## (3) Measures against Environmental Pollution

There are concerns about harmful materials leaking from factories that were damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake and about asbestos becoming airborne due to removal of debris. There have been more than twenty reports of environmental pollution accidents involving things such as harmful substances and oil outflow.

In order to prevent secondary damage to people’s health from environmental pollution in the disaster areas, a decision has been made to conduct monitoring of air and water quality.

In order to prevent damage from asbestos, efforts were made under the “Handling Manual for Preventing Asbestos from Becoming Airborne in Times of Disaster,” and dust-blocking masks were distributed free of charge with notice of how to wear and use them. In several places in Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki prefectures preparatory surveillance was conducted before a full-scale surveillance on asbestos atmospheric contamination. The results of those surveillances showed that at all of the monitoring points the asbestos concentration was nearly the same as that of the ordinary general environment.

Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant also suffered massive damage from the earthquake and tsunami. The government is currently handling the situation based on the Act on Special Measures Concerning Nuclear Emergency Preparedness and other laws. And ministries such as the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the Ministry of the Environment, governors of local governments, and other groups are continuously monitoring radioactive substances released into the environment.

### 2. Efforts to Deal with the Tight Balance between Electricity Supply and Demand

Due to several power plants stopping operations as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake, the capabilities of electricity supply from Tokyo Electric Power Company and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. have declined significantly in comparison to before the disaster. There has been a tight balance between electricity supply and demand. In addition, planned power outages have been conducted in some areas under Tokyo Electric's jurisdiction.

Faced with this situation, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) began to ask the public and the industrial sector to conserve electricity. The Minister for Electricity Conservation Promotion and the Ministry of the Environment have called for households around the country to conserve electricity.

In particular, over thirty percent of total demand for electricity is household demand, and household efforts for conserving electricity will have a significant effect. Appliances that consume a large amount of electricity are the following four things: air-conditioners, refrigerators, lighting, and televisions. It is possible to effectively conserve electricity by efficient use of these appliances. Using appliances at off-peak demand times is another important way of conserving electricity.

At the end of March, the Cabinet and METI collaborated to request electricity conservation through newspaper advertisements, television commercials, and other means, and METI set up a public webpage that summarizes specific electricity conservation actions and tentative calculations of their effects.

The Ministry of the Environment also called for electricity conservation and gave the following seven points on reconsidering people's lifestyles: (i) frequently switching off household appliances, (ii) reducing standby power for appliances that are not being used, (iii) selecting the best temperature of air-conditioners, (iv) using refrigerators efficiently by reducing the amount of time their doors are open, (v) selecting the best brightness of lights, (vi) using televisions efficiently by selecting their best brightness and switching off the main power, and (vii) changing to a morning-based lifestyle.

The tight balance between electricity supply and demand is expected to continue from now on. In particular, weekdays between July and September will be the peak demand time for electricity due to use of air-conditioning. Although the public and the industrial sector have made efforts for electricity conservation since the Great East Japan Earthquake and there have been improvements in the balance between electricity supply and demand, there is a possibility of a gap occurring again between supply and demand in the summer. On May 13, 2011 the government released measures for electricity supply and demand for this summer.

Specifically, for the peak demand time (weekdays from 9am to 8pm from July through September), Tokyo Electric Power Company and Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. set the target for restraint of demand in all areas as 15%. In order to achieve that target, a target of 15% was set as the restraint goal for commercial-scale consumers (more than 500kW), small-scale consumers (less than 500kW), and households.

Under these targets, the following are being given as examples of main measures concerning demand for each segment.

– For commercial-scale consumers, implementing measures for drastic restraint of demand that include their businesses' operation style and their employees' lifestyles, such as efforts to make adjustments of operating and business hours, and shifting schedules for summer vacations.

– For small-scale consumers, announcing voluntary plans (plans for electricity conservation actions) that include restraint goals and efforts such as conserving electricity for lighting and air-conditioners, and adjustment of business hours and shifting schedules for summer vacations.