<h2>Coal-fired power generation has not increased because nuclear power plants have stopped.</h2>
According to data for 2020, fossil fuel-fired power generation will account for about 75% of the annual electricity generated in Japan. According to 2020 data, fossil-fueled thermal power generation accounts for about 75% of Japan&#8217;s annual power generation, of which about 28% is coal-fueled, and considering the fact that Japan has not declared that it will abolish coal-fired power generation in the future, this seems to be inevitable.
Before the Great East Japan Earthquake, there were 54 nuclear power plants in Japan, providing around 30% of the country&#8217;s electricity. The number of nuclear power plants in operation now, including those undergoing regular inspections, is nine. That&#8217;s about 4% of the total. If we don&#8217;t run nuclear power plants, will we be forced to rely on coal-fired thermal power?
 &#8220;Many people think so. But the reality is a little different.
But the reality is a little different,&#8221; said Yo Yasuda, a specially appointed professor at Kyoto University.
 But the reality is a little different. But the reality is a little different. But the reality is a little different,&#8221; says Kyoto University professor Yo Yasuda. But the reality is a little different. If you look at the statistics over the past 30 years, Japan has been gradually increasing coal-fired power generation since the 1990s, before the nuclear accident.
 Before the 90s, oil-fired power was still the main power source in Japan. Since the 90&#8217;s, Japan has been importing coal from Australia in order to reduce its dependence on oil. The political situation in the oil-producing Middle East was not stable, and to transport oil from the Middle East, we had to go through the Strait of Hormuz and the Strait of Malacca, where the international situation was unstable. Australia is a friendly country, and it doesn&#8217;t go through any dangerous places. That&#8217;s why we increased our imports of coal from Australia.
In the 1990s, coal-fired power was the mainstream in countries around the world. In the 1990s, coal-fired power generation was the mainstream in countries around the world, with the United Kingdom and Germany using 70% of their power from coal-fired plants, and Denmark exporting power generated from coal-fired plants to other countries.
However, the world has changed, and since the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, the world has gradually changed direction. Denmark now uses about 70% of its electricity annually from renewable energy sources. Germany, Ireland, Italy, and other countries are also using renewable energy for about half of their electricity.
Japan, on the other hand, has been relying on coal-fired power since the 1990s, and it is only since the nuclear accident that the use of natural gas-fired power has increased. Even now, the percentage of renewable energy is only about 20%. This is a lower percentage than that of the United States and China. Furthermore, the government has not made a clear commitment to reduce coal-fired power generation to zero in the future. It&#8217;s no wonder they won the fossil prize.
 &#8220;According to an analysis I conducted. OECD According to my analysis, most of the member countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) are reducing their use of coal and turning to renewable energy. The only developed countries that are bucking this trend are Japan and South Korea.
<figure id="attachment_215318" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 3000px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215318"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="82c8a240"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/1_aflo_32628632.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-215318" class="wp-caption-text">The idea that renewable energy is unstable was knowledge 20 years ago! (Photo: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> The idea that renewable energies are unstable was 20 years ago Knowledge from 20 years ago</h2>
Renewable energy refers to energy that uses the environment and resources found in nature, such as sunlight, geothermal heat, wind, and water.
But they are said to be weather-dependent and unstable. &#8230;&#8230;
 &#8220;That&#8217;s the way it is in Europe. That&#8217;s what they said 20 years ago. That&#8217;s what they said 20 years ago in Europe&#8230;&#8221;
I cut him off with a single word. But there are days when it&#8217;s cloudy, and there are days when there&#8217;s no wind. &#8230;&#8230;
 &#8220;It&#8217;s true that there are fluctuations. But there are different ways to manage it throughout the power system. And there are step-by-step methodologies for different levels of renewable energy deployment. It&#8217;s not like we can&#8217;t use it as a power source because it&#8217;s fluctuating. 20th This is a story of the 20th century. Twenty In 20 years, technology will evolve. And yet, the information 20 years ago. But the information is still 20 years old in today&#8217;s Japan.
What do you mean by various methods, such as storage batteries?
 &#8220;According to international discussions, such as those of the International Energy Agency (IEA), storage batteries are actually hardly necessary for the current level of renewable energy introduction in Japan. For example, cogeneration systems. It is a system that produces both electricity and heat at the same time, but in Denmark, when the wind blows too much, the surplus electricity from the wind power generation is used to boil water, which is then stored and used when there is less wind. Storing hot water is very low-tech, but it is many times cheaper than storage batteries.
 Japan is making a lot of noise about storage batteries and storage batteries without using most of the technologically established low-tech technologies. Furthermore, they say that storage batteries are expensive and that renewable energy is expensive, and that they can&#8217;t increase the amount of renewable energy because it is expensive. I wonder why. &#8230; I don&#8217;t know.
<figure id="attachment_215319" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4488px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215319"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="49af6d71"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/2_aflo_173428440.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-215319" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Kishida spent a lot of time looking down at the manuscript of his speech. I wonder if the world was able to understand that Japan is seriously thinking about decarbonization&#8230; (Photo: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> The important thing is &#8220; Flexibility &#8220;IEA The IEA&#8217;s proposal has not caught on in Japan</h2>
In 2011, the IEA came up with a set of indicators for the mass adoption of renewable energy. The key word is &#8220;flexibility&#8221;. The key word is &#8220;flexibility.&#8221; Renewable energies fluctuate, but the idea is to manage them in a flexible manner, and first make do with the existing facilities. The idea is to manage with existing facilities first, and then, as wind and solar power increase, to consider various types of flexibility and add them in order of decreasing cost.
 &#8220;Japan has the second largest number of pumped storage power plants in the world. Japan has the second largest number of pumped storage power plants in the world, and we should make more use of them. Japan has the second largest number of pumped storage power plants in the world.
 In Europe, there is also biocogeneration, which recovers biogas from agricultural waste to generate electricity and provide heat. Demand response is already widespread through market transactions, in which electricity is used or stored as hot water during times when rates are low to reduce peaks in electricity demand. It&#8217;s also possible to adjust fluctuating renewable energy with other renewable energy.
 This was proposed 10 years ago. Even though this kind of thing was proposed 10 years ago and is now being put to practical use internationally, this concept has not spread in Japan. Perhaps because it has not been translated into Japanese, many people in the industry do not know about it. Maybe that&#8217;s why people say that thermal power or storage batteries are the only way to regulate the &#8220;unstable&#8221; wind and solar power.
<figure id="attachment_215321" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1440px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215321"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0756789b"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/2fae8790f327ccbae41ab41ba7051158.png" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-215321" class="wp-caption-text">The amount of electricity that can be generated by offshore wind and solar power is about three times the amount currently used!　The Ministry of the Environment has come up with these estimates, so why aren&#8217;t we moving towards realizing them? &#8230;&#8230; Why does the government insist on using coal-fired power?</figcaption></figure>
<h2> If they don&#8217;t, they will not be taken seriously by the rest of the world!</h2>
The IEA has set up a scenario in which 90% of electricity will be supplied by renewable energy in 2050 in order to achieve the 1.5°C target of the Paris Agreement. Is such a scenario really possible in Japan?
 &#8220;According to estimates by the Ministry of the Environment, if wind turbines were erected on the oceans where they could be installed, excluding various constraints such as shipping routes and fishing grounds, they would generate about 3200 TWh of electricity per year. The amount of electricity used in Japan in a year is about 1000 TWh The amount of electricity used in Japan per year is about 1000 TWh. The amount of electricity used in Japan in a year is about 1,000 TWh, so it can be calculated that offshore wind power alone can provide more than three times the amount of electricity, which means that Japan has that many resources lying dormant.
More than three times the amount of electricity from offshore wind power alone. Including solar power, geothermal power, and small and medium-sized hydropower using small rivers, there is a potential of about 7,300 TWh. So, why aren&#8217;t we moving in that direction?
 &#8220;I think the whole world is thinking that way. I think the whole world thinks so,&#8221; he said, &#8220;but Japan tends to focus on new things such as storage batteries and hydrogen. We are starting with things that cost a lot of money.
 Of course, there will be a time in the future when storage batteries and hydrogen will be needed, but the current prospects for renewable energy in Japan are too low to be able to demonstrate their power. We are in the wrong order, but we don&#8217;t realize it. I think this is the situation.
Although it is said to be a unique Japanese technology, we have been producing Galapagos products. They may think that this is the way to solve the energy problem. However, Galapagosization is no longer acceptable.
Apple is aiming to be carbon neutral by 2030, and has asked its suppliers to switch to 100% renewable energy.
 &#8220;In international public opinion, coal is now treated like guns, drugs, and cigarettes. Investors will not invest in companies that are not committed to renewable energy. But there are too many people in the industrial world in Japan who don&#8217;t realize this.
There is also the possibility of a boycott of Japanese products and &#8220;Japan passing.
 &#8220;Global warming and climate change are now looming crises, and it is a matter of risk management. It&#8217;s not enough to continue as before. Both industry and the public need to realize this as soon as possible.
<figure id="attachment_215323" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 4720px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-215323"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8fb86147"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2021/11/3_aflo_118526390.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-215323" class="wp-caption-text">The former Minister of the Environment, Koizumi, who is fluent in English, is said to have put a lot of effort into decarbonization because he directly felt the criticism coming from all over the world, but he is now useless. &#8220;But he is now useless. Some people are worried about the future.</figcaption></figure>
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<a href="http://www.econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp/renewable_energy/stage2/contents/dp015.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1: &#8220;No.15 How have OECD countries reduced coal use and introduced renewable energy? Proposal and Analysis of Coal=Renewable Energy Index&#8221; (Department of Renewable Energy Economics, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University) is here.</a>
<a href="https://www.nedo.go.jp/content/100923371.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> For the IEA fact sheet, &#8220;Design and Operation of Energy Systems for Large-Scale Introduction of Variable Power Sources,&#8221; click here.</a>
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Yo Yasuda is a Project Professor in the Department of Renewable Energy Economics, Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University. D. (Engineering). He specializes in lightning-resistant design of wind power generation and grid interconnection issues. He is responsible for bridging the gap between technology, economics, and policy. He is also the author of many energy-related books. He is also the author of many energy-related books, including &#8220;The <a href="https://is.gd/OxAefw">Complete Book of Renewable Energies and Power Systems of the World</a> &#8221; (Impress R&amp;D). He is also the supervisor of the three-volume &#8220;Let&#8217;s Learn More about Renewable Energy&#8221; series for elementary and junior high school students (Iwasaki Shoten).

 Izumi Nakagawa

 Afro

 "According to my analysis, most of the OECD countries are reducing their use of coal and turning to renewable energy. According to my analysis, most of the OECD countries are reducing their use of coal and moving toward renewable energy.

Japan and South Korea are the advanced countries that are going against the world trend…? Background of the Fossil Prize

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