{"id":108302,"date":"2020-02-12T15:15:25","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T12:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enerjigazetesi.ist\/?p=108302"},"modified":"2020-02-12T15:25:27","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T12:25:27","slug":"yesil-enerjinin-aksine-japonya-fosil-yakit-kullanimini-artiriyor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enerjigazetesi.ist\/en\/yesil-enerjinin-aksine-japonya-fosil-yakit-kullanimini-artiriyor\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan Goes Into Reverse on Going Green!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Modern living standards \u2014 indoor lighting, affordable food, heat in the winter, an internet connection \u2014 require energy. And every energy source has its drawbacks. It\u2019s easy to point out the downsides of a given energy source and call for it to be banned. But if we\u2019re not careful about weighing costs against benefits, we\u2019re liable to end up with something even worse.<\/h1>\n

This is becoming painfully evident in the case of Japan. In 2011, a nuclear power plant in northeast Japan’s Fukushima prefecture was damaged by a huge tsunami and had multiple meltdowns. The radioactive contamination is still\u00a0being dealt with<\/strong>\u00a0and will be a major drain on government resources \"\"for decades to come. The accident also forced the\u00a0evacuation<\/strong>\u00a0of a large, densely populated area near the plant, causing a domestic refugee crisis. That catastrophe, combined with the political scandal surrounding the mismanagement of old plants, forced\u00a0the shutdown<\/strong>\u00a0of almost all nuclear power in the country.<\/p>\n

But total electricity consumption dipped\u00a0only slightly<\/strong>. Where did Japan make up the difference? Fossil fuels. These went from 62% of Japan\u2019s electricity production before the disaster to about 80% after:<\/p>\n

Even worse, it looks as if this is the new normal for Japan, at least for the next decade. A\u00a0government push<\/strong>\u00a0for green energy and rising public concerns about climate change have forced the\u00a0cancellation<\/strong>\u00a0of a few coal plants in favor of renewable sources. But the country is still on track to add more than 20\u00a0coal plants<\/strong>\u00a0in the next five years. These plants\u00a0are expected<\/strong>\u00a0to emit as much carbon as all the passenger cars in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Part of this is problem is unique to Japan. The country has\u00a0unusually high<\/strong>\u00a0solar costs because of high land costs and limited sunshine. In most countries, the\u00a0shift to solar<\/strong>\u00a0will be faster.<\/p>\n