Reducing fossile fuel use in Japan


Reuters has the story about how Japan aims to reduce its heavy dependency on imported oil and coal. A government panel on energy policy this week said Japan should increase the supply of electricity generated by renewable energy by 2014 to reduce use of fossil fuels.

The call comes amid growing pressure on governments to act against global warming:

The energy subcommittee of Japan's trade ministry said in a draft report that utilities should be required to raise supplies of electricity generated by renewable energy, such as wind and solar power and biomass, to 16 billion kilowatt-hours a year by the fiscal year starting in April 2014. That compares with 5.5 billion kilowatt-hours supplied in the year ended in March 2006, or about 0.5 percent of Japan's total annual electricity supply.

Wind Rose is a website with updates about wind turbines installed in Japan.

Did you know that you can select renewable energy and support this trend? My supermarket has this certificate proudly displayed by the service counter.



Natural-e has all the details.

Japan's Green Power Certification System is a scheme for encouraging corporate and some other customers to use natural energy as one of their voluntary measures for energy conservation and environmental protection. With a Certification of Green Power, customers can show proof of their use of green electricity. This can serve various purposes such as meeting targets of fossil fuel savings and CO2 emission reductions...


(Top picture: The cover of a book by Higuchi Kiyomi about wind power from Junposha)

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