Tag Archives: japan
Toyota Prius to be Replaced?
From the outside, it looks like sales of the Toyota Prius have never been better. According to WardAuto, they surpassed their 2012 sales goal by 16,000 units, and the rising gas prices since 2011 have caused many buyers to take the plunge and go hybrid. But not everything is smooth sailing for the Prius. An [...]
Japan’s Solar Market: Growth is an Understatement
Japan is making significants stride toward renewable energy development, particularly in solar and wind, in the aftermath of Fukushima disaster in 2011. This year, the country will add over 5 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity, surpassing Germany and the United States, forecasted a new report from IMS Research, part of consultancy firm IHS Inc. According [...]
Can Methane Hydrate Power Japan?
Japan recently announced that a team of research scientists managed to successfully extract natural gas from an offshore deposit of methane hydrate. Methane hydrate, also known as clathrates or, more colloquially, as flammable ice, is a sherbert-like substance that forms when methane gas is trapped and pressurized in ice below the seabed or in ice [...]
In Focus: Super Cities
A metropolis is a large densely populated urban area that has a significant economic, political and cultural function to its inhabiting country or region. A city’s population has to exceed 1 million inhabitants to even be considered a metropolis in today’s context. Another term has been coined to describe cities with super densely populated urban [...]
Japan’s Solar Market: Big in Japan
Growth in renewable energy has been proceeding at a frantic pace since Japan’s very generous feed-in tariff (FiT) took effect on July 1, and everyone from oil companies to banks are rushing to participate. Japan is expected to jump to the world’s third biggest solar market this year, placing it right behind China and either the US or Italy. It’s [...]
Japan Pushes Smart Cities
In the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Japan has placed heightened urgency on building smart, sustainable cities, but it was moving in that direction even before then. Smart cities are a new style of city providing sustainable growth and designed to encourage healthy economic activities that reduce the burden on the environment [...]
Japan: The Land Of The Rising Sun?
So it seems like Japan is going to try and accomplish what former Prime Minister Koreyiko Takahasi was unable to achieve back in the 1930′s with his Keynesian experiment. Regardless of how current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts at reflation play out I do hope that he doesn’t meet the same fate as Mr. Takahasi who was [...]
Japan Tests Social Solar Model
An innovative model is being explored in Japan that promotes the spread of solar energy by using the profits generated by solar electricity to support the local community. The profits generated at a 1.85 megawatt solar farm, Ryukoku Solar Park, will be donated to local communities, creating a model that provides funds to solve social problems, while fostering the [...]
Pro Nuclear Wins Japanese Election
This past weekend, the Japanese headed to the polls to take part in the first election since the catastrophic nuclear disaster. But the election results have anti-nuclear critics across the country shocked and baffled. Many of them are struggling to understand how the Liberal Democratic Party not only won, but won by a landslide. The [...]