Japan’s Fossil Fuel Imports Raised by 40%, Emission Regulations Backing Down

A German coal power plant near Neuss - looks nice, doesn't it?

Back in 2009, Japan told everybody that they’d reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent and would emit less than it did in 1990. And they would have done that by 2020. Now, the current prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, says that they’ll back down, having to use more coal to power up their plants.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration said that in the first four months of 2012 the country used 40 percent more fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) than it did during the same period of 2011, thus contributing more to the global warming we all “love.”

Why is that happening? Because the people of Japan no longer want to hear about nuclear power and they all had to shut down by popular demand. I don’t know whether this is some sort of a populist political approach of some interested parties or it’s just what the majority of people think.

However, the same happened in Germany, where Angela Merkel decided the country should not use any nuclear power in the following decade anymore. They too rely more on coal, although they’re much better equipped with solar panels than 90% of the world.

Solar and wind power are the ultimate solutions, indeed, but the damage done by further mining for coal by countries that had eliminated this power source and who pretend that they want to become greener is irrecoverable.

[via new scientist]

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  • Vidar (Z)

    What the ultimate solution is may be questioned.. Solar power i might buy as a concept for future energy harvesting, but when it comes to windpower i am much more sceptical. Windpower are, though in a diferent way, just as damaging for environment as old age nuclear powerplants.

    Case is that windmills posess a danger not only for flying animals, but for people living near by which must listen day and night to the swisj swosjes and also the subsonic frequencies generated. They may also create danger to locals when they break down, which has happend from time to time. Windmills are also very bad energy harvesters when the wind is below or above certain levels. In my area this will have the most influence when power is needed at most. Wintertimes.

    Also ocean based mills gives nothing but troubles. They are very little protected to the harsh environment or from collissions with ships or even attacks from enemies. The power transfer to land is also a costly and risky business. Not to forget if a mill is damaged, often during harsh weather, reparing is extremely difficult and down time may reach days and even weeks.

    In this light my best, or lets say ultimate solution, is to combine solar power and nuclear power, and to some extent hydroelectrical powerplants to feed the energy hungry people. The future will give us very promising fusion reactors with no waste that can create atomic weapons, some technologies, like the one promoted at focusfusion.org also holds the key to harvest nuclear energy directly without having to use steam engines as a middle man.

    Mills may be uses in some areas as an suplement, but it can never ever give us the amount of stable energi that we want.

    Please appologize my bad english but i hope you understand