省エネ大賞受賞技術開発の軌跡 (50) Trajectory of Energy Conservation Grand Prize-winning Technology Development (50)
第2章 誰でもできる発見や発明
Chapter 2 Discoveries and Inventions That Anyone Can Make
２．２ 常識よ、サヨナラ
2.2 Goodbye to common sense
2.2.2.1 周囲は敵？だらけ (1)
周囲は敵だらけ、などと言うと何か物騒な感じがするかもしれません。これは誇張した表現です。省エネルギーや節電には誰も正面きって反対はしませんが、いざ実施となると彼らは手の平をかえしたように非協力的になり、彼らをあたかも敵のように感じたことが多くあります。省エネルギーはビジネスとしては大変難しいという意味です。
また、いくら自分が良いことと思ってやっている仕事でも家族から見ればそう良くもない。家族のためにはそれを止めてもらったほうが良いということもあります。Setsuden-mushiの仕事も開発から今日（この本を書いている時点、２００５年７月）までに１０年以上の歳月が流れていました。開発から４年間はほとんど売れませんでした。ですから家族から、特に妻からストップするようにと意見、希望が出されるのもやむを得なかったと思います。妻からは数度、止めたらどうかと言われました。当然その理由は利益の上がらない仕事だからです。いくら出費を抑えても最低限度の必要経費はかかります。生活のための収入が必要です。しかし、妻の言い分を理解できても、私としてはここで止めるわけにはゆきません。Setsuden-mushiへの出費を抑えて、他の分野の仕事で収入を画策して節電・省エネルギーの仕事は継続しなければ負け犬になりかねません。開発開始３年後の１９９７年から２０００年の４年間が最も辛かった時期でした。
もちろん、対外的な協力がえられない原因は自らにあることを忘れてはいけません。３万円のfacsimile machinesに一万円のSetsuden-mushiを接続して省エネ、地球環境保全に協力することは誰が考えても二の足を踏むわけです。また女性の方が機器の接続などをわずらわしく難しく感じることもSetsuden-mushiという製品が外付タイプであることの反省点です。ではどうすればよいか。
やはり、接続の手間、わずらわしさを無くしてSetsuden-mushiをfacsimile machinesの中に内蔵することで価格的に受け入れやすく、知らず知らずのうちに省エネ・節電に参加している形にもってゆく必要があります。
続く
International Forum in Delhi, India by APO (Asian Productivity Organization)
2.2.2.1 Full of enemies? around me (1)
You may feel something dangerous when I say that I am surrounded by full of enemies. This is an exaggerated expression. No one is openly opposed to energy conservation and power saving, but when it comes to implementation, they turn a 180 and become uncooperative. I often felt as if they had been enemies. This means that Energy saving is very difficult as a business.
Also, even from the perspective of my family, it is not so good even if I am doing something good for the environment. Sometimes it's better to stop it for the family. At the time of writing this book in July, 2005, more than 10 years had already passed since I started the development work of Setsuden-mushi. It was hardly sold for 4 years after the development. Therefore, I think it was reasonable that my family, especially my wife, wanted me to stop it. My wife asked me to stop it a few times. The reason is that it was not a profitable job at all. No matter how low the business expenses are, there will be always a minimum required cost. We need income to live. However, even if I could understand what my wife said, I could not stop it because I would have been a loser if I had not continued this work. Then I spent the least amount of money on Setsuden-mushi and planed our income in other fields to continue this development work. The hardest period was 4 years from 1997 to 2000, 3years after the start of its development.
Of course, it is important to remember that the cause of no cooperation from others exists in ourselves. It is not easy for the possible customers to connect a 10,000 Yen Setsuden-mushi to a 30,000 Yen facsimile machine to save energy and to cooperate for global environmental protection. In addition, the fact that the average females find it difficult to connect electric devices should be considered. Setsuden-mushi is an external type so that they might think it was difficult to be connected. Then what should I do?
After all, the Setsuden-mushi should be built into the facsimile machines without the hassle of connection work, and that makes them feel easier to accept the price. At the end, the users can cooperate in saving energy without realizing it.
To be continued