embrittles most steels, so producing the infrastructure to hold and transport it is proving to be economically prohibitive on a large scale because materials that can handle it are expensive.

I'm just not convinced that wind and solar are reliable sources of caseload energy that can keep industrialised countries ticking over smoothly. And there are the high environmental costs that go into manufacturing and decommissioning the infrastructure, not to mention the batteries required. They're fine as backups and for small-area residential communities, but fall way short when it comes to supplying industry, greenwashing notwithstanding.

I agree that the nuclear lobby has been rich and powerful, but nowadays the so-called green energy lobby is in the same boat - basically existing off taxpayer-funded subsidies. But at least the nuclear industry could deliver the goods.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Might be time to consolidate the power grid. What is the reason for its segregation? Can anyone give me a reason?

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

CrickyToday  03:13 pm JST

Might be time to consolidate the power grid. What is the reason for its segregation? Can anyone give me a reason?

It's because they run at different frequencies - eastern Japan at 50 Hz and western Japan (from Tokai westward) at 60 Hz. They are connected, but apparently the conversion capacity is limited, so there are restrictions in how much power can move between the two zones at any time.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Turn all the nukes back on.

I'm afraid there might be not enough nuclear fuel in Japan as current generation of Japanese nuclear stations require U235 and Japan is buying it from US, while US is buying it from Russia.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Two grids is smart. Tokyo goes down, but Osaka and Aichi can still make takoyaki and cars.

was seen during after 3/11 Eastern Japan had power issues but hardly any issues in western Japan.

Never been an inconvenience to me.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Unplug all the vending machines. Problem solved.

12 ( +13 / -1 )

ajk

True. Russia refines almost 50% of the worlds uranium. And a huge amount of yellowcake comes from Kazakhstan. The local nukes sold a lot of their stockpiled U235 at stupid prices and will now have to buy it at a higher price. But there is really no other viable option.....

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Can’t you just simply accept the physics laws and rules as they were taught you at school and university? There is no easy, no difficult and also no magical solution for your energy problems and phantasies. You just always have to put more resources and other energy in to get the wished transformed energy amount out for usage. And if you try to save it for later or transport it over longer distances you just only even increase that loss effect. Please, please, give it up , dear hobby and professional magicians, you cannot succeed and better care about something else where you eventually might have a little potential of influence.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

It should run on one fequecy nation wide, what is wrong with these people? How many problems are solved, I say idiots. Got the money apparently spend it on something worthwhile.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

How stupid is it to have duel none matching supply, Christ it should be a no brainer.. It’s just so stupid on so many levels, and so easy to fix. Not like it’s a waste of time or money. But as it’s Japan the meetings will need several years to decide that it’s not the time to change anything.

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

I run the electric a/c wall unit for ten or fifteen minutes in the early morning to bring the kitchen/dining area up to 18 degrees. Plenty warm enough to get dressed. 20 degrees would be a luxury.

This power crunch is caused partly by the recent earthquake, a regular shut-down of two coal-fired power stations, and a sudden cold front. Tepco were taken by surprise, seeing their dials indicating 103% over-capacity power usage

1 ( +2 / -1 )

First of all, I'm not cooperating with their request.

conserve energy by turning off lights when not needed

Power consumption by LEDs or CFLs are negligible.

If you really want to preserve energy, turn off the power of all those needless vending machines on every corner, turn off the neon signs of shops and other establishments and most important turn off the heating inside of shopping malls and department stores. Those are set to too high temperatures anyways.

But all that wouldn't have been necessary, if all those perfectly fine nuclear power plants weren't taken off the grid after 2011.

-8 ( +2 / -10 )

Just got a email they will switch of the electricty in two hours they expect that it will take 3 hours to get up again .. lol they blame the users that they use too much energy .. switch on those GREEEEEEN nukes power plants ASP !!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

However pachinko parlors business pay enormous a lot of tax to the government and it uses that money for people's benefits.

Correction: Pachinko parlors evade an enormous amount of tax by the government turning a blind eye to a business that is technically illegal and uses steel balls and payment windows around the corner to normalize organized crime connected gambling.

And they waste an enormous amount of electricity.

Fixed it for you.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Kwatt, you say, "Pachinko parlors are one of private business sectors. Govt/tepco/any can't force them to stop electricity. Japan is not dictatorship country."

What about bars?

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Back on topic please

And for those of you who are afraid to loose power. The frequency for the TEPCO region is pretty stable at the moment. It would have to fall below 49 Hz for the automatic load shedding to get triggered.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Time from Japan’s nuclear renaissance

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

How about providing proper subsidies to build well-insulated homes? Even new single family homes / 一戸建て built in the area might as well have walls made out of paper in terms of insulation effectiveness.

Oh well, for today I've had pretty much everything off except light and computer in the office. I'll keep that on for now!

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Can they not have the power outage tomorrow? Today is snowing and obviously people will need to use electricity.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Good thing we are in spring season. Not too cold like winter and not too hot like summer.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Turn off all the street lights and traffic signals.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

It's been cold today, so I've had the heating on at home all day. But just turned it off as we approach the 8 p.m mark. Have sorted a hot water bottle. Just waiting for my partner to arrive now so we can use the microwave for dinner. Then, I'm having an early night. Just hope the morons in charge of Japanese energy start producing more power via wind, solar, hydro, tidal and thermal backed up by battery. We shouldn't have to all risk nuclear disasters because Japan is dependent upon coal, gas and oil imports. Or suffer outages. Get it sorted please Japan!

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Turn off all the street lights and traffic signals.

Turn off building lights and powered advertising signs at night and reduce street lighting to every second lamp (50% cut). Traffic signals keeps traffic safe.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

How do they think we can ever switch to all electric cars if the power grid is so fragile that it can't handle an earthquake and a few plants going offline? Clearly there is nowhere near the redundancy and oversupply needed to even toy with the idea of charging more electric cars.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

I just came back home, and the PACHINKO in my are is FULLY lighten up like nothing is wrong, so selfish and inconsiderate , the good news is IT IS EMPTY and the parking area has about 20 cars possibly the staff.

Yes, Yes, Yes. Japanese really know how to fight back.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

the message from Telco and the media is changing by the half hour.

They either don't know what's happening or, I suspect, its just a ploy to panic people into conserving power.

Either way, its unacceptable.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

You'd think that following the 2011 Quake, Japan would have sorted out their 50/60 Hz split within the Country and standardized it so that Power could be more effectively distributed.

While perhaps a little strange, I don't think the frequency split is the main problem. Both parts of the country are big, so it's reasonable to expect both parts could/should create a sufficient base supply.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

My advice, cut back on the electricity according to postal code, kind of like a lottery system. What I mean to cut back on power is cut back by 30% during the non peak hours and 20% during the peak hours. Just lower the brightness on the lights. In California during the summer, which is most of the year, people go to the pool or shopping malls to cool off, rather than using the cooler. Give credits for people using a ride share program, bicycle commuting, and/or train commute.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

TEPCO is asking households and companies to turn off unnecessary lights and set their heating at 20 C to save electricity.

It's very rare for me to be on the same side as TEPCO, but I am all in favour of this.

I am utterly sick of spending all day, every day sheened in perspiration in a 27°C office while arafo "office ladies" of no determinate job description pretend it's still cold inside because the calendar states it's still March outside.

Check the dictionary for what "room temperature" means. If my Snickers bar is melting, it isn't cold

Lets trade.....my school is freezing...windows wide open, doors open. Heating is present but not switched on.....despite it being in the low single digits and yesterday it snowed a significant amount. I am not someone who usually complains about the cold and used to deride my co-workers when they said it was cold......that was before I swapped my sea level job for one up the mountains.

Japan is poor in fossil fuels, but rich in geothermal energy and gets significant sunlight........yet it's the old fossil fuel imports that Japan relies on. Nuclear we will leave for another discussion. The fat envelopes are passed to the government and ridiculous rumours spread about the effect of geothermal energy production on onsens. Iceland, a country rich in geothermal energy production AND has a huge culture of hot spring use, has tried to send advisors to suggest developing the infrastructure for Japan to be energy independent....but no....the wild rumours of cooling hot springs persist. The ironic thing? Most of the technology used in harnassing geothermal power has been developed by Japanese companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Japan EXPORTS the technology to Iceland. Typical backward politics by the JGov

3 ( +3 / -0 )

They either don't know what's happening or, I suspect, its just a ploy to panic people into conserving power.

Either way, its unacceptable.

I think it's quite responsible of them, actually. Makes a change.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

While I have no objection to keeping my home power consumption as low as possible, for the sake of both the environment and my utility bill, I resent the onus being put on the individual. Japan in general, and Tokyo in particular, is easily the most over-lit place I have ever encountered. According to the season, either heat or air conditioning blast out of open shopfronts, benefitting no-one. Train cars, packed with commuters in winter coats, are heated to the perspiration point.

The responsibility needs to start with the public and commercial sphere, who are both clearly the main offenders and very effective at setting the "tone" for the citizenry.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Just had another read-through of the article and discovered this sentence buried in there: "The two utilities said the outage could occur Tuesday night if hydroelectric power plants run out of water to pump in."

That seems to suggest that there is/was pumped hydroelectric backup for emergencies, but looking at their needles they were worried that the dams used for that purpose could run dry during the night.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Back in 2011, the then Governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara said:

"Don't use vending machines. You can buy your drinks at convenience stores and cool them at home."

"Japan is the only country in the world that wastes electricity on those rattling Pachinko machines."

He was right.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Maybe 20+ years back I read that it takes the complete output of one nuclear powerplant to run all of Japan's vending machines.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

All power stations are designed to max. earthquake conditions. So, are the pumps and equipment. So even in a moderate tremor, Tokyo and many prefectures are facing power shortages, what happens when there is another 2011 Tohoku big quake?

The entire Metropolitan Tokyo will be paralysed for weeks? Good luck to chasing up the property prices.

Tokyo is long overdue for a major earthquake. And Mt Fuji may even erupt again.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Well, number 1. Everyone shut off their heaters. Everyone.

And Number 2, first do number 1.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Turn off all the street lights and traffic signals.

A lot of the streets in Japan are already pitch black during the night due to lack of street lights, and I'm not talking about the countryside.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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