Using underground heat from volcanic areas to produce low-carbon electricity? The idea is appealing, but comes up against the archipelago’s tourist ambitions.
Renewable energy, available 24 hours a day and emitting no CO2: science fiction? No, it is geothermal. The idea is to use heat and steam underground, in the volcanic areas of Japan. This steam spins turbines, which produce electricity. Japan is exploring this technology.
>> Ecology: in Japan, we are testing beverage vending machines capable of absorbing CO2
The archipelago, which has more than a hundred active volcanoes, has the third largest potential in the world, after the United States and Indonesia. According to a study cited by the journal The Economist, the country could thus cover 10% of its energy needs by 2050. Put like that, it sounds simple. Obviously, in practice, it is much less so. First, because tourism professionals are worried. In Japan, a whole business – and a whole tradition – exists around public baths, fed by these natural hot springs. These baths are called “Onsen”. A must-do activity for tourists; an immutable custom for the inhabitants.
However, the approximately 3,000 hotels that benefit from this windfall have little desire to see turbines growing right next to their establishments – dedicated to rest and relaxation. In addition, 80% of the areas concerned are located in natural parks. It would therefore be necessary to change the regulations, and above all to accept that factories come to disfigure the landscapes of forests and rocks…
The postcard is less beautiful
Here is a new illustration of the dilemma that affects our rulers. How to accelerate the transition, while preserving employment and the environment? Of course, this dilemma does not only concern Japan. A similar controversy erupted in France a few months ago, about a mega-project of photovoltaic panels. In Gironde, the installation of this huge solar energy field meant cutting trees over several hundred hectares. All this to supply electricity to nearly 700,000 homes each year.
In other words, more renewable energy, but less vegetation and biodiversity. As we can see, tomorrow’s debate is not “for or against ecology”, but rather “how to choose the least bad solution”. Throughout the world, the rise of renewable energies therefore promises debates that are also… always renewed.