Tag - energy

 
 

ENERGY

New Zealand already generates more than 80% of its electricity from renewable sources, and aspires to reach 100% by 2030.
ASIA PACIFIC
Aug 8, 2023
New Zealand ties up with BlackRock in drive for fully green power
The deal will supercharge efforts by New Zealand to become one of the first countries in the world to achieve a 100% renewable electricity supply.
Masatoshi Akimoto at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Thursday
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 7, 2023
Scandal-hit ex-LDP member a major backer of renewable energy
Masatoshi Akimoto opposes building new nuclear reactors or replacing current ones, and has said that wind power in particular has much potential.
Trucks wait to cross South Africa’s border into Mozambique at Lebombo Border control in Komatipoort.
BUSINESS
Aug 7, 2023
Global demand for coal is bringing mayhem to South African towns
The trucks began running through in ever greater numbers after South Africa became one of Europe’s main alternatives to Russian coal.
The Advanced Liquid Processing System, used for treating accumulated contaminated water, is seen during a media tour of the wrecked Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Futaba, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 21.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2023
Japan to start Fukushima water release as early as late August
The government will make a final decision on the matter following further internal deliberations and diplomatic discussions with its allies.
The National Ignition Facility’s preamplifier module increases laser energy as it travels to the Target Chamber in an undated photograph at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory federal research facility in Livermore, California.
WORLD / Science & Health
Aug 7, 2023
U.S. lab behind fusion breakthrough reaches ignition again
Being able to reproduce the breakthrough may bring the world one step closer to using fusion, which powers the stars, as a source of clean energy.
Noriko Tanaka of the NPO Mothers' Radiation Lab Fukushima — Tarachine collects seawater samples to measure for radioactive materials in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, on June 13.
JAPAN
Aug 6, 2023
Fukushima mothers take on radioactivity watchdog role
Comprising 13 members, a nonprofit is taking measurements from fish and seawater, driven by serious concerns over the upcoming discharge of radioactive water.
Officials from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office remove seized items from the office of Liberal Democratic Party Lower House lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Aug 5, 2023
LDP lawmaker embroiled in bribery allegation leaves ruling party
Lower House member Masatoshi Akimoto quit the ruling party in the wake of allegations that he accepted bribes from a wind power company.
A young girl drinks water from a faucet in Bamako. At a site just 55 kilometers from Mali's capital city, pure hydrogen gas seeps from the ground like crude oil or methane.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2023
Natural hydrogen could change the world, if we understood it
We know next to nothing about how natural hydrogen is produced, let alone how to extract and transport it most efficiently.
Hitachi CEO Keiji Kojima. The company’s metamorphosis belies the argument that the bastions of Japan Inc. are set forever in their ways.
BUSINESS / Companies
Aug 4, 2023
Hitachi reinvents itself in sign of hope for Japan
The old-school conglomerate revamped its governance, shrank its empire to focus on growth and evolved into a more global enterprise.
Officials of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office raid Lower House member Masatoshi Akimoto's office in Sakura, Chiba Prefecture, on Friday.
JAPAN
Aug 4, 2023
Bribery claims push Japan vice foreign minister to quit
Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Masatoshi Akimoto is suspected of having received bribes amounting to tens of millions of yen from a wind-power company.
Kansai Electric Power's Oi nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture
BUSINESS / Economy
Aug 3, 2023
Japan's nuclear restarts this year to hasten LNG import decline
Kansai Electric Power's plan next month to relaunch the last idle reactor at its flagship nuclear plant will mark an energy shift in Japan.
A price board at a gas station in Tokyo shows regular gasoline at ¥180 yen per liter on Wednesday.
BUSINESS
Aug 2, 2023
Japan's average gas price rises to 15-year high on lower subsidy
The average price for regular gasoline stood at ¥176.70 per liter as of Monday, advancing ¥1.90 from July 24.
The emergency vacuum building sits south of the reactor site at the Darlington Nuclear generating station in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, in April 2016.
WORLD
Aug 1, 2023
Canada turns to nuclear after 30-year pause amid demand surge
There are plans to make a plant the world’s largest and a pledge to add three small modular reactors to a site where another is already being built.
A facility to dilute treated radioactive water from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Jul 31, 2023
Japan takes to anime to promote Fukushima water release safety
Four videos of one to two minutes in length have been uploaded on YouTube as the ministry is seeking to counter what it calls false information.
Kazuyuki Tanioka, the owner of Japanese cuisine Toya restaurant, prepares fish a sashimi dish during an interview in Beijing on July 25.
BUSINESS
Jul 31, 2023
Japanese eateries in China fear ruin over Fukushima water release
Shortly after the 2011 disaster hit the Fukushima No. 1 plant, China banned the import of food and agricultural products from five Japanese prefectures.
Storage tanks for radioactive water at Tokyo Electric Power Co's tsunami-crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant
JAPAN
Jul 30, 2023
No change in plan to release treated water, minister says
Japan's industry minister says there is no change to plan to start releasing treated water from Fukushima nuclear plant this summer.
The Takahama No. 1 reactor (right) is the oldest of Japan's nuclear reactors not set for decommissioning.
JAPAN
Jul 28, 2023
Kansai Electric restarts 48-year-old Takahama reactor
It is the second time that a reactor over 40 years old has been reactivated, after the restart of the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric's Mihama plant, also in Fukui.
Danish ambassador Peter Taksoe-Jensen hopes for a "ketchup effect" in the development of Japan's offshore wind potential.
ENVIRONMENT
Jul 27, 2023
Unlocking Japan's offshore wind potential requires change in mindset
While Japan has made progress in expanding its offshore wind power, Denmark’s ambassador to Japan says that the pace of change is still too slow.
Japanese imports of seafood are seen at a supermarket in Hong Kong on July 12.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jul 22, 2023
Hong Kong tightens radiation inspection of Japanese seafood imports
The tighter inspections started in mid-June and customs clearance of Japanese seafood was delayed by about three hours compared with earlier clearance times.
A wind turbine stands next to solar panels at a Banpu Power solar plant in Awaji, Hyogo Prefecture.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
Jul 25, 2023
Wind, solar and EVs offer Japan cheapest net zero climate path
In contrast to its G7 peers, Japan is still considering climate policies that extend the life of coal and gas-fired plants.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals