Tokyo, July 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Japan’s car manufacturing plants will work on the weekends as part of the nation’s energy-saving plan in the wake of a recent earthquake and tsunami, the NHK television company said Saturday.
The country, whose major nuclear power plant in Fukushima was badly affected by the quake in March, launched a campaign to cut energy consumption by 15 percent Friday at the government’s initiative.
The campaign involves 18,000 enterprises and offices in the north and northwest of the country serviced by the TEPCO and Tohoku Electric Power companies.
Experts say power use is at its peak on workdays from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., which is why 13 car concerns have agreed to work on the weekends and make Thursday and Friday days off by September.
Thirty-five of 54 nuclear reactors, which covered 30 percent of the nation’s energy needs, have been disabled by the earthquake and tsunami. The disaster killed at least 15,000 people, while 9,893 people remain unaccounted for.
The government said the damage from the disaster could total $184 billion.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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