Japan lags behind Europe in solar power
The Yomiuri Shimbun / May 10, 2007
Source: Yomiuri
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/science/20070510TDY03003.htm
Shiki Arts Center, home of the Shiki Theatre Company’s rehearsal workshop, in Aoba Ward, Yokohama, has been powered by solar energy since the end of last year. The roof of the building, where about 600 actors and actresses hone their theatrical skills, is covered with 1,540 solar panels generating 292,000 kwh a year, accounting for the annual electric power usage of 75 households, is aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 192 tons.
“This is the biggest private institution [powered by solar energy] in Kanagawa Prefecture. Tokyo Electric Power Co. has agreed to buy the power generated. It is helping to promote an environmental consciousness,” said Hiroyasu Muraoka, manager of the company’s general affairs department.
Japan was the largest producer of solar power until Germany exceeded it in 2005. European countries have been expanding their production of solar power more rapidly than Japan. Germany now accounts for 39 percent of total production, while Japan’s contribution is 38 percent. Germany, which will host the summit meeting on global warming in June, has a reputation for being environmentally conscious, and subsidies for solar power have been increased, with the stable price of such power helping to make solar power generation more popular.
However, in Japan, subsidized projects by the New Energy Foundation, aimed at generating solar power for private residents ended in fiscal 2005, and now only local governments have subsidized projects. The company paid 100 million yen for the solar power system, with the remaining 100 million yen subsidized by an independent administrative institution, the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization.
Oil distributors affiliated to the Petroleum Association of Japan started to sell a new type of fuel made from a mixture of bioethanol, which is made from plants, and gasoline, from April 27 at 50 gas stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The government plans to produce 500,000 kiloliters of biogasoline annually by 2010, including 210,000 kiloliters of biogasoline using a mixture of gasoline and liquid ethyl tertiary butyl ether, but this target appears unattainable at the moment.