Tag Archives: japan
Recent India Power Blackout Reinforces Need for Solar
600 million people without power – and those were the ones expecting to have power. I’m not going to join the chorus of critical voices reacting to two of the world’s largest power black-outs this week in India. While surely there is ample blame to go around, it’s not really clear what happened. It could [...]
Will Tesla Motors Change the World?
It’s a little bit mind-boggling to think that only a century ago, cars were just starting to become available to the average man. Fast forward to today and almost everyone in the modern world has a vehicle, if not two. Cars have become one of the most ubiquitous and important pieces of technology that we [...]
The Great California Energy Crash
California, which imports over 25% of its electricity from out of state, is in no position to lose half (!) of its entire nuclear power capacity. But that’s exactly what happened earlier this year, when the San Onofre plant in north San Diego County unexpectedly went offline. The loss only worsens the broad energy deficit [...]
Next Target for Cheap Solar Panels: Japan
Japan has set a very lucrative solar Feed in Tariff which can give an IRR of over 30% to solar power plant developers. This has led to great excitement amongst top solar panel manufacturers who are facing massive competition in other markets. The prices of solar panels has crashed by more than 50% in the [...]
Japanese Firms: Embracing Green Chemicals
So the green blogger received a call yesterday from a Japanese chemical firm inquiring about bio-based paraxylene (PX). The caller said their Chinese clients have become more interested in renewable-based polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Of course, this is a very interesting news for me and I’m hoping to get first dibs on further developments from this [...]
Japan’s New FiT: Great for Solar
Following the aftermath of the Fukushima disasters in March 2011 Japan announced that going forward it would reduce its dependence of nuclear energy. This past Sunday, July 1, it took a significant step toward that promise by unleashing its new, rich feed-in tariffs (FiT) for renewable energy, including wind, solar, and geothermal bio-based energy generation. [...]
Electronics Conglomerates: Entering Thin Film Solar Industry?
According to Bloomberg News and Dieter Manz, the CEO of Manz AG, companies such as Samsung, LG and Foxxcon have the capability to start producing thin film solar cells (TFSC) at a price of $0.30 per watt (45 cents down from $0.75) if they modify their manufacturing lines used to assemble LCDs. The working mechanisms [...]
Panasonic Ready for Insane Solar Sales in Japan
Next month, a feed-in-tariff (FIT) will be introduced in Japan. The tariff will grant solar panel makers with 42 yen (52 cents) per kilowatt-hour. The FIT also provides companies such as Panasonic Corp. (6752), Sharp Corp. (6753) and Kyocera Corp (6971) with a large incentive to increase their focus on the solar space. Panasonic anticipates [...]
With New FIT Pricing, Japan’s Solar Industry Ready for Liftoff
This weekend, Japan approved re-starting two nuclear reactors despite mass public opposition at the same time as announcing pricing for the country’s landmark renewable energy feed-in tariff (FiT). Solar stocks rallied on the premium price that will be paid for solar, which many think will boost Japan to the world’s largest solar market. The FiT could [...]