Survey Shows Nearly 50% of Workers Wear Lighter Summer Clothes

In August 2007, the Japanese government's Cabinet Office released the results of a survey on the "Cool Biz" campaign. According to the survey results, 46.6 percent of the respondents said they followed the campaign; however, only 35 percent said that air conditioners in their offices were set at 28 degrees Celsius or higher.

"Cool Biz" is the nickname given to casual business attire during summer, which helps workers feel cool at workplaces where air conditioners are recommended to be set at around 28 degrees C. The government has promoted this campaign since 2005 as a means of curbing global warming. The survey was conducted between June and July 2007, targeting 3,000 people nationwide aged 20 years or over, and 1,776 valid responses were received.

As for awareness of "Cool Biz," 54.0 percent of the respondents knew details of the campaign and 37.1 percent had heard of it. In the question regarding the campaign idea, 45.2 percent strongly approved and 38.3 percent somewhat approved, far exceeding the number of respondents who somewhat disapproved (3.6 percent) and strongly disapproved (0.9 percent).

Asked about the temperature of air conditioners in offices, a total of 35 percent answered "At 28 degrees C" (27.4 percent) or "Over 28 degrees C" (7.6 percent), and less than 40.5 percent answered "Below 28 degrees C."

http://www.cao.go.jp/index-e.html
- Office Attire Policy Helps Reduce CO2 Emissions by 14% at Oji Group Headquarters (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1218-e
- Cooler Business Clothes Helped Cut CO2 Emissions in 2005 (Related JFS article)
http://www.japanfs.org/db/1281-e

Posted: 2007/12/30 11:26:26 AM
Japanese version