Japan is depending on the power of necessity to be the mother of the inventions it needs to solve its energy problem.
Today the last of its 50 usable nuclear reactors will be switched off, leaving the world’s third largest economy dependent on coal and oil-burning generators.
Japan had depended on nuclear plants to produce a third of its electricity when the tsunami in March of 2011 crippled the nuclear plant at Fukushima and created the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986. The calamity, which has potential for still more damage, persuaded the Japanese to abandon nuclear power altogether rather than make their existing reactors safe.
Because Japan has no energy resources of its own, the decision is now costing the country $100 million a day for imported coal and oil.
That enormous burden has created an all-out effort to make Japan a break-through leader in alternative energy production. The focus is on solar, wind, geothermal and hydro-electric. To speed the development process, the government is setting high purchase rates for electricity produced from any of these alternative sources.
They are being realistic. They don’t expect energy independence anytime soon, but do look to replacing nuclear power with some combination of renewable sources within a newborn’s lifetime. Massive new solar and wind plants are already under construction.
Considering the power of Japanese engineering and science and the enormous economic incentive at play, it is reasonable to expect Japan to reach its goals much earlier than is now predicted — and to lead the way in renewables for the rest of the world.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
