To: The Right Honorable Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda
From: Athinarayanan Sanjeevraja
Date: 30.09.2011
RE: Japan Energy Policy
Suggestion: Changing Industrial Policy
Good Morning Prime Minister. BBC World broadcasted your speech regarding alternate energy sources. I agree with your approach to reduce nuclear power in the medium term because having the nuclear reactors in an earthquake prone zone is not safe for the environment or the communities that live near them. Japan is struck in a difficult situation concerning energy. If you want to eventually move away from the nuclear energy, you’ll have to invest more alternative energy sources. If you can’t invest, then it may have to say with a nuclear power for a while. You need make the right decision because source of energy is dwindling. You have one more option which is Japanese people depend on nuclear power with only 1% but 9% including hydroelectric generation of electricity from renewable energy. The main problem is that electric power companies dominate transmission line which prevents others from joining from markets. I would like to suggest it should be opened for everyone in order to increase rate of renewable energy generation by new entrants. You put forth effort to create more competition in the energy sector, start open market competition in the energy sector, create new energy sources, create regulation that ensure that these new energy sources can be connected successfully into the network and make the prices of energy more flexible. It must be executed with careful government regulation. Government subsidies and tax breaks should be offered to companies that incorporate alternate energy sources. In this way the government could help and new energy start ups to provide healthy competition. All of this will help stabilize energy cost and keep JAPAN’s LIGHTS ON. In addition, offering incentives for research and development of new energy sources the countries energy situation might look a lot brighter.
In my view, Geothermal could become a bigger source of energy since Japan is pretty much on the boundary between tectonic plates. Ocean thermal is also be a major source of energy and I believe Japan already built one of the most successful ocean thermal plants in the world. I don’t think solar is the way to go. Yes, it is source of clean energy but Japan has such a little land area that I am not sure, if it could be all that effective, unless you start putting solar panels on the roof of buildings.
Let me conclude it, your plan to slowly reduce Japan’s dependence on nuclear power is a great plan but it must be executed with careful government regulation. Nuclear energy is always been suspect due to island nation always be affected by storms and quakes. Coal is contributing to global warming. Solar is too expensive. Paybacks on wind are economically impossible to support because if the power keeps staying high, some businesses will move abroad and that will hurt the growth of the Japanese economy. So the government needs to step in and take decisive decision to build alternate energy sources.
Thank you very much for your kind attention to these issues Mr. Prime Minister.
Sincerely,
Athinarayanan Sanjeevraja.
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