Japanese told to go to bed an hour early to cut carbon emissions

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Telegraph

The Japanese government has launched a campaign encouraging people to go to bed and get up extra early in order to reduce household carbon dioxide emissions.

The Morning Challenge campaign, unveiled by the Environment Ministry, is based on the premise that swapping late night electricity for an extra hour of morning sunlight could significantly cut the nation's carbon footprint.

A typical family can reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 85kg a year if everyone goes to bed and gets up one hour earlier, according to the campaign.

The amount of carbon dioxide emissions potentially saved from going to bed an hour early was the equivalent of 20 per cent of annual emissions from household lights, "Many Japanese people waste electric power at night time, for example by watching TV until very late," a ministry spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7851292/Japanese-told-to-go-to-bed-an-hour-early-to-cut-carbon-emissions.html

[RKP5637]

1. And don't fart in your sleep! n/t

[Jkid]

2. Want to know how to cut carbon emissons?

Transition from oil

[maxsolomon]

19. to what? magical pixie dust?

human nature and capitalism dictates that this planet won't transition from oil until there isn't any. short term 'need' outweighs the long term cost. renewables aren't close to taking up the slack, and we will need to cut energy usage drastically. DRASTICALLY.

the Japanese need to have more kids, anyway.

[LiberalEsto]

3. How about stopping whale hunts?

Those boats must use a lot of fuel.

[SunnySong]

4. Boy that brings the idea of a Nanny State to a whole new and somewhat literal level.

Whats next PSA's on eating or vegetables... oh wait.

[polly7]

5. One of the reasons for switching to DST

is to save on electricity, so isn't that sort of the same thing?

"In the summer, people who rose before the sun rises used more energy in the morning than if DST were not in effect. However, although 70 percent of Americans rose before 7:00 a.m., this waste of energy from having less sunlight in the morning was more than offset by the savings of energy that results from more sunlight in the evening".

http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

[La Lioness Priyanka]

6. not a bad idea. we all have to try in different way and turning off your lights/computer/tv

and hour earlier, does help

its not like they are enforcing it but encouraging people to use less energy is never a bad idea

[Mika]

20. Indeed. I use my monitor to light the room instead of lights.

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[Lone_Star_Dem]

7. Have they raised the number of children per family allowance to two yet?

If so this will help speed that along nicely.

[geardaddy]

8. That's China's policy, not Japan's

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. You're correct

How ignorant of me. That's what I get for not paying attention when I post.

Japan has a dwindling number of children per capita due to entirely different (cultural) reasons.

Thanks!

[geardaddy]

11. No problemo.

I lived in China, so I had first hand experience with lots of "only children."

[petronius]

12. The 'early to bed' idea might help with the declining birth rate, too

My first thought was to wonder about the carbon footprint from all the extra babies. My second thought was to wonder about the wear-and-tear on snooze buttons from people trying to get up an hour earlier... :)

[Art_from_Ark]

16. That's doubtful

since most Japanese couples sleep in separate futons

[Xithras]

10. Staying up late is a relatively recent thing.

Household electrification didn't really take off until GE invented the tungsten filament in 1906. Prior to that, our days pretty much revolved around the sun. We got up when the sky lightened, and went to bed shortly after it got dark. It was uncommon for people to be awake more than a few hours after sunset (it did happen, and gaslights have been illuminating 24 hour commerce for a couple hundred years, but the overwhelming majority of the population lived by the light of the sun).

The lightbulb made the time of day irrelevant, and extended our day considerably. This also dramatically increased our energy usage...not just for lighting, but also to power the things we do while awake.

[uncle ray]

13. it will have the opposite effect in the long run.

it's not like people are going to be sleeping during that extra hour in bed.

[Oregone]

15. Whacking off while ignoring your spouse isn't going to destroy the world

[slackmaster]

14. Japan, India, and China still don't observe Daylight Savings Time

Maybe they should get with the program.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. It sounds like a made-up story from the Torygraph

I checked Japanese search engines and the Environment Ministry's web site, but there is no mention of a "Morning Challenge" program (although there is a "Challenge 25" program which is supposed to help reduce CO2 and save energy).

[Phoonzang]

18. Oh and stop breathing as much too! nt

[marasinghe]

21. never expected to see ....

'go to bed an hour early' & 'to cut carbon emissions', used in conjunction.

[BrklynLiberal]

22. Brilliant...