What’s a country to do when they need to cut greenhouse gas emissions into the air in order to comply with the Kyoto Protocol?
Pump it into the ground, according to a report coming out of Japan.
Japan hopes to slash greenhouse gas emissions and fight global warming with a revolutionary plan to pump carbon dioxide into underground storage reservoirs instead of releasing it into the atmosphere, an official said Monday.
The proposal aims to bury 200 million tons of carbon dioxide a year by 2020, cutting the country’s emissions by one-sixth, said Masahiro Nishio, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Introduced last month, the plan is still under study.
Though this idea actually is not new to Japan (similar steps are being taken in Norway, Canada, and Algeria), the system envisioned by Japan is the largest by far. Questions remain, however, as to what would happen if the system is ruptured by a major earthquake.
Despite their constant criticism of the U.S. for not doing enough to counter global warming, most of the countries of Europe will not attain their greenhouse gas goals under the Kyoto Protocol.
Of 15 countries in Europe signed up to Kyoto, only Britain and Sweden were on target to meet their commitments on reducing harmful gas emissions by 2012, said the IPPR, Britain’s leading progressive think tank.
In contrast, 10 nations — including Ireland, Italy and Spain — would fail to do so unless they took urgent action, it said.
The folks at Triumph International are at it again with a new Warm Biz Bra.
According to a report I saw on TV, the bra and pants are designed to keep the wearer warm through the winter months as thermostats are set lower in line with Japan’s Warm Biz campaign.
The waistband of the pants folds upwards to warm the abdomen, and a warning light on the bra flashes red whenever a built-in sensor detects that ambient temperature is above the Warm Biz suggested setting of 20 degrees.
And for the particularly cold hearted woman, the Warm Biz Bra comes with gel pads that can be heated in a microwave oven and inserted into the cups for extra warmth.
Unfortunately, the TV reported that this is merely a theme product, and will not be available to the general public.
Click here for more Triumph International theme undergarments for women.
Environment Minister Yuriko Koike, one of the stars of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s landslide during the last general election in Japan, says that the nation must implement a carbon tax to cut greenhouse gas emissions in order to help achieve its targets under the Kyoto Protocol.
“As the Kyoto Protocol took effect in February, we have no time to waste” to make every effort to meet Japan’s reduction target, Koike said in a recent interview.
While Japan has to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels by 2012 under the protocol, its emissions in fiscal 2004 were 7.4 percent higher than the 1990 levels, according to a ministry report released last month.
The Environment Ministry has been trying to push its carbon tax for more than a year, over the strident opposition of business. One of the requirements under the latest proposal is for processors and importers to pay 2,400 yen per ton of carbon contained in liquefied petroleum gas and kerosene. Industrial users of coal, natural gas and heavy oil would anti up at the same rate.
[U]nder the new proposal, the levy would not be imposed on gasoline, light oil and jet fuel for the time being given the current high price of crude oil, according to Koike.
Yuriko Koike apparently qualified for her job based on her electability, a BA in Sociology from Cairo University and a stint as an economic newsreader babe on a Tokyo TV station.
There is no way to know if this is for real or posed, but the following photo from conbinibento.com suggests some guys may be taking Japan’s no-tie, no-jacket Cool Biz campaign just a bit to far. . .
The Japanese government is still actively promoting its “Cool Biz” campaign, which encourages male workers to doff their coats and ties in order to cut down on air conditioning requirements, thereby cutting down on pollution.
Everyone should be happy, right?
Not if you sell neckties.
In fact Japanese tie makers have asked the government to stop bad-mouthing neckwear as June 19 Father’s Day approaches.
Male government workers and politicians who stoically cling to their dark suits and ties as summer temperatures climb are being encouraged to leave off their jackets and ties between June 1 and September 30 so air conditioner thermostats can be set higher, helping to save energy and fight global warming.
“Father’s Day is close and they seem worried, but neckties are not going to disappear,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda — dressed in an open-necked blue shirt — told a regular news conference when asked about the complaint.
He also urged necktie makers to develop special summer wear.
It seems that Japan is already getting an early lesson that Kyoto Protocol compliance is going to cost, and cost big. The only question is whose pooch is going to get screwed.
It’s June 1, the official start of the government’s “Cool Biz” campaign to get office workers to doff their ties and coats in order to reduce air conditioning requirements and save energy.
Cool Biz, which is the brainchild of Environment Minister Yuriko Koike (who qualified for her job based on a BA in Sociology from Cairo University and a stint as an economic newsreader babe on a Tokyo TV station), is the not the first attempt by the Japanese government to solve the nation’s energy problems with fashion statements. Years ago when oil prices were on the rise, the government announced a new Sho-ene Look (Energy Saving Look), which was achieved merely by lopping off the sleeves of the standard business suit. One look at the nearby photo should be enough to understand why the Sho-ene Look was a total and complete failure among the suit wearers of Nippon.
The current outbreak of energy conservation passion has been brought on by Japan’s need to achieve impossible goals set for it under the Kyoto Protocol. I still strongly suspect that most Japanese people did not know what they were getting into under the KP, and the only reason it got so much support here was because it was about the environment and it had the name “Kyoto” associated with it. No doubt people will start to have second thoughts about the Kyoto Protocol as the government begins to get more serious about bullying them into major lifestyle changes.
Check out the website of David Meyer (a.k.a. Papa) for some up-close and personal comments about dress codes of Japanese companies.
The more things change, the more they remain the same. Once again, Japan makes a fashion discovery thirty years behind the United States. Casual clothes are comfortable. At least this time it is a good idea we are borrowing.
Salaryman fashion is much in the news these days as the government urges businessmen to chuck their coats and ties during the muggy summer months in an effort to reduce energy (air conditioning) needs.
By the way, I have noticed recently that global warming is gradually being replaced by climate change in reports about what it is we are facing. I wonder how the government fashion gurus will deal with that one. . .
Back during “oil shock” in the 1970s, the Japanese government came up with the idea that energy could be saved if men would wear these funny-looking short-sleeved safari suits. A couple of government bigwigs appeared on news programs and in newspaper photographs wearing the suits, but that is about as far as they got.
Now Environment Minister Yuriko Koike (who, apparently, is qualified for her job based on a BA in Sociology from Cairo University and a stint as an economic newsreader babe on a Tokyo TV station) is at it again, claiming that Japan can start reducing greenhouse gas emissions as required under the Kyoto protocol if office workers would remove their neckties and jackets during the summer months.
“The move is meant to show (the government’s) resolve to achieve Japan’s target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent” as pledged in the Kyoto Protocol, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda explained.
The previous day, the Environment Ministry dubbed this the “Cool Biz” initiative, with the name selected by a nine-member panel out of some 3,200 that were submitted by the general public.
Right now, Japan’s only efforts at reaching the greenhouse gas levels set for it have been totally cosmetic: no neckties, silly slogans, committees made up of celebrities, etc. No doubt the inevitable failure of these empty gestures will be followed by energy taxes and other government intervention that very well may end up sticking a fork in the dead duck that is the Japanese economy.
