The rainy-season front is active. Tokyo's temperature is not that high, but muggy days continue. Draft beer tastes good. El Niño is ongoing; sea-surface temperatures from east of New Guinea to the eastern Pacific are said to be above average. El Niño is sometimes linked to a cool summer, but the JMA three-month (June–August) forecast says the Pacific high will be weaker, with fewer clear days than average, yet temperatures about average. Summer rainfall, though, is expected to be average or more, so it may turn muggy.
Then you cannot get by without air-conditioning. Still, energy saving is the spirit of the age. Where to strike the balance is a puzzle.
So the Palaceside Building has entered its usual three-month power-saving period from July 1. Through the end of September.
During the period, as usual, lights around the east and west first-floor entrances go off from 1 to 4 p.m.; men's re
stroom perimeter lights from the entrance to the sinks have their on-time pushed from the usual 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. At the fifth-floor Mainichi Building Co. office, ceiling lights are off at lunch (noon–1 p.m.) =photos right, above during the blackout; right, below the usual hours.
Saving power is not only cutting. On days when the high is forecast above 36 degrees
, or when the previous day's high exceeded 36, we start ground-floor air-conditioning earlier so indoor temperatures do not climb too far — a sharp contrast.
We also watch power-demand trends from morning to evening, share that information among related sections, and fine-tune air-conditioning and other operations so consumption does not balloon.
Out of sight, out of mind — human memory fades little by little; that cannot be helped. Do you remember the 15 percent cut the summer after the Great East Japan Earthquake (March 2011)? A binding government power-restriction order was issued and all Japan saved power. After that, society as a whole invested quite a bit in efficiency. The Palaceside Building too invested in switching shared lights to LED. Tenants are surely working on efficiency as well. Even without a strong-arm order, including climate measures, let's give one more push.
During the period the Palaceside Building also hangs blue-letter "Power saving under way" posters in the east and west elevator halls =photo above. We ask for everyone's cooperation.