Chapter 4 　Birth of Setsuden-mushi (a profitmaking device) 　4.2 Setsuden-mushi's Growth Expectations and Setbacks 4.2.1 Nihon Keizai Shimbun article

Regardless of the size of the company, new businesses and new developments are essential for the survival of the company. However, it is a well-known fact that the success rate is not high. My small company's new business, Setsuden-mushi, was not an easy one to start.

　Setsuden-mushi, which was born on June 29, 1994, went through various tests during a summer of extreme heat and water shortage, and we started preparing for the next step in early autumn of that year. The following year, in 1995, we prepared for a free trial campaign and the start of made-to-order sales.

　However, contrary to our expectations, the years from then were filled with hard work and hardships.

4.2.1 Nihon Keizai Shimbun article

On October 9, 1994, the first year of my development of Setsuden-mushi, Mr. Hiroyuki Torii, an editorial writer of the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, wrote a column titled "Information Technology: A Burden on the Global Environment?” as follows.  

Title: Information Technology: A Burden on the Global Environment?　"Energy wastage in "waiting

Author: Hiroyuki Torii, Editorial Writer

Article content:

No matter what you are doing, you have to stop when the phone rings. But with a fax machine, you don't have to be bothered with that, because the machine will receive the message on its own. It is also convenient because it can send maps and pictures.　　　　

　However, from the perspective of energy consumption, there are some points that make me wonder about the convenience of fax machines. The fax machine is always in standby mode because you never know when messages will be transmitted. Compared to actual transmission, the power consumption during standby is about one tenth of that during actual communication. In a normal household, the number of messages sent and received in a day is probably about five at most. If it takes twelve seconds to send and receive one sheet, the total operating time will be only one minute. This means that the remaining 23 hours and 59 minutes, or 1,449 minutes, are spent standing by. In this way, 99.3% of the power consumed by a fax machine is used for standby, which can be called wasteful.

　The energy consumption when waiting is not limited to fax machines. If you record a video or make a reservation for a TV program, you still use energy for waiting. The same is true for air conditioners and rice cookers. However, these can be replaced by mechanical time switches. However, communication machines essentially always have to be on standby, so they must use electricity.

(Disclaimer: The above is an excerpt of about 15% of the article (only the relevant parts). For the full text, please see https://1drv.ms/b/s!Ai_aaa4f_vZzgn9i0rt-MLXqk9Rx?e=ee78zl.)

As mentioned above, according to Mr. Hiroyuki Torii, 99.3% of the electricity consumed by facsimile machines, which are representative of the information devices that come into our homes, is used for standby, which can be called wasteful. The original purpose of facsimile machines is to send and receive information, but only 0.7% of the power is effectively used for this purpose.

Mr. Hiroyuki Torii also mentioned that the development of information technology is giving priority to the pursuit of convenience rather than energy conservation. He said that the development of information technology is increasing the consumption of energy, which may worsen the environment.

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