The Japanese government issued an emergency appeal on Tuesday to conserve energy. The appeal was addressed to citizens, businesses and local governments. In addition, it has warned of potential blackouts due to an earthquake that idled several power plants and to unseasonably cold weather that has boosted demand, according to Reuters.
Snowfall and a drop in temperature to four degrees Celsius (39 Fahrenheit) are occurring in Tokyo. Tokyo Electric Power Co reported that two to three million households could lose power after 8 pm (1100 GMT) at the current rate of electricity consumption. Koichi Hagiuda, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), said, ‘At this rate, we are coming closer to a state where we will have to conduct power outages similar to those that took place after the quake (last week).’
The minister said at a news conference that power savings of 5% or more could be achieved from 3 to 8 pm, which translates to about two million kilowatts per hour. According to Bic Camera, over half of the TV sets in its more than 30 stores in eastern Japan have been turned off.
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