Daily work grind can sometimes be a source of stress and discomfort. Looming deadlines, demanding colleagues and challenging tasks all keep us on our toes.
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So pity office workers in Japan who have had to shoulder additional hardship over the past couple of years when all of its 54 nuclear power plants were shuttered for stress tests after the Fukushima melt-down (only two have been re-started).
No air conditioning
Many Tokyo offices now go without air conditioning in the hot, humid summer months when the average high is 29 degrees Celsius. Thankfully, a new summer dress code has been embraced to help ease the burden for workers who traditionally would have been seen in a dark suit, white shirt and tie.
Air conditioning has fallen victim to Setsuden, a national movement asking the public to save electricity in the summer, the peak time for power consumption. Big companies have pledged to reduce summer power usage by 25 per cent to cope with the loss of nuclear generation.
Before Fukushima, nuclear produced around 30 per cent of the country’s electricity. Fossil-fueled electricity generation from liquefied natural gas, coal and petroleum has since skyrocketed, but it cannot fully compensate. At least anticipated blackouts in major cities have so far been avoided.
Nuclear abandonment in Germany
On the other side of the world, Germany is undergoing a similarly-sized nuclear abandonment, also triggered by panic after Fukushima. While the German closure is being spread out over 10 years, the eight oldest of its 17 reactors were shuttered immediately.
A large electricity generation gap has resulted, ironically closed in part by importing nuclear power from neighbouring countries, but mainly by burning more coal although Germany is politically committed to making big reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (The U.S.-based Oak Ridge National Laboratory estimates burning coal, watt for watt, releases 100 times as much radiation through smokestack emissions as nuclear power plants.)
Increased reliance on intermittent renewable energy sources has been blamed by major industrial users for causing momentary power failures. The German consumers association Vzbv has estimated the total cost of phasing out nuclear will be $340 billion over the decade.
Energy system transitions
Energy provision in developed countries involves complex systems, with multiple energy sources. The Japan and German experience shows what happens when rapid changes to the energy mix are made.
Nonetheless, energy transitions are inevitable and can be anticipated and planned to minimize impacts. Deep collaboration among system stakeholders can help facilitate a smoother path, providing society supports the transition and understands all the costs and choices that need to be made.
