Switch to renewable energy, says symposium

October 16, 2012

Japan urged to shift focus to renewable energy after Fukushima disaster

Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, makes a keynote speech at an international symposium on "Global Energy Policy at a Crossroads" in Tokyo on Oct. 15. (Mainichi)

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121016p2a00m0na015000c.html

Japanese and foreign energy experts are calling for Japan to accelerate its shift from nuclear power to renewable energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster triggered by the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.

During an international symposium on "Global Energy Policy at a Crossroads" at the German & East Asia Cultural Research Center in Tokyo on Oct. 15, Amory Lovins, chairman and chief scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based nonprofit group advocating efficient and restorative use of resources, laments that Japan gets only 3 percent of its electricity from new renewable sources of energy.

"The trouble is that Japan is the only major industrial country where electric companies can decide who is allowed to come onto their wires and compete with their power stations," he said in a keynote speech. He expressed hope that the Japanese government will set up "a truly independent" system operator who buys the cheapest electricity on behalf of all customers.

"And then with transparent pricing, competition can drive the prices down to international levels," Lovins said, adding Japan's newly launched feed-in tariff program for renewable energy is at three or four times the level of Germany but will fall very rapidly, as it has in Germany and other European countries. He is a longtime adviser to the energy industry and other sectors in more than 50 countries, including Japan, as well as the U.S. departments of energy and defense and offers a recipe for efficient and healthy economic growth in a book called "Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era."

Although the government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has decided to phase out nuclear power in the 2030s, it has stopped short of fully embracing the objective.

Miranda Schreurs, professor of comparative politics and director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre at Free University of Berlin, said, "The single best response to greenhouse gas emissions to energy independence is reducing energy use through energy efficiency improvement."

Miranda Schreurs, professor of comparative politics and director of the Environmental Policy Research Centre at Free University of Berlin, speaks about Germany’s energy policy during an international symposium on "Global Energy Policy at a Crossroads" in Tokyo on Oct. 15. (Mainichi)

Saying the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant had a very big impact on Germany, she said renewable energy now accounts for 25 percent of electricity production in Germany from only 6 percent in 2000. "If Germany can do that, Japan can do that," she added.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster led Germany to phase out nuclear energy by the end of 2022. Schreurs served as a member of an ethic commission on the future of safe energy which was created by Chancellor Angela Merkel shortly after the Fukushima disaster.

The author of "Environmental Politics in Japan, Germany, and the United States," Schreurs emphasized that the public's understanding of a shift away from nuclear energy is essential. "You can't do this kind of transition unless society is coming along with you," she said. "Public participation is a new buzzword in Germany. Everybody is talking about how to increase public participation in the decision-making structure."

Hisashi Kajiyama, senior research fellow of Fujitsu Research Institute's Economic Research Center, said during a panel discussion with Lovins and other experts that Japan lags behind Germany and other industrial countries in terms of energy efficiency.

He noted that energy consumption and industrial production in Japan have been almost parallel for the last 20 years while Germany's production level has risen significantly despite a stable level of energy consumption. He cited heavy energy consumption by Japan's transportation sector as one clear-cut example.

The symposium was co-sponsored by nippon.com, a multilingual news website operated by the Nippon Communications Foundation, and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany and attended by about 150 people. (By Shiro Yoneyama, Staff Writer)