Reducing energy use in your home saves you money and reduces the pollution emitted from non-renewable sources. With the prices of power rising in Japan, you can save yourself some significant coin if you learn to reduce your usage at home!

  • Switch off, and unplug electrical devices when not in use.
  • Check the power settings on your appliances; TVs, for example, will often go into standby rather than turn off. Unplugging your TV is the best option, though.
  • Turn down the temperature in the refrigerator; many people keep it too cold anyway and end up with frozen milk. (Leftovers and Food Safety by USDA)
  • Let frozen food thaw well in advance without using the microwave. (Leftovers and Food Safety by USDA)
  • Turn down the temp on the hot water heater. In summer in Nagoya, you do not need hot water anyway!
  • Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket. I used one of those foam mats you sit on at festivals; it cost me 500 yen.
  • Try to use a fan instead of an air conditioner.
  • Don’t try to cool the whole house; shut off the room you are using and run the air conditioner only in there. (If you must use it!)
  • Set the air conditioner to keep the house a little warmer this year; Japanese offices generally keep the temperature at 28 degrees C. If you need to go colder, try incrementally instead of immediately going down to 20! Every little bit helps.
  • Clean out the filter on your air conditioner. This will lessen the load on the unit, making it run more efficiently.
  • Buy energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs
  • Install low-flow shower heads to reduce your hot water use.
  • When you shut down your computer, shut down your monitor as well. Many people just let it run until they start up the computer again.

Photo: GT1976, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons