Saturday, May 21, 2005
Kuuru Bizu
In April the Japanese government launched a new initiative they dubbed Cool Biz, designed to get salarymen and government workers to shed their neckties and jackets between June and September.
The idea is to reduce use of air conditioning and energy consumption, and in the process, help the country achieve its target for the year 2012 of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from 1990 levels, as set in the Kyoto Protocol. They were going the wrong way; in 2003, they were actually 8 percent over. To be fair, just about every country on Earth perhaps except for Papua New Guinea and the Republic of Congo is behind on its goal, but only Japan seems to be taking this seriously. This is probably because they got to name the protocol and therefore would be shamed it it failed, and as you might know, shame is serious business over there.
But, back to Cool Biz. Some scientist determined that removal of a jacket and necktie results in a 3-degree reduction in the heat felt by the body, which means that people can be comfortable with room temperature set at 82 degrees. Or 28 Celsius if that sounds better. And with air conditioners blasting less warm air into the streets, the cities will be cooler and less air conditioning will be needed, thus starting a very beneficial cycle. The Environment minister, Yuriko Koike declared "This summer I will not allow anybody with tie or jacket into my office." Of course the minister, being a woman, doesn't have much to lose (and her comments might be counterproductive as her employees will wear a tie and jacket just to avoid her).
This is one of the few areas where I am convinced that America is way ahead of Japan. We started casual Friday a long time ago, and now in my company we have pretty much gone cold biz every day (shorts and T shirts are not uncommon in summer). I wish we would start reducing the hot air in meetings though.
President Bush modeling Cool Biz for Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 7:07 AM
