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Posts Tagged electricity

2012/05/19 01:16 – Govt Panel Pushes For Total Liberalization Of Household Power

May 20

Posted by sheffner in news | Comments off

Update:

This is not good news. Yet. It could become good news, one day, when action is taken. If “no-one says the current situation is good”, how come the current situation came about? Directive from God? No answer. The question is ignored.

Some good news. Just the other day, I was discussing this matter with an anti-nuke person, and we both agreed the present monopoly by utility companies is, ahem, less than ideal. Bring on liberalization! Tomorrow wouldn’t be too soon.

The supply of power to households should be completely liberalized, members of a committee under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry all agreed Friday.

Deregulation of electricity sales began in phases in 2000. New entrants have been allowed to sell power to large-lot users such as factories and office buildings with contracts of 50kw or more, but only regional utilities can supply regular households.

“Electricity sales should definitely be liberalized,” says committee member Kikuko Tatsumi of the Nippon Association of Consumer Specialists. “No one says the current situation is good.”

If deregulation is achieved, it could pave the way for companies specializing in the sale of renewable energy, expanding the options for consumers.

via 2012/05/19 01:16 – Govt Panel Pushes For Total Liberalization Of Household Power.

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UPDATE 3-Japan power firms’ LNG use at record | Reuters

Sep 15

Posted by sheffner in news, science & technology | 1 Comment

Some facts and figures on Japan’s energy use since March ’11: 15% more LNG, 12% less power (mouse-tip to AtomicRod).

TOKYO, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Japan’s 10 regional power firms used a record 4.81 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas in August to help offset a record low nuclear utilisation rate in the wake of Fukushima.

LNG use was up 15.4 percent from the same month a year earlier, power industry data showed. While using 7.1 percent less coal than a year earlier, the 10 firms used more fuel and crude oil last month despite the sixth straight month of year-on-year decline in their power production after the March earthquake and tsunami.

Only 11 of the country’s 54 nuclear reactors are operating

via UPDATE 3-Japan power firms’ LNG use at record | Reuters.

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Fuel Cell System Keeps On Going In Blackouts

Sep 8

Posted by sheffner in news, science & technology | Comments off

This looks interesting. More interesting would be a fuel-cell power pack that renders the household (or whatever the unit is) completely independent from the grid, power blackout or no. Also a cheaper price. The present price is about the same as roofing your house with solar panels.

Power generated by home fuel cell systems is normally combined with electricity from the grid. Fuel cell systems run on such fuels as city gas and liquefied petroleum gas but still use utility-supplied electric power to start up. Since the systems are integrated with the larger grid, they automatically shut down in outages so as to prevent electricity from flowing back.

JX Nippon Oil & Energy will sell a combination of a fuel cell system and a storage battery system from as early as next summer. The firm has conducted demonstrations and confirmed that the storage battery system continues to provide power when the grid goes dead.

The 6kwh storage battery system consists of 90 lithium ion batteries normally used in personal computers and costs about 1 million yen. The set will likely cost a total of 2.6 million yen to 2.7 million yen.

via 2011/09/08 03:30 – Fuel Cell System Keeps On Going In Blackouts.

And related news:

Kansai Electric Power Co. (9503) on Wednesday began the full operation of its 10,000kw solar power plant in the city of Sakai.

via Kansai Elec’s Huge Solar Farm Springs Into Service

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2011/09/02 03:49 – Vending Machines To Light Up The Night Once More

Sep 2

Posted by sheffner in news | Comments off

And on a brighter note:

TOKYO (Nikkei)–Lighting for some 870,000 beverage vending machines will soon be turned back on at night in areas served by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (9501) and Tohoku Electric Power Co. (9506).

With the summer’s demand for electricity having passed its peak, the Japan Soft Drink Association concluded that its members no longer need to voluntarily reduce their energy consumption.

via 2011/09/02 03:49 – Vending Machines To Light Up The Night Once More.

The ubiquitous vending machines were one of the first things I noticed about Japan. They are everywhere, and you can find ones selling rice and eggs. Unlike vending machines in Britain, they all work!

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2011/09/02 02:00 – Tepco, Tohoku Elec To Revive Idle Fossil-Fuel Plants

Sep 2

Posted by sheffner in Uncategorized | Comments off

Tepco and Tohoku Power companies are re-starting idled coal-fired power stations in Fukushima prefecture. There is no mention in this article of the costs or the possible effects on price. Nuclear is cheaper than coal, after all.

TOKYO Nikkei–Tokyo Electric Power Co. 9501, known as Tepco, and Tohoku Electric Power Co. 9506 plan to restart offline fossil-fuel power generators and boost their combined output capacity by 1.25 million kilowatts by the end of the year. Their jointly owned coal-fired power plant in Soma, Fukushima prefecture, has two generators, both of which have remained offline since the March 11 disaster.

… By next summer, the full 2 million kilowatts of capacity is expected to return …

At the two utilities’ jointly owned fossil-fuel plant in Nakoso, Fukushima Prefecture, one 250,000kw coal-fired generator is slated to resume operations by the end of the year after having remained idle due to the impact of the March calamity. And a oil-fired unit that has been suspended since before March will likely start generating power again next summer, adding 175,000kw.

… the government has ordered large-scale customers of Tepco and Tohoku Electric to reduce maximum power usage 15% this summer from a year earlier. By returning idled generators to service and seeking voluntary reductions in power usage, the two utilities are hoping to avoid implementing mandatory usage cuts this winter.

via 2011/09/02 02:00 – Tepco, Tohoku Elec To Revive Idle Fossil-Fuel Plants.

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Govt to allow industry to power up : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Aug 31

Posted by sheffner in economic and political philosophy | Comments off

There are, and have been, many political philosophers who have said that government intervention leads to ever-increasing intervention and eventually to tyranny. Others have pointed to the “pretence of knowledge”, the impossibility of anyone or any group of people, having enough information to be able to make the right decisions about resource allocation, in other words, managing the economy.

Still others have pointed to the “unintended consequences” of much political action. Herbert Spencer was one such: his ironic wit, combined with well supported facts, led the reader inevitably to the conclusion that the unintended consequences of much well-intended legislation were in fact only unforeseen because politicians were such ignorant twits who had failed to study even the recent history of legislation and government intervention.

What is described below sounds wonderful and a perfect example of government benevolence in action: the initial restriction, the reduced demand due to a vigorous energy-saving campaign that targeted Japanese people’s sense of solidarity, and the resulting surplus of power supply.

While this particular series of actions seems to have borne fruit, there remains the matter of the principle of government intervention in private business and the use of force or threats to enforce its intervention.

So that now a headline like the above, where the government permits industry to do this or that, does not cause any raised eyebrows.

The government on Tuesday announced it will move forward the lifting of its mandatory curb on electricity consumption for large-lot electricity users that has been in place since July 1.

The removal of the restriction will be brought forward from Sept. 22 to Friday in areas devastated by the March 11 disaster, and those in Niigata and Fukushima prefectures that were hit with torrential rain in late July.

These areas are covered by Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co.

via Govt to allow industry to power up : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri).

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Quake in Japan Causes Costly Shift to Fossil Fuels – NYTimes.com

Aug 20

Posted by sheffner in news | Comments off

Back to the Future! Fumes be damned, we need those kilowatts!

YOKOSUKA, Japan — The half-century-old, oil-fueled power generators here had been idle for more than a year when, a day after the nuclear accident in March, orders came from Tokyo Electric Power headquarters to fire them up.

“They asked me how long it would take,” said Masatake Koseki, head of the Yokosuka plant, which is 40 miles south of Tokyo and run by Tokyo Electric. “The facilities are old, so I told them six months. But they said, ‘No, you must ready them by summer to prepare for an energy shortage.’ ”

Now, at summer’s peak, Yokosuka’s two fuel-oil and two gas turbines are cranking out a total of 900,000 kilowatts of electricity — and an abundance of fumes.

via Quake in Japan Causes Costly Shift to Fossil Fuels – NYTimes.com.

Have those folks who are screaming “We don’t need no stinkin’ nuclear power!” really thought through the consequences of getting what they want?

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