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| (Courtesy davidsuzuki.org) |
Japan's best hope may be its geothermal resources, said Suzuki, who took the top spot as Canada's most trusted individual in a 2011 survey conducted by Reader's Digest magazine.
“Geothermal can be a huge source of energy very quickly,” Suzuki said, adding that Japan is also well-positioned to take advantage of developments in tidal power.
“Japan is a model already to the lie that economic growth is the key to our future,” he said. “If they can really show an alternative to nukes and fossil fuels, then they will be the poster boy for the renewable energy for the future.”
For a nation steeped in the traditions of a bathing culture fueled by geologically-active hotsprings, Japan has a dearth of projects harnessing the reserves of energy stored underground to produce electricity.
Japan has 539 MWe of geothermal capacity currently operating, a quarter of its wind capacity and almost 14 times less than solar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for 2012.
One advantage to geothermal energy is that it offers a relatively constant supply of energy, unlike wind and solar, which fluctuate with breezes and clouds.
“The benefit is that it is baseload energy, unlike wind and solar,” said Yugo Nakamura, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance in Tokyo. “Japan should take reasonable measures to boost geothermal, but the country also needs to take every measure to boost energy supply from all sources.”
Japan has the potential to produce 23,000 MWe of geothermal power, according to a report on the global market prepared by the Washington, D.C.-based Geothermal Energy Association in May.
“I know the PM is under huge pressure from the energy sector to get those reactors back up and running again,” said Suzuki. “It is unfortunate because the grassroots in Japan are desperate to get off nukes.”
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