Tokyo Residents Urged To Wear Turtlenecks To Save on Energy Bills - Slashdot

Posted by msmash

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  by Lije Baley ( 88936 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @01:43PM (#63071830)

  They need to wear an ushanka, or as we used to call them on the farm (ironically, in the U.S., during the cold war), an "ear-flap cap".

  • Re:

    Reminds me of when Obama encouraged people to inflate their automobile tires to help save on gas.

    Good advice, but not what people want to hear.

  • Re:

    It's not actually that cold in Tokyo, even in the winter.

    • by spinitch ( 1033676 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @04:33PM (#63072364)

      A scarf can be removed to reduce sweating. Tokyo tend to walk a fair amount expending energy. A fashionable place but heavy wool, cashmere is ok if stationary but can lead to sweat if moving around and in n out of places with varying temps. Layers better so can adapt. If stuck at home under a kotatsu then perhaps a turtle neck practical. Koike san likes to wear turtle necks and they are of course warm but be sensible about advice. She does not live like most residents. Many Officeâ(TM)s cannot control heat precisely the, temperature will fluctuate a few degrees during day as control systems adapt. Many older homes still rely on kerosene. It rarely dips below freezing in Tokyo. Down is light easy to transport so good middle layer. Most know all this. She is out of touch.

    • Re: Nerds

      Spoken like a true native from A. Minnesota b. Toronto c. Aleutian Islands d. Cowboy Nealâ(TM)s basement

• • Re:

    I can't take it, turtlenecks make me nauseous. That feeling of being strangled is a total non-starter for me. Weird, because I had some when I was a kid and they were fine, and nobody ever choked me out or anything.

  • Re:

    If it's good enough for Elizabeth Holmes, then it's good enough for the poor people too. After all, she has amazingly good sense, like getting pregnant while waiting for sentencing.

• Encouraging office sex would reduce heating costs and bolster Japan's falling population levels. It's patriotic!
  • 2 hidden comments

  • Re:

    Based on all the Japanese movies I've seen they are having office sex.

  • • Re:

      You've clearly not been in Japan anytime over the last 40 years.

• • • Re:

      The fact that myself and other replies are marked as "troll" is quite indicative of the broader society. Trolling implies deliberate misrepresentation or overt lies designed to offend or inflame. The only way you could conclude what I or the other authors in this threat wrote is "trolling" is if you are triggered by an opinion that is different than your own.

      • Re:

        I'm starting to think that getting modded Troll just means:
          a) There aren't enough people with mod points who are on your end of the political spectrum today.
        or
        b) You are a moderate, and therefore everyone hates you, especially the real Trolls, who are set on keeping everyone raging at each other.

  • Re:

    They first started doing it after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, in order to save energy in the summer. With the price of gas going up it makes sense to do it in the winter too.

    Japan has huge untapped offshore wind resources that could make this problem go away, but because domestic companies have not developed the needed technology yet they are still waiting. They don't want to import the technology, it's seen as an opportunity for domestic businesses. Problem is the domestic lot are dragging their feet.

• You - "Grampa it's cold in here, can I turn up the heat?"
  
  Grampa - "No! Put on a sweatshirt!"

• • Re:

    We tried to appease Russia, it just led to more war.

    you are dumb

• I could never decide, but any guy who has a closet full of turtlenecks, all in shades of black, is in a class among himself, lol.

• I have one turtleneck but it's thin wool and not very warm. Today I am wearing a much more open pullover that's a chunky knit and I'm quite toasty.

• Nope (Score:3, Insightful)

  by iggymanz ( 596061 ) on Tuesday November 22, 2022 @03:15PM (#63072154)

  I'll just pay more, I'm not working crazy IT hours to live like a pauper in a shack.

• If your feet are cold, put on a hat.

• We saw a series of energy shortages in the 1970s, and with that came political leaders telling citizens to lower their thermostats and dress warmly. It is unlikely to see history repeat exactly but we should see some parallels. I expect the people responsible for the energy shortage to be voted out of power, and new leaders bringing lower energy prices and economic prosperity. This will come with more nuclear power plants being built, more exploration of fossil fuels, and likely more investment in hydro and geothermal power projects. With energy prices dropping we should see a boom in agricultural output, a renewed interest in space exploration, and quite possibly the rise of at least one rival nation that poses a military and/or economic threat to help drive the economic boom time.

  The world has been "coasting" on a large number of nuclear power plants built about 50 years ago and they are reaching the end of their operational life. They are becoming more expensive to operate and could pose a safety hazard if pushed into operation much longer. Because we saw hundreds of nuclear power reactors built in something like 20 or 30 years we will have to do that again, and then some, to keep the global economy going. We might not build gigawatt sized reactors this time, but instead smaller reactors that can be more easily mass produced. That means to get the same electrical (and economic) output we'd have to build many more of them. Because our economy is much larger now we'd have to build more nuclear power plants. Because there is much greater concern about air and water pollution now than then this means more nuclear power plants. This will likely mean reactors built in the thousands this time than the hundreds like the first sprint for more nuclear power plants.

  The usual argument against nuclear power is that nuclear power plants take too long to build and cost too much. That is an artifact of losing experience in building nuclear power plants. As we gain experience in building nuclear power plants the cost and time to build will come down. I believe that many opposing nuclear power know this, they don't want anyone to start building nuclear power plants because then their favored energy sources will look more expensive by comparison over time.

  • Re:

    In addition, some of those with favored energy sources are politically opposed to the defense industry which, in the US, has experience with nuclear power already ( US Navy and associated defense contractors ).

  • Re:

    You mean Putin is going to be voted out?

    Or do you mean whomever happens to be currently elected will be voted out even though they have almost nothing to do with the energy shortages.

    I'm all in favour of new Nuclear plants but they take years to build, I don't imagine hydro is any faster.

    Even new fossil fuel exploration I'd expect to have a lag of several years.

    Coupled with the cyclical nature of elections this means the politicians who start the project [scitation.org] not only don't reap the benefits, but their rivals mi

• You can take it off when it is not so cold. I hate turtlenecks - I find them suffocating. Maybe that's why I did not end up like Steve Jobs. Or like Elizabeth Holmes.

• For one reason or another, I am very sensitive arround the neck and Adam's Apple.

  Even while I scuba dive, when thermal management is even more critical than on air, my semi-dry neoprene suit has a small zipper on the neck to relive the preassure there. I am certain that in a woreld with 8Milliard humans, I am not the only onne with a sensitive neck.

  So, scarf it is for me... If I needed one. You see, I live in Caracas, in winter the minimum is 10C, and maximum is 18C, so no scarf;-)

  • 1 hidden comment

• "Put on a sweater" didn't work out so well for Carter. Of course, there was the Iranian hostage crisis as well but we didn't have a corrupt media running interference like we do today.

  • Re:

    Yes, and US Presidents learned the lesson too well, and have been playing hot potato (or "buy now pay later") ever since. And here [wikipedia.org] is my proof.

• As someone who rides trains and busses in Tokyo on a daily basis, I reckon we could save boat loads of energy if they'd just turn off the insane levels of heating they use in train stations and on trains and busses. It's entirely nonsensical. I'm sick and tired of having to strip down to a t-shirt before getting on a bus or a train so that I don't drown in a pool of my own sweat.