Energy

How Japan can meet its future energy needs is not necessarily something you think about while enjoying a nice long soak in a hot-spring bath. But the hot water you’re soaking in is part of the solution, say advocates of geothermal power.

Even after the Fukushima No. 1 crisis in March 2011 forced Japan to rethink its use of nuclear energy, the resource-scarce nation had hoped nuclear power would still serve it well.

In the 12 cities, towns and villages in Fukushima Prefecture that received evacuation orders from the central government or other entity in the wake of the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the conversion of farmland mainly for the installation of mega-solar power plants has continued apace.

With Japan being prone to natural disasters, hopes are high that electric vehicles and their plug-in hybrid equivalents could play a key role as “batteries on wheels” when emergencies strike.

Concern about climate change has led to a global shift away from using carbon-emitting coal for electricity, but in post-Fukushima Japan, where nuclear remains a dirty word, coal has become king.

Nearly eight years have passed since the severe accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc.’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in March 2011. Based on the lessons from the accident, new safety standards for nuclear power plants were implemented in July 2013, and 15 nuclear reactors at eight power plants cleared the new standards.

Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. said Wednesday that it has for the first time made contact with deposits believed to be nuclear fuel debris — a mixture of melted nuclear fuel and parts of the reactor — inside the containment vessel of the No. 2 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

Japan's offshore wind farm market is set to gain momentum, with legal safeguards and subsidies helping to draw domestic and international participants amid a shift away from fossil fuels.

Kyushu Electric Power Co. said Wednesday it has decided to scrap its aging No. 2 reactor at Genkai nuclear plant in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Saga.

Tokyo Gas plans to leverage technological assistance from U.K. energy giant Centrica under a new partnership as the Japanese utility battles to keep its turf from eroding further in a liberalized market.