Tag - electricity

 
 

ELECTRICITY

The bill calls for mandatory prior approval by an independent organization to break into the server of an attack source and render it harmless.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2025
Japan to penalize the illicit use of cyber defense information
The penalties are part of a broader government plan to introduce active cyber defense, or preemptive action to prevent cyberattacks.
The producer price index in 2024 rose 2.3% from the previous year to 122.6, against 100 for the base year of 2020, a Bank of Japan report showed Thursday. The index was up for the fourth year in a row.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 16, 2025
Japan's producer price index hit record high in 2024
The producer price index, which measures the costs of goods traded between companies, rose 2.3% from the previous year to 122.6.
Solar panels and a coal-fired power station in Fukushima Prefecture. Japan has not set a clear path for phasing out coal and its new draft energy plan foresees an important role for fossil fuels, especially gas, and nuclear power in its future energy mix.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 13, 2025
Japan’s energy plans endanger real climate solutions
The government's draft energy plans were not subject to open debate and their outcome shows an insufficient commitment to making the changes needed to tackle climate change.
Japan aims for nuclear power to make up 20% of its energy mix by 2040. However, the restart of the country's reactors is complicated by issues such as local opposition, as is the case for the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Niigata Prefecture.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 10, 2025
Robust new nuclear target for Japan is shrouded in uncertainty
A new plan envisions nuclear power making up 20% of Japan's energy mix by 2040. But hurdles to reactor restarts and rising electricity demand cast a shadow on such ambitions.
A retired power station in the Keratsini suburb, near Athens
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 7, 2025
Europe's power price divide hits southeastern economies
Since 2021, Greece has spent €11 billion on energy subsidies to try to protect customers.
Indonesia's plan to increase biodiesel mandates to 50% by 2028 could require clearing 5.3 million hectares of forest for palm oil plantations by 2042, an area larger than Denmark.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2024
The year’s worst climate news you haven’t heard about
Not enough floodwaters for dams, more coal burning and demand for Indonesian palm oil show efforts to slow global warming are flagging.
China's solar industry, hit hard in 2024 by overcapacity and financial losses, is expected to recover in 2025 with tighter market conditions and a 25% revenue growth forecast.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 24, 2024
Here’s the best climate news you missed this year
There are plenty of positive trends out there once you peer past the alarmist headlines.
The average retail gasoline price is expected to rise by over ¥5 per liter as the government has announced that it will reduce subsidies to oil wholesalers.
BUSINESS / Economy
Dec 19, 2024
Gasoline prices rise as Japanese government cuts subsidies
Until now the industry ministry has subsidized 60% of gasoline costs over ¥168 and under ¥185, but from Thursday the subsidy dropped to 30% for prices in that range.
Cables connect to servers at a data center. The rapid global adoption of AI has triggered a boom in demand for the energy-hungry data centers on which the technology depends, putting power grids to the test.
JAPAN
Dec 12, 2024
Fossil fuels initially needed for AI boom, Tepco adviser says
While electricity demand has been trending downward in Japan, experts have suggested that the decline could be reversed as the nation builds more data centers.
Kansai Electric Power's Takahama nuclear power plant's No.1 reactor (right) in Fukui Prefecture, which surpassed 50 years of operation in November. On the left is the No. 2 reactor.
JAPAN
Dec 9, 2024
Renewables eyed as biggest source of Japan's energy mix in fiscal 2040
The government is also expected to aim for a 20% share for nuclear energy as part of efforts toward decarbonization.
Workers walk through a thermal power plant damaged by Russian missile strikes in an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Nov. 28.
WORLD
Dec 3, 2024
Energy workers battle to keep the lights on in Ukraine
The workers see themselves as on the front line of a crucial battle in the war with Russia — to supply millions of people with power despite Moscow's attacks.
A girl stands next to her house damaged by a Russian missile strike on the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, on Thursday.
WORLD / Politics
Nov 29, 2024
Ukraine calls Russian strikes on energy facilities 'despicable escalation'
Ukrainian president said Russia used cruise missiles with cluster munitions on Thursday, its second big attack on energy infrastructure this month.
An Iranian woman, in her house in Tehran while the electricity is cut off due to energy savings in 2021
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2024
Iran's businesses bear brunt of daily power blackouts
Iran, despite holding some of the world's largest natural gas and oil reserves, has grappled with massive energy shortages in recent months.
A Toshiba film-based perovskite photovoltaic module on display at the Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions booth at Smart Grid Expo in Tokyo on Feb. 28
JAPAN / Science & Health
Nov 26, 2024
Japan considers promoting the use of perovskite solar cells for energy
The plan is part of work to expand the use of renewable energy sources by supporting the introduction of next-generation technologies.
A farmer cleans solar panels in a field in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Nov 25, 2024
Surprise solar boom in Pakistan helps millions, but harms grid
The rise of solar in Pakistan has many benefits, but a rapid and unregulated boom also threatens to weaken the country’s utilities and destabilize the fragile economy.
A man walks past a gasoline station in Tokyo on Thursday.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy / OUR PLANET
Nov 24, 2024
How Japan can exit the fossil fuel subsidies it can’t seem to quit
While offering relief to low-income households, such measures encourage the continued use of the fossil fuels driving climate change.
The policy chiefs of the Democratic Party for the People, Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito — Makoto Hamaguchi (left), Itsunori Onodera (center) and Mitsunari Okamoto — shake hands after reaching an agreement on an economic stimulus package on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 22, 2024
Japan approves ¥21.9 trillion stimulus plan
Combined with expected spending from the private sector, this year’s package is estimated to add a total of ¥39 trillion to the economy.
An electrical substation in Tokyo. Japan's total power generation fell to its lowest in more than a decade in the year through March.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 22, 2024
Japan’s power output falls to lowest in more than a decade
The total amount of electricity generated fell 1.6% year on year to 985.4 terawatt hours in the 12 months to March.
Hokkaido Electric Power's Tomari nuclear plant. The company says it will be able to meet a boom in consumption from planned data centers and a chipmaking plant provided it is allowed to restart its nuclear reactor.
JAPAN
Nov 18, 2024
Hokkaido Electric sees power demand surge with data center boom
Hokkaido boasts a cold climate, which reduces cooling costs, and potential for renewable energy, particularly offshore wind.
Ukrainian emergency service personnel remove fragments of a downed Russian hypersonic missile which hit a five-story residential building in Kyiv on Sunday.
WORLD
Nov 17, 2024
Russia pounds Ukraine's power grid in 'massive' air strike
Ukrainians have been bracing for weeks for an attack on the hobbled energy system, fearing crippling damage that would cause long blackouts as winter sets.

Longform

Atsuyoshi Koike, the president and CEO of Rapidus, says there is a “sense of urgency” when it comes to Japan’s efforts in manufacturing semiconductors. “We have to make sure we are successful,” he says.
Atsuyoshi Koike’s big game: Fourth down and 2 nanometers to go