After the Mach 11 earthquake and tsunami shut down a large number of power plants in Japan, rolling blackouts were instated in large parts of the country. Lack of power emerges more and more as the biggest impediment to a quick recovery.of the Japanese automotive industry. Most of the industry has been shut down. Power will remain scarce for many months in Japan. Come summer and A/C time, the situation will be worse. Japanese automakers are now considering running their factories in rotation to help cut the industry’s electricity consumption, The Nikkei [sub] writes today. Japan’s automakers could prepare for a production loss of well over a million units for the year. (Read More…)