Change is difficult to take on. More so, in the energy field. Energy choices quickly become major infrastructure decisions. Power plants take years to build, and stay in service for decades. Electricity grids are massive networks, too large to change quickly and too big to allow to fail, and too costly to replace totally!
But still, when we have a choice to make it is better than when the choice if forced upon us. Like Japan which has shut down all its reactors thanks to the Fukushima disaster. It has virtually shut down 30 percent of its electricity.
Japan has stumbled into an energy crisis, and what happens there has real implications for the rest of the world. It has been struggling with power shortages since the 2011 tsunami, rushing to bring old oil and gas plants back online and promoting energy conservation. With the reactors off-line, Japan has fallen back on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas – and since Japan doesn’t have much in the way of energy resources, that means imports and it also means good bye to emission reductions!
In 2011 Japan ran a trade deficit for the first time in years largely because of all the fossil fuels it had to import. In the first three months of 2012 alone, Japan’s natural gas imports rose 18 percent over the previous year, totaling $67 billion. Renewable only account for about 1 percent of Japan’s power, and the Japanese government says it will take until 2020 to get them up to 20 percent.
If Japan’s not going to use its reactors, there is the problem with waste. Decommissioning 52 reactors would be a massive task, including disposing of the leftover nuclear material. Storing nuclear waste on-site was a major reason why the Fukushima disaster was so dangerous. This will take years, maybe decades to clean up.
Japan’s example is going to provide useful perspective for the rest of the world. How to shift to clean energy without going caput in the process!
But still, when we have a choice to make it is better than when the choice if forced upon us. Like Japan which has shut down all its reactors thanks to the Fukushima disaster. It has virtually shut down 30 percent of its electricity.
Japan has stumbled into an energy crisis, and what happens there has real implications for the rest of the world. It has been struggling with power shortages since the 2011 tsunami, rushing to bring old oil and gas plants back online and promoting energy conservation. With the reactors off-line, Japan has fallen back on fossil fuels like oil and natural gas – and since Japan doesn’t have much in the way of energy resources, that means imports and it also means good bye to emission reductions!
In 2011 Japan ran a trade deficit for the first time in years largely because of all the fossil fuels it had to import. In the first three months of 2012 alone, Japan’s natural gas imports rose 18 percent over the previous year, totaling $67 billion. Renewable only account for about 1 percent of Japan’s power, and the Japanese government says it will take until 2020 to get them up to 20 percent.
If Japan’s not going to use its reactors, there is the problem with waste. Decommissioning 52 reactors would be a massive task, including disposing of the leftover nuclear material. Storing nuclear waste on-site was a major reason why the Fukushima disaster was so dangerous. This will take years, maybe decades to clean up.
Japan’s example is going to provide useful perspective for the rest of the world. How to shift to clean energy without going caput in the process!
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