KUMAGAYA, Japan: With its towering furnaces and clanging conveyer belts carrying crushed rock, Taiheiyo Cement’s factory looks like a relic from the Industrial Revolution. But it is actually a model of modern energy efficiency, harnessing its waste heat to generate much of its own electricity. Engineers from China and elsewhere in Asia come to study its design, which has allowed the company to slash the amount of power it buys from the grid. The plant is just one example of Japan’s single-minded dedication to reducing energy use, a commitment that dates from the oil shocks of the 1970s that shook this resource-poor nation. Now, with oil prices hitting dizzying levels and the world struggling to deal with global warming, Japan hopes to use its conservation record to assume a rare leadership role on a pressing global issue. It will showcase its efforts to export its conservation ethic – and its expensive power-saving technology – at the summit meeting of the Group of 8 industrial leaders that Japan is playing host to, starting Monday. ‘Superior technology and a national spirit of avoiding waste give Japan the world’s most energy-efficient structure,’ Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said in a […]