Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Today I'm in Tokyo lecturing and meeting with industry, academic, and government leaders.

The weather is 85-90F with 85% humidity and 4mph winds.   It's hot and power is limited.

The Japanese are a very resilient people, so it's interesting to see how they have worked together to conserve energy.

In the Fujitsu offices where I was visiting with Professor Ikujiro Nonaka, the Super Cool Biz poster pictured above lined the entrance.

Here are the basic ideas

1.  Office thermostats are set to 82F.

2.  Office attire is relaxed with fewer ties and suits.   Super Cool Biz encourages polo shirts, Hawaiian shirts, running shoes and even appropriate T-shirts, jeans and sandals.

3. Switching off lights and unplugging computers that are not in use is encouraged.

4. Shifting work hours to the morning and taking more summer vacation than usual is suggested.  The Tokyo metropolitan government, for example, begins shifts at  7:30, 8 or 9 a.m. rather than at 8:30, 9 or 9:30.

5.  Store and restaurant hours are shifted so that they open later when the weather is cooler.  In my hotel, all power and air conditioning is shut off when I leave the room.  Businesses hand out fans at the door.

Everyone does their part to conserve and it works.

I'm dressed in my lightest weight black clothing and have abandoned my suit jacket.

Off to a day of lecturing and Super Cool Biz!

Related Posts:

  • Exploiting Privacy BreachesI've described information security as a Cold War, requiring constant investment and vigilance to innovate faster than the hackers and criminals who are stealing data to commit identity theft.I'm spending an increasing p… Read More
  • An Update on Massachusetts Health Information ExchangeAs I've described previously, Meaningful Use Stage 1 was focused on the electronic capture of data into EHRs.  The standards we specified included content and vocabulary but not transport.Stage 2 will be more focused on … Read More
  • Reflections on My Daughter's College ExperienceMy daughter made the transition from high school to college about 2 months ago.  Already, she's matured emotionally, intellectually, and physically, becoming an independent adult.When I reflect on my own college experien… Read More
  • The Technology I Own, 2011 editionIn 2009, I wrote about the technology I own.In 2011, I own less.   My devices have converged and everything I need is available in two products:1.  A Macbook Air 11" with 4G of RAM and 128 G of SSD running Mac OSX 1… Read More
  • Cool Technology of the WeekBig data has arrived.   At BIDMC, I oversee 1.5 petabytes of clinical and administrative data.   At HMS, I oversee nearly 3 petabytes of research data.As Blackberry's recent outage illustrates depending on single mo… Read More

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger.

Popular Posts

Blog Archive