Japanese Alternative Energy Development
Japanese alternative energy development is a serious subject in a heavily industrialized county that imports just about all of its energy requirements. Because it is such a serious matter for the Japanese they have given alternative energy more thought and research than most nations.
Japan is a densely populated country, and that makes the Japanese market more viable for alternative energy development compared with other markets. In Japan your energy distribution network doesn’t have to be very long in order to serve a significant market area.
The possibility of continued use of wind energy is enhanced if we go offshore. It is more expensive because the construction of foundations is expensive. But often the wind is stronger offshore, and that can offset the higher costs. We’re getting more and more return on our equipment. The price per kilowatt hour produced will be lower, due to the fact that the turbines are being used more efficiently.
In Japan there is increased interest in wind energy. If you compare it to other renewable energy sources, wind is by far the most competitive today. If we’re able to utilize sites close to the sea or at sea with good wind machines, then the price per kilowatt-hour is competitive against other sources of energy, so says Svend Sigaard, who happens to be president and CEO of the world’s largest wind turbine maker, Vestas wind systems out of Denmark.
Vestas is heavily involved with investments of capital, effort, and expertise into helping Japan expand its wind turbine power generating capacity. It is seeking to get offshore installations put into place in a nation that it says is ready for the fruits of investment into alternative energy research and development.
The Japanese know that they cannot become subservient to the energy supply dictates of foreign nations. World War II taught them that, as the US decimated their oil supply lines and crippled their military machine. They need to produce energy of their own, and since they are an isolated island nation with few natural resources that are conducive to energy production as it is now defined are very open to foreign investment and foreign development as well as the prospect of technological innovation that can make them energy independent. Allowing corporations such as Vestas to get the nation producing more wind-produced energy is a step in the right direction for the Japanese people.
The production of energy through what is known as microhydoelectric power plants has also been catching on in Japan. Japan has a network of rivers and mountain streams, and these are ideally suited places for the putting up of micro-hydroelectric power plants, which are defined by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization as power plants run by water which have a maximum output of 100 kilowatts or less. By comparison, “minihydroelectric†power plants can put out up to 1000 kilowatts of electrical energy.
In Japan, the small-scaled mini- and micro-hydroelectric power plants have been regarded for a considerable time as being suitable for creating electricity in mountainous regions, but they have through refinement come to be regarded as excellent for Japanese cities as well. Kawasaki City Waterworks, Japan Natural Energy Company, and Tokyo Electric Power Company have all been involved in the development of small-scale hydroelectric power plants within Japanese cities.
Japan is a fruitful nation to learn from as alternative energy development becomes more of a necessity in an age of expensive scarce oil. By developing a viable alternative energy industry early Japan can continue to be an industrial powerhouse while other nations with less enlightened leadership suffer under the financial burden of $100 plus a barrel oil.
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