Japan’s unseasonal curb highlights power instability
Energy supply is still missing its nuclear ‘third leg’ and a huge expansion of renewables is urgently needed
A request from the Federation of Electric Power Companies of Japan to curb use of non-essential electrical appliances this month highlights the need for decisive action to embrace renewable energy. Japanese peak demand usually comes in summer due to air-conditioning use, says Stefan Le Du, climate project manager at the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Co-operation in Tokyo. Winter peaks leading to requests to avoid non-essential appliances are more unusual, he says. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has said the current 2030 national target for greenhouse gas reduction will be raised before Cop26. Increasing the use of nuclear power to do so remains fraught with political danger. “The only optio
Also in this section
9 April 2025
AI is powering the Middle East & North Africa’s digital transformation, but can the region meet soaring energy demand sustainably? Small modular reactors may hold the key
8 April 2025
STRATOS project in Texas granted Class IV permits despite deep uncertainty over Trump administration’s readiness to support carbon management tech
8 April 2025
Gulf Energy to provide AIQ with exclusive access to its proprietary datasets and industry-leading documents. ENERGYai is already trained on petabytes of operational data from ADNOC, and this agreement will provide the solution with access to even greater quantities of relevant, high-quality industry information
4 April 2025
Crucial talks at the IMO focus on a two-tier emissions trading scheme combined with a marine fuel standard
