Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

For the past while, I've been seeing reports on TV and in the newspapers about the danger of hybrid vehicles being too quiet when running on battery power at low speeds. This isn't something new, but as more hybrids take to the roads, pedestrians are worrying about their safety. The Japan Times reported on it last month:

One of the virtues of owning a hybrid or electric car is its super-quiet noise signature. But worries are growing that blind people are being endangered by the vehicles' silence.

The government has set up a panel involving automakers, consumer groups and organizations for the blind to find a solution, which could lead to the emission of virtual engine noise or sounds similar to cell phone ring tones, officials said.

A legal change would be needed to equip the vehicles with the special noise-making feature.

As for the panel, documents from the their initial meeting suggest that it's not clear a serious problem even exists. One document [PDF] points out that automakers have received 60 inquiries about the quietness of hybrids over the past 4 years. A sampling of the comments suggests the silence of the cars is more of an annoyance than an danger with comments ranging from someone being startled by a hybrid silently creeping up next to them to the hope that hybrids get some other device beside their horn to alert pedestrians.

The danger from quiet hybrids sounds overblown. First, it's not clear that a problem exists. Is the Prius really that quiet or it is the high ambient noise level that makes the car difficult to hear? Lord knows Japan's cities have a terrible noise pollution problem. It's also not clear how mandating that hybrids make a fake engine noise or emit a chime increases safety when regular "noisy" cars aren't any less prone to running over people. Are the horns hybrids are equipped with not good enough to warn people? Is this really a problem with the car or with pedestrians and drivers failing to pay attention to their surroundings or drive with care?

Apart from their fuel economy, hybrid vehicles are an opportunity to reduce the noise pollution that surrounds us all day. The silence of hybrids should be a plus, not a problem. The transport ministry forgets that part of what makes the experience of pedestrian zones (hokosha tengoku) and other public places inviting and pleasurable is their absence of vehicles and the din of traffic. Rather than trying to find a way for pedestrians and cars to co-exist, perhaps the transport ministry should think about separating the two instead of applying a techno band-aid.

The fake engine noise requirement doesn't bode well for electric vehicles if and when they are mass produced. Will they have to make noise as well? The answer, at least in the U.S., seems to be, yes. Cue "car tones."

Remember back in June when when some flights in and out of Japan were delayed or re-routed due to a volcano erupting in the Kuril Islands?

That was the eruption of Sarychev Peak on Matua Island. You may have seen a picture of it, such as this one from Live Science:

Source: Live Science

The International Space Station also captured the eruption on video.

Wow.

The eco-point program is now officially underway with the government accepting applications:

Under the Eco-point system, those who buy designated energy-saving appliances between May 15 and March 31 will be eligible for the points, with one Eco-point worth roughly ¥1.

Points given vary between 6,000 and 9,000 for air conditioners, depending on cooling power, 3,000 and 10,000 for refrigerators depending on capacity and 7,000 and 36,000 for televisions for terrestrial broadcasting depending on the size of screen.

Starting Wednesday, purchasers of these appliances may register Eco-points by mailing applications along with documents such as receipts and copies of product warranties to the Eco-point secretariat. These points may be exchanged for merchandise coupons, electronic money and other items of choice.

For instance, 13,500 Eco-points may be exchanged for ¥12,000 stored in a Suica electronic money card issued by East Japan Railway Co., while 5,000 points are exchangeable for ¥5,000 worth of department store coupons.

So, how can I help the environment by purchasing newer appliances? This is how the points are awarded for refrigerators and TVs:

• Refrigerators
  • 501L or more: 10,000
  • 401L to 500L: 9,000
  • 251Lto 400L: 6,000
  • 250 or less: 3,000
• Digital terrestrial TVs (LCD and plasma)
  • 46-inch or larger: 36,000
  • 40 to 42 inch: 23,000
  • 37-inch: 17,000
  • 26 to 32-inch: 12,000
  • 26-inch or smaller: 7,000

The list of refrigerators eligible for the eco-points program is here [PDF]. TVs are here [PDF].

Note: The links to the lists of eligible appliances seem to have died. They were working a few days ago, but somebody seems to have removed them from this page on the eco-point website.

I currently own a 28-inch Sony TV that is rated at 125W and a 401L Hitachi refrigerator rated at 140W, or 260kWhr/year. Both are 6 years old and in good working order. I want to maximize my points, so that means buying a larger TV and fridge.

Let's go for a Sony 52-inch KDL-52X5050. According to Sony, it consumes 315W, more than double the consumption of my current TV. How about a 46-inch Sharp LC-46AE6? 150 watts. A 40-inch Sharp LC-40AE6? 120W, so I'm better off in terms of consumption, plus I end up with a larger screen although I'm going to have to pay over 100,000 yen for it.

The same goes for refrigerators. The one I have has consumes 260kWhr/year. Let's look at the Hitachi R-SF50YM, which has a capacity of 501L. It consumes approximately 400 kWh/year. How about Panasonic's 470L NR-F473TM? It consumes roughly 390kWh/year. A quick look at the offerings from Panasonic and Hitachi shows that I need to buy a significantly smaller refrigerator if I'm to reduce my energy consumption.

Can you reduce your energy consumption by upgrading to newer appliances? Yes, but only if you pay attention. But when was the last time you thought about power consumption when shopping for an appliance? Sadly, the way the eco-point scheme is structured, consumers are "rewarded" for purchasing larger and more expensive appliances, which also consume more electricity. If you fall into the trap of maximizing your eco-points, you will likely increase your overall electricity consumption instead of reduce it. As I said before, like the 12,000 yen kickback, it's a ploy to boost consumption in the short term under the guise of "being green."

Here we have the sequel to the 12,000 yen give-away:

The government will give up to 39,000 yen in "eco points" to buyers of eco-friendly home appliances under a new environmental program.

If you think you can use those points to purchase more stuff, just like you would if you were shopping at a major electronics retailer, you'd be mistaken.

Under the plan, buyers of environment-friendly appliances can earn "eco-points," and redeem the points for goods or gift certificates. For example, those who buy a 46-inch digital television set can receive 39,000-yen worth of eco-points, the highest figure available, according to a release by the government.

Buyers, however, have to wait until after June, after the supplementary budget bill for fiscal 2009 passes through the Diet, to find out how to apply for the points, and are likely to be able to redeem the points in July at the earliest. Since consumers were withholding from buying products as they waited for the program to come into effect, the government decided to start the point-earning period earlier than initially set.

Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to happily fork over hundreds of thousands of yen to purchase electronics in exchange for gift certificates? Plus, I have to wait to find out how to apply for the points and for what I can redeem them? They literally have not thought this plan through.

Like the 12,000 yen give-away, eco points aren't going to boost consumption, especially when Japan's manufacturers are posting record losses, people are losing their jobs, and the government publicly mulls raising the consumption tax.

While I'm on the subject of TV, Japan for Sustainability has this interesting bit:

As a special one-day environmental event, Japan's public broadcaster, Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK), shortened the airtime of its educational TV channel on December 29, 2008, to reduce its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and save electricity.

The shorter airtime was instituted to remind both the broadcaster and viewers that daily broadcasting consumes a large quantity of electricity and results in a considerable amount of CO2 emissions. NHK expects such an event will promote efforts in energy saving and CO2 reduction.

The educational TV channel normally broadcasts from 5:00 a.m. to 2:50 a.m. the following day. On that day, however, the channel aired programs for only nine hours, from 12:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., shortening the broadcast by 12 hours and 50 minutes. While broadcasting was suspended, NHK's approximately 3,100 analog transmitting stations across the nation stopped sending TV signals, which resulted in saving about 17,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity, or a reduction of some 9.4 tons of CO2 emissions, compared to a regular broadcasting day.

If only Japan's commercial broadcasters would do the same, the nation would have the lowest CO2 emissions on earth and save us from the mountains of crap the serve on a regular basis. Snark aside, NHK's move demonstrates that not using energy is the best way to reduce emissions. There's nothing worth watching on TV in Japan anyway, so you might as well do your part and tune out and turn the TV off.