Promotion Policies for Sustainable Energy Technologies: Case Studies in Japan
Sustainable energy technologies continue to be in the nascent stage for the most part. These characteristics should be considered when drafting promotion policies for such technologies. Using a socioeconomic model, this chapter simulates the effects of sp
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Abstract Sustainable energy technologies continue to be in the nascent stage for the most part. These characteristics should be considered when drafting promotion policies for such technologies. Using a socioeconomic model, this chapter simulates the effects of specific promotion policies for two particular sustainable energy technologies in Japan. An estimated input coefficient is used in the socioeconomic model analyzing thermal recovery from biomass, as actual market data are not available. The flows of energy and waste are also considered in the model. Restrictions on total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and subsidies for the thermal recovery industry funded by the emission tax were revealed to be effective toward promoting the industry. If actual market data, including those on pricing and products, are available for a certain time period (as they are for the residential photovoltaic market), a more detailed analysis is possible. In such cases, the socioeconomic and environmental simulation model may be combined with the growth model, which focuses on the cycle of cost decline created by the learning effect and environmental evaluation by consumers. The results of these simulations reveal the effectiveness of specific promotion policies, namely, a combination of GHG emission tax and subsidy, for sustainable energy industries. Keywords Renewable energy • Sustainable energy • Model simulation • Environmental evaluation • Learning effect • Emission tax
1 Introduction Japan’s outlook and situation pertaining to environmental issues have changed drastically after the Great East Japan earthquake. In particular, the nuclear accident at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi power plant led to a national discussion about the pros and cons of specific power sources. The Japanese people are thus
S. Uchida () Ibaraki University, 3-21-1 Chuo, Ami-machi, Inashiki-gun, Ibaraki 300-0393, Japan e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 H. Shibusawa et al. (eds.), Socioeconomic Environmental Policies and Evaluations in Regional Science, New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives 24, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-0099-7_37
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facing the “trilemma” of the need for a safe power source, the compulsion to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2 ) emissions, and the requirement of a reliable power supply. Unfortunately, no single power source, be it nuclear energy, fossil fuels, or renewable/sustainable energy, meets all these requirements. Nonetheless, we must accord the highest priority to examining how we may promote and diffuse sustainable energy technologies, since energy resources are limited, and therefore, the development of a society reliant on sustainable energy is necessary for the long term. The length of the time horizon to be considered for such a study depends on the circumstances of the external environment. Moreover, it is always prudent to consider events that are liable to occur with high certainty. Scholars have already predicted that we will likely suffer a new
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