Japan Squeezes to Get the Most of Costly Fuel

Surging oil prices and growing concerns about meeting targets to cut greenhouse gases produced by burning fossil fuels have revived efforts around the world to improve energy efficiency. But perhaps nowhere is the interest greater than here in Japan.

Even though Japan is already among the most frugal countries in the world, 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 ...

On the Matsushita appliance showroom floor these days, the numbers scream not the low, low yen prices, but the low, low kilowatt-hours.

... a number of other affluent countries with few domestic energy resources of their own are responding in similar ways.

In Germany ... a new energy saving law has as its standard the "seven-liter house," designed to use just seven liters of oil to heat one square meter for a year, about one-third the amount consumed by a house built in 1973, before the first oil price shock. Three-liter houses - even one-liter designs - are now being built.

[lookie, Singapore got a mention too]

In Singapore, where year-round air-conditioning often accounts for 60 percent of a building's power bill, new codes are encouraging the use of things like heat-blocking window films and hookups to neighborhood cooling systems, where water is chilled overnight.

In Hong Kong, many more buildings now have "intelligent" elevator systems in which computers minimize unnecessary stops. Parking restrictions encourage bus and rail transit, and authorities are also pushing hybrid cars equipped with engines that shut down when idling ...

- I'd suppose the jury is still out. "Rome" or "Trantor"?

In "Rome", societies try their best to ward off collapse by protecting the cities which are the centres of affluence, power and population concentration, while the edges of the nation (or empire as the case may be) start to fray. Individuals in these societies work together to increase the administrative and technological complexity of their societies in order to make the most efficient use of dwindling resources. Suitable professions may include positions in the public sector, engineering, and military. The decline is inevitable, but it is a slow-crash scenario which takes some years to play out.

In "Trantor", societies collapse from the centre outwards, as dwindling resources and the ever-increasing complexity of bureaucracy and administration takes its toll on the centralized government. Eventually the central government collapses under its own weight. Individuals in these societies must attempt to live as far away from the central region as possible in order to avoid the chaos that ensues in the uprising, rebellion or sack that occurs. Suitable professions may include farming, blacksmithing, and healthcare. The decline is a fast-crash scenario, played out over a short period of months - or less.

- If only this were an Amazing Race episode and you get to "choose between two choices, each with its own pros and cons". What would you choose? Rome, or Trantor? Best if you read the above in your best Phil Keoghan voice :)

- Actually, the pessimistic point of view is that "Rome" and "Trantor" refer to the same thing. The not-so-pessimistic view may counter that it's just a matter of timing, "Rome" taking place near the beginning of the end, and "Trantor", well, near the "end of the end". The optimists? Well, shrug, they'll probably talk about the "Technological Singularity", "zero-point energy", "First Contact" - or something. But then, we were all supposed to own flying cars by now, remember?

What about Coruscant, then. High tech, no collapse, just sort of, well, muddles along. At least till the Yuuzhan Vong arrive ...

(2005-06-05 00:14:58 SGT) [Energy] Permalink Comments [1]