Is changing work schedules a viable alternative to energy shortages?

Indonesia to Open Factories on Weekends to Avert Power Crunch

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, will require factories in Java and Bali to shift part of their operations to the weekend to avert a power crunch on weekdays, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said.
The government aims to move about 10 percent of all manufacturing on the two islands to Saturdays and Sundays when there are 3,000 megawatts of unused capacity, Kalla said in Jakarta. That's equal to Indonesia's shortfall on weekdays, Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told reporters.
The new rule, effective July 21, will help ease outages stemming from a lack of funds to build plants and upgrade an aging grid, especially in Java, the world's most populous island. Jakarta will face intermittent blackouts as BP Plc halts gas supplies to two plants that feed power to the capital, state utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara said.
"This is a temporary policy to help us cope with the lack of electricity," Industry Minister Fahmi Idris told a gathering of businessmen in Jakarta. The rule will be enforced until December next year.
Japanese companies have lodged a protest with the Indonesian government complaining about the frequent power outages, the Jakarta Post reported, citing Seiji Komuro, president of the Jakarta Japan Club.
"Every company should only shift 2 1/2 days of operations to the weekend every month," Kalla told reporters. "It shouldn't be difficult."
The government ordered Listrik Negara two years ago to boost generation capacity by 10,000 megawatts to about 34,000 megawatts by 2010. Next year, the government will start construction of another 10,000 megawatts of capacity, a third of which will use coal.