The Big Idea
Japanese houses do not have central heating and air conditioning. Still residential energy use has been hard to reduce.
S.W.B.A.T
- Name two ways to stay comfortable in a house with no central heat. (Sitting at the kotatsu and soaking in a hot bath before bed.)
- Identify ways that builders, encouraged by the government, can build zero net energy houses (ZEH.)
Materials
- Youtube Video #9: The best part of winters in Japan! The kotatsu culture!
- Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) report “Definition of ZEH and future measures proposed by the ZEH Roadmap Examination Committee,” pp.2-6
Activities
- View Youtube Video #9
- Tell the students that taking a hot bath at night and getting right into bed under heavy quilts is another way people stay comfortable in an unheated house. They do not leave a heater running at night. They just turn it on in the room they are using when they wake up in the morning.
- Remind them of Day 3’s lesson. Why don’t pipes freeze? How is the hot water in the kitchen, bathroom and laundry also saving energy?
- Examine the graphs and information on the METI Report , “Definition of ZEH…”
- Answer the following questions:
- Has household energy consumption risen or fallen over the last 40 years?
- Have conservation measures since 2011 caused a drop in household energy use?
- How has the amount of electricity used for different purposes in an average Japanese home changed over the years?
- To bring down the amount of energy used in the residential sector, what does METI propose?
- View Youtube Video #10: Japan: Smart Green Homes on the Horizon