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A message to the citizens of Mie Prefecture: Saving Power for a Low Energy Summer

Since the incident caused by the Great Tohoku Earthquake on March 11^th 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, there have been worries that this summer we will continue to see power shortages.

On May 18^th, the government announced countermeasures to help regulate supply and demand this summer. It has also been decided that between the 2^nd of July and 7^th of September 2012, Chubu Electric will target a minimum 5% reduction and Kansai Electric a minimum 15% reduction in power consumption from 2010 levels.

In Mie, the prefectural government is continuing its ISO14001 initiative by moving the official start of Cool Biz forward as well as putting other ideas into practice. This summer we are aiming for a 5% reduction in electricity usage compared to the same period two years ago by saving power used by air conditioning and lighting, for example, we have switched to LED lighting.

With difficulties in power supply and demand, prefectural government branches located in areas of Mie supplied by Kansai Electric, who have pledged to reach a fifteen percent reduction in electricity usage in comparison to energy levels two years ago, are doing their best to make sure that in the case of scheduled blackouts being implemented our services for Mie citizens are not affected.

We would like to request that people and businesses living and operating in Mie also adjust their work and lifestyles as they did last summer to help reduce our prefecture’s energy consumption. Specifically, you can help by:

–       Setting air conditioning units to 28 degrees (setting the temperature two degrees higher results in a 10% reduction in power usage)

–       Using bamboo and reed screens over windows (10% reduction)

–       Turning off unnecessary lights (5% reduction)

–       Unplugging electrical items when not in use (2% reduction)

Please take extra care during the peak power usage times: 1pm to 4pm on weekdays.

For those living in areas affected by last year’s flooding in theKiiPeninsularegion, please help within the limits of your means and rebuilding efforts to reduce your energy consumption.

Eikei Suzuki

Governor of MiePrefecture

31^st May 2012