Saving Electricity in Summer

Summer is here in Japan. I feel that it is hotter than Malaysia and my apartment is a heat collector. I can feel the heat wave. So, stand fan alone is not enough to cool me down, I had difficulty in breathing. I had to use air conditioner, albeit with some guilty conscience. Not only it wastes electricity, it pollutes the environment with the green house gases. I blamed it on the apartment design though.

So, for the air conditioner, I set the temperature at 28 degree Celsius. According to some websites, for every 1 degree Celsius down, the electricity consumption will increase by 3 to 5 %. Of course, I use the combination of air conditioner and fan to cool down the room.

After the Japan 311 earthquakes, whole Japan faces decrease supply of electricity after the nuclear reactors were closed for maintenance and inspection. So, the government and the power utility companies encouraged people to save electricity. One of the solutions is to have ‘green curtain’ to cool down the indoor temperature.

green curtain outside a building (it was bushier a month ago)

green curtain outside a wall in Canal City, Fukuoka

The green curtain is vine type plants grew on trellis outside buildings. It can lower the room temperature inside the building by a few degrees. The most common plant in Japan is bitter gourd. Not only it provides the shades, cool down the temperature, it provides fresh bitter gourd for food too!

I did not take hot water shower too to save energy. In fact, this is summer! I just could not understand why there are a lot of people who take hot shower and switch on the air conditioner after that. 

Others include adjust the screen monitor dimmer, unplug the electrical items when not in use, wash full load of clothes in the washing machine, switch off the light when it was not needed, dry my clothes under the hot sun instead of dryer, use thermos flask instead of thermo pot to store hot water, etc. 

By the way, I think that a lot of people are hypocrite, they supported the 'Earth Hour' by switching off the light for one hour, but continue to use air-conditioner whole day and set it at a very low temperature (even at night), or use hot water even in a hot afternoon to bath, or do not switch off the light and fans when there is no one in a room (especially in a place where one is not the one to pay the electrical bill), fascinate with the big cars and new gadgets (Gadget creates disposal issue too, it is very difficult and sometimes hazardous to be recycle), drive even though it is a walking distance, waste water, etc. The worse thing is the ceremonies associated with 'earth hour', people drive to these events, light up candles, barbecues, having concerts ......... How many fuels are wasted on driving, how many CO2 are released into the air? 'Earth Hour' should be a quiet private affair with family or friends, not the energy wasting activities.