Japan Feed-in Tariff Overviews in English

A couple of really well done reviews of Japan’s new FITs are now available. General take is that the FITs appear a bit high on initial examination, but probably not too high based on Japan’s desire for rapid adoption of renewable energy. I recommend everyone read these!

Japanese Proposed Tariffs Submitted
– World’s Highest Feed-in Tariffs
– Differentiated by Technology But Otherwise Little Further Differentiation
– Are the Tariffs too High?
Paul Gipe has done a thorough overview of the new Japanese renewable energy FITs at his excellent Wind-works.org website.

Japanese feed-in tariffs committee report
@Kf_Lenz has also put together an excellent and nuanced examination of the tariffs.  I agree with his outlook that the tariffs are not too aggressive when one considers the costs of business in Japan as well as the desire for rapid uptake of renewables by the nation.

Are there any other good analysis reports of the new Japanese FITs on the internets? Please let me know!

Feed-in Tariffs Are A Very Good Thing

Renewable energy FITs are in the news a lot these days here in Japan. “FIT” is the acronym for Feed-In Tariffs – a mechanism for paying for production of renewable energy at a guaranteed price. FITs are designed to encourage both investment in renewable energy production by allowing an energy producers to have a sure fire way to make money off their investment.  FITs have proven extremely successful in developing the renewable energy market in a large number of countries.

A silly man commented to me online that FITs are somehow very bad. Initially I thought that this silly person must be misinformed, but upon looking up his name online, I discovered he works in the nuclear industry. FITs are not so good for people with vested interests in nuclear as FITs enable countries to get by without nuclear plants.

Fukushima Daiichi: Truly A Nuclear Radiation Catastrophe

Nuclear industry apologists, pundits, vested interests, and public relations professionals would love you to believe that the Fukushima Daiichi was not really catastrophic. Even the Washington Post recently published an editorial (PDF at Beyond Nuclear) with the misleading and callous statement:

“Following the scary but ultimately non-catastrophic Fukushima nuclear crisis…”

which has lead to outrage from good people who know better. I am not sure what motivated the Washington Post to publish such a trivializing misrepresentation, but it certainly had nothing to do with understanding the facts.

Fukushima most certainly has been a catastrophic event due to the multiple meltdowns and the massive amounts of radiation spewed forth into the world. Here are some numbers and facts regarding very real effects to date caused  radioactive catastrophe:

Thorium Nuclear Information Resources

UPDATE (2012/05/02): Added IEER’s Some Characteristics of Uranium and Thorium
UPDATE (2012/04/29): Added the UK NNL report! Thanks DARyan!

There is a rash of misinformation on the net about the supposed merits of the ‘new’ nuclear energy source on the block, thorium. I am sure that in a perfect world where nobody lies, thorium would be the perfect answer to the world’s energy needs as is claimed. This is unfortunately not the case.

Apparently, every time there is a new nuclear catastrophe, the thorium ‘miracle’ is promoted again as the ‘savior’ for the world. The Fukushima nuclear radiation catastrophe was not unique and the thorium misinformation artists have come out in droves. It’s the nuclear industry’s defense mechanism – create a new ‘safety myth’ that regular people can latch onto.

In reality, the thorium nuclear fuel cycle has been under development since the very early days of the nuclear industry. India, for example, has spent decades trying to commercialize it, and has failed. The US, Russia, Germany, and many others tried and failed as well. At best, thorium based nuclear power generation may be commercialized in a few decades.

I doubt it.

Fortunately, there are a number of independent trustworthy and expert sources of information on the internet regarding thorium nuclear. Here they are:

Democratization Of Energy In Japan – It’ll Be Here Soon

UPDATE: I recommend anyone who is interested in this post to read this at Lenz Blog. There is a fantastic short video interview with the German parliamentarian in charge of energy and the environment on FITs and why they’re so successful. It’s highly related to this post!

The major media covering the Japanese feed-in-tariffs (FITs) are missing an angle which I believe is significant. The democratization of energy is going to be a huge change in Japan. Individuals will be taking a major share of the power generation market for the first time in Japan’s history.

Many pundits in the Japanese media are discussing the large business opportunities for companies afforded by the FITs system. Of course there will be massive entrepreneurial opportunities for new players, and legacy energy companies will also participate.

2% of Commercial Nuclear Reactors Have Meltdowns

The nuclear industry loves to brag about its supposedly lovely safety record. The chances of that happening are one in a gazillion! The nuclear industry has a safety record of tens of thousands of reactor years of operations!! And many other extremely comforting statistics are common in nuclear propaganda.

The nuclear industry would prefer you not know this statistic:

Two of every hundred commercial nuclear reactors ever built have had meltdowns.

That’s right. Of the 582 commercial nuclear reactors ever built, 12 had meltdowns.

What?! That can’t be right. There have been only 3 major disasters! Right? Wrong.

LA Times Gets It Very Wrong On Germany’s Energy Revolution

Pro-nuclear lobby misinformation is rampant. You can find it in the most trustworthy of news sources. For example, in today’s Los Angeles Times there is a blatantly false article that drove me to create this blog!

Here’s the article:

Germany’s nuclear power phaseout turns off environmentalists

Just in case the article gets pulled down, here is how it appeared as I write.

Thankfully, another Tokyo resident who happens to be from Germany, Prof. Karl-Friedrich Lenz, picked up on the misinformation and wrote about it in his blog.

It’s written by a seemingly innocent looking enough fellow who is a ‘special correspondent’ for the LAT named Aaron Wiener, apparently based in Germany. According to his twitter profile, he’s a genuine Fulbright Scholar! Must be very trustworthy!

Apparently, even Fulbright Scholars have trouble digging up real facts. Mr. Wiener’s are very incorrect – and appear to be manufactured to fit his world view.