1.5 Homes rather than the factories

I would like to reaffirm the idea that energy saving that reduces energy consumption itself is the most friendly to the earth.

It is common to make companies scapegoat saying that companies are the cause of environmental pollution and global warming. In the era when energy conservation and environmental awareness were scarce and high economic growth was aimed at and in the 1960s when pollution was scattered, the amount of energy consumption and the total amount of environmental pollution by companies were far greater than those by the individuals. The amount of detergent used at home, the amount of petroleum energy used for heating such as kerosene, the amount of electricity used for cooling, the amount of food purchased and the amount stored in the refrigerator at home were still small. For these reasons, corporate responsibility was relatively and absolutely great. The afterimage is still burning in our mind, but nowadays most of the responsibility for environmental pollution and global warming lies with individuals or families thanks to legal regulations and establishment of corporate ethics.

Companies have been investing large amounts of money to take measures against energy consumption and environmental pollution, but efforts at home are extremely insufficient. It's easy to blame politics for energy consumption and environmental pollution. Certainly, in Japan where there is not a wealth that is commensurate with income, it may not be possible for each household to desire full implementation of energy conservation and environmental pollution countermeasures. However raising the awareness of the individual is a way to improve overall energy conservation and environmental pollution countermeasures.

Now let's consider global warming and long term energy supply and demand.

With regard to the issue of global warming, international efforts have progressed rapidly in the 1990s. In June 1992 (Heisei 4), a treaty draft was put together at the Earth Summit to curb global warming gas emissions and the Framework Convention on Climate Change came into effect in March 1994. In September of the same year, developed countries reported the countermeasures to the secretariat and in March 1995 the first Convention Conference was held in Berlin. The 3rd Conference of the Parties was held in Kyoto in December 1997 and the Kyoto Protocol decided that developed countries, former Soviet Union countries and Eastern European countries would reduce greenhouse gases by 5.2% in 2010 (the average for 2008-2012) compared to 1990. Japan decided to reduce the energy consumption by 6%, and in June 1998 the Energy Conservation Committee, which is an advisory body of the Minister of International Trade and Industry, and the Electricity Business Council announced the energy demand outlook for 2010. Regarding carbon dioxide, the policy target was set at the 1990 level or a 2% reduction. In order to respond maintaining a real economic growth rate of more than 2%, it is necessary to promote energy conservation, to promote nuclear power and to accelerate the introduction of renewable energy. For that purpose, it is necessary to radically change the social / economic system, transportation / distribution system and lifestyle.

A drastic change is never an easy improvement. In order to meet the ever-increasing energy demand at homes, it is necessary for each home to introduce renewable energy and energy saving thoroughly.