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HISTORY OF JAPANESE SOLAR ENERGY

A. The Beginning i. The Boom of Solar Power
One of the most significant and perceptible booms in the country of Japan recently is one that will probably broaden and remain an enduring fixture, unlike other technological booms that are going on in Japan. Utilizing solar energy from the sun’s rays to heat water has long been frequent in Japan for some time. Nevertheless, in the last decade a collection of photovoltaic cell panels have began to appear mostly everywhere, via the rooftops of homes, businesses, airport terminals, large factories and schools. The most interesting thing about this obvious growth though has been the large number of new homes having solar energy being incorporated into their designs. It’s amazing to see houses being retrofitted with solar panels on their rooftops across Japan.

A decade ago, Japan took the lead as the nation producing the majority power from solar energy, a lead which has expanded during the years with production passing 1.13 million kilowatts during the year of 2005. Similar to the case during the 1960s, it’s the exports that are obtaining the headlines, although it’s domestic demand that is actually countersigning the “Solar Boom”. The number one market leader in solar energy in Japan is Sharp Corporation, this industry have reinvested deeply into their production capacity, other manufactures of solar energy are mobilizing into the business as high demand continues to rise exponentially in the market, passing 20% in the growth rates. Most of the solar panels produced in Japan are sold and implemented in Japan itself. Two years ago, 100,000 households have had solar panel systems installed. Today, more than 200,000 Japanese homes have solar energy technology currently running.

In Japan there are solar panels venders that prefabricate catalog homes that are made to order and assembled on site. Real estate agencies (for instance, Sekisui Heim) have reported their annual sales (54% of 11,500 homes) in 2006 about households that belong in the solar power generation model. As of now, the Japanese government is dynamically stimulating the market through a range of inducements, and the main objective is to increase the amount of electrical energy produced by solar power via last year’s 1.13 million kilowatts to 4.8 million kilowatts in just four years from now. Whereas a definite percentage of that will be going through industrial production, a large significant amount will be via regular homes.

Economics is the main reason behind the solar energy boom in Japan, because the retail price of electricity in the country is typically expensive, and the other problem is the nuclear power plants have aggravated the energy dilemma. “For example the accident in 1995 at Monju, shut down the only fast breeder reactor in Japan (it is still closed), and all 17 of the nuclear plants managed by the Tokyo Electric Power Company were shut down in 2003 after the government discovered that the company had been falsifying safety documentation.” (npr.org)
The outcomes are that most of the electricity produced in Japan is from imported natural gas and burning coal. This has turn out to be increasingly more expensive as product and service prices continue to rise. Furthermore, the demand for solar panels is contrasting the demand for exceptional mass manufactured hybrid cars being sold by automobile companies; Honda and Toyota. Today there are corporate and government support for the companies involved in solar energy.

During the winter of 2005, Japan had to exceed its emissions targets, and allowed upward pressure on the costs paid by corporation for necessary power. The country has a prosperous carbon trading market, plus an exceptionally widespread execution of ISO14000 standards, but present prices and energy demand is a fast acknowledgment that something had to alter, and alter quickly. “Installing the average solar power system costs about 650,000 yen per kilowatt. The cost and size of the panels is falling annually, while their efficiency continues to improve, generating significant power even during cloudy weather.” (npr.org)

The Japanese architects have learned to plan and design the finest space and surfaces, hastening the direction towards solar designs. The outcome is that most Japanese families are radically reducing the amount of electricity purchased via the usual power grid from the cities, and in certain cases develop into net retailers of energy power and earning income while decreasing the stress on business. It’s quite typical these days to see representatives of the electricity businesses displaying solar panels in gas stations, shopping stores and malls, which is all part of the large education and promotion plan developed by the Japanese government. B. The Future of Solar Power i. Japanese Solar Panels
In Kakuda, Japan there’s a popular classic Japanese animated series known as “Gundam”, taking place in the future where the depletion of fossil fuels has forced the human race to pursue space-based solar energy production as global conflicts battle over power shortages. The animated science fiction story takes place in the future of 2307, although in reality scientists in Japan are operating on the technological hardware required to create orbital generators as a form of clean, renewable energy. The plans to achieve the first prototype will be in about two decades. The idea behind solar panels sending down energy from space has long been considered and dismissed as too expensive and unreasonable. However, in Japan the apparently incredible plan has obtained renewed attention in the middle of the constant national energy crisis and worries about the natural environment.

A year ago scientists from the Institute for Laser Technology in Osaka, Japan produced up to 180 watts of laser energy from the sun’s rays. Last February, researchers in Hokkaido, Japan commenced ground tests of a power transmission system created to beam microwave energy to earth. “The laser and microwave research projects are two halves of a bold plan for a space solar power system (SSPS) under the aegis of Japan’s space agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Specifically, by 2030 the agency aims to put into geostationary orbit a solar-power generator that will transmit one gigawatt of energy to Earth, equivalent to the output of a large nuclear power plant.” (treehugger.com). The microwave energy laser would be sent to the surface where it would be transformed into electrical energy for metropolitan power grids or accumulated in the form of hydrogen.

The expense for the microwave solar energy project would be quite high in the billions of dollars, although the Suzuki Corporation and its associates state that they are not bearing in mind of the price tag. “We can’t know whether this is feasible or not if we don’t have the basic technology first,” he says. “We’re aiming to produce stable, cheap power and hydrogen at a target price of 6.5 cents per kilowatt-hour.” (treehugger.com). All this would fall in place with today’s conventional power generation expenses and make it more cost-effectively eye-catching.