TOKYO: Japan’s enthusiasm for hydrogen perplexes North Americans, whose rallying call is not “build the hydrogen economy” but “electrify everything.”
Even with luminary Michael Liebreich newly boarding the hydrogen train, the country’s pro-proton stance strikes many as inefficient and counter-productive.
To understand Japan’s position, one must understand Japan’s situation. To the extent that all politics are local, all policies are too, and Japanese policymakers find themselves in a different place from their OECD colleagues.
At the recent Tokyo World Smart Energy Expo, photovoltaics, wind, batteries, smart grids, biomass and fuel cells were on display. The expo also included next-generation thermal power.
Japan’s almost-complete dependence on imported fossil fuels for primary energy shapes the national psyche. The decline of nuclear power after the Fukushima meltdowns meant that imported fossil fuels provided 94 percent of Japan’s primary energy in 2015. Unsurprising, then, that incremental advances in combustion technology are deemed conference-worthy, even as renewables slowly take over the energy landscape.
