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.
