Setsuden

Setsuden (Japanese: 節電, lit. “saving electricity” in English) was a national movement in Japan to encourage the Japanese public to conserve electricity during the 2011 summer months, and adopt an overall energy sustainable lifestyle. The movement started in July 2011 to prevent rolling blackouts during the summer due to electricity shortages in eastern Japan. Specifically, setsuden was largely in reaction to the aftermath of March 2011 when the Fukushima nuclear plant faced a meltdown after it was damaged by the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Following the shutdown of the Fukushima power plant, other nuclear plants were also decommissioned indefinitely for maintenance checks, further reducing the nation's nuclear power supply. In response to this energy shortage, media campaigns promoted Japanese households and businesses to cut back on electrical usage. While the movement started as an unofficial one, on July 1, 2011, the government passed energy-restriction policies for large companies and target reductions for households and smaller businesses. Although these restrictions were repealed in September 2011, the movement has been successful in preventing blackouts for its span.

Origin

Nuclear power plants originally supplied around 30% of energy around Japan before the March 11 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and prompted safety checks of other power plants. Including the Fukushima plant, most of the nuclear reactors shut down were owned by Tokyo Electric Power Company(TEPCO), one of Japan's major energy suppliers and leading sources of nuclear power The March earthquake, combined with a meltdown of the Fukushima plant caused the initial widespread blackouts in affected parts of Japan; since then, TEPCO has not recovered and estimated it would be unable to provide enough electricity to meet the peak demand of the 2011 summer.