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Japan Striving For Energy Efficiency
diamond writes "The NYT has an article on how Japan is squeezing to get the most out of the costly fuel. 'The government recently introduced a national campaign, urging the Japanese to replace their older appliances and buy hybrid vehicles, all part of a patriotic effort to save energy and fight global warming.'"
Hopefully this starts a global trend
I can't open the article (link down?), but I would not be surprised if this is yet another shady deal between the Japanese government and major manufacturers to keep people buying new products.
The compulsory registration fees already make it expensive enough to run a car here, and suspect this is more of the same - "keep people purchasing, and keep the economy afloat." After all, it has worked for the last 50 years here.
Is that China uses 11.5x the energy of Japan for the same industrial output. (I'm assuming that means equal in $). Are factories in China that much less efficient than their Japanese counterparts? Or is it the type of manufacturing currently done in China is in general more energy hungry than the manufacturing done in Japan?
Monstar L
There's a theory I've read that Gojira (Godzilla) symbolizes Japan's perception of America, on one hand rising out of the ocean and dealing out crude destruction to Japanese cities, on the other hand having a kind of elemntal fascination for them. In some movies Gojira is painted in a tragic, or even heroic light.
So, what we're talking about is more like an oportunity to sell Godzilla a more energy efficient water heater.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
FWIW, australia's state level governments (such as the Victorian Bracks government) are all imposing tough emissions controls in line with the kyoto protocol.
The reason why australia didn't ratify kyoto is because kyoto also counts all forest fires as emissions of CO2, because, well, they are emissions of CO2.
Australia has forest fires larger than engliand in the western australian forests every year. If australia ratified kyoto and got on the emissions trading scheme, australia would be economically crippled by having to buy emissions credits all the time. So Howard looked after the bottom line and refused to sign.
Now, if only we could find a way to prevent forest fires. I have a friend who is trying to get a job as a postgraduate research assistant at the Victorian Fire Prevention Center with her very good botany degree... maybe she can help.
And when the batteries are spent, they are traded in for new ones. The old ones are sent to the smelter, melted down and made into new batteries. Its cheaper to recycle than to prepare a bunch of ore.
I thought the Prius batteries were warrantied for 10 years, not 8.
From BBC news: "Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is leading the way A wave of informality is due to sweep through Japan with a government campaign to persuade office workers to abandon their jackets and ties."
8 329.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/459
- Some species of whales (Fin and Sei, IIRC) are approaching or exceeding historcal population levels, though data on their historical population numbers are scarce.
- Cetacean whales are large, grazing planktivores... i.e. analogous to cows. There is almost no scientific data to support (or oppose) any intelligence claims for large cetaceans (as opposed to the smaller odontocetes, dolphins and their ilk, which have been shown to have excellent problem solving and communication abilities).
Agreed, some species of whales are endangered, and Japanese hunting practices have been shown to be indiscriminate (genetic testing of market whale meat), but unconditionally opposing the hunting of whales while eating steak has an odor of hypocrisy.A more reasoned approach would address issues such as acoustic pollution (cutting off large cetacean communication), shipping deaths (Northern Right Whale), and bioaccumulation in the food chain (several of the top predators, including killer whales, belugas, and polar bears). To do this, though, we have to change our way of life, consuming less and more locally produced stuff and reducing chemical use.
Save the Whales! Looks great on a poster, but IMHO it's horribly simplistic and ignores much more serious systemic problems.
... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.