Sustainability – Safe and Secure Energy Sources

To promote efficient use of wind power energy (broadly known as fluid energy), we devised a high-efficiency lens windmill and lens waterwheel. This is a unique combined windmill/watermill structure capable of generating two to three times more electricity simply by placing a simple ring-shaped brimmed diffuser (called a "wind lens") over a revolving rotor. It is a very quiet watermill and can withstand problems such as bird strikes and lightening hazards.
Aesthetically pleasant to look at, the beauty of this structure is that it blends well into the surrounding scenery. As a means of increasing the efficiency of sustainable energy, conditions in Japan are suitable for installing wind power equipment and solar panels on large offshore floating devices that can be flexibly moved and anchored. The future plan is to develop a high-density, complex offshore floating energy farm that will be able to harness energy from multiple sources such as the natural energy of wind power and solar energy above the floating device, and current and wave power beneath the floating device. We have taken the first step in the development of this floating complex energy farm by launching a floating device with a diameter of about 18 meters in Hakata Bay.

The accidents at Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant during the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami on March 11 last year have had a significant impact on Japan's energy policy which has focused on nuclear power as a solution to global warming since a cabinet decision was passed as recently as June 2010. The government has now done an about-face on this energy policy, however, and attention is now rapidly turning to the development of renewable energies.

Japan is said to be one of the most active volcanic countries in the world and to have the world's third highest abundance of geothermal resources. With little output fluctuation according to time band and a high facility usage ratio, geothermal power generation is also attracting attention as an electric power source with a high energy profit ratio, and expectations for its future development are increasing.

On the other hand, two notable problems have been indicated in the development of geothermal energy: development risk and the enormous initial investment burden, which accompany underground resource development in general. In addition to these, in Japan in particular, there is the problem of co-existence with hot springs. At this conference, I will discuss the current status of geothermal development both in Japan and overseas, technical problems that must be resolved in order to promote future geothermal development, and requirements in policy support.