Japan Charts New Course for Global Energy Leadership
While Japan’s energy ambitions make headlines, rural areas in many countries still struggle with basic access to reliable electricity
JAPAN: Dan E. Reider, P.E., project manager and mechanical engineer at the University of South Carolina, weighs in on lessons learned from Japan.
The American public has, for many years now, become more and more sensitive to the cost of things over which they have little control, such as the cost of fuels – mainly electric power, oil, and gas. The war with Iran has only heightened our awareness of gasoline prices. While many in our country believe that the United States has achieved a substantially high level of energy independence, the approach of other countries around the world is often quite different from ours. Some of those countries believe we must do much more not only for energy but also for the environment. They believe we must do a lot more than just drill for more oil and must put more effort into how we address long-term energy production worldwide.
While many of us are not saying that these other countries don’t have leaders as knowledgeable as those in the US, or that they have their energy issues primarily due to a lack of available resources, or that they are just not taking the best approach to achieve energy independence, we do believe that US leaders should at least give some consideration to the measures being pursued by other countries. To illustrate the approach taken by some of these other governments, we can take a look at Japan’s approach not only to energy but also, related to that, their emphasis on carbon-neutral efforts.
According to the World Economic Forum, January 16, 2023, Japan is one of 136 countries pledging to be carbon neutral – that is, net zero – by 2050. In 2021, Japan created a fund, the Green Innovation Fund, with $15 billion to support studies and projects including such things as battery development, wind power, solar panels, hydrogen power, and carbon recycling. A year before this, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly passed an ordinance stating that, starting in 2025, a portion of every newly built home must be equipped with solar panels. This measure is meant to reduce carbon emissions from residences, which at that time produced about 30% of all of Tokyo’s CO2 emissions.
In a more recent article, “Japan’s Energy Plan: New Policy Shifts Nuclear Power Stance from Reduction to Maximization,” written by Suzuki Tatsujiro, February 25, 2026, Japan’s long-term power plan is discussed. This plan, with a target date of 2040, looks to reduce dependency on some energy sources while increasing others. The increase from 2023 levels to targeted 2040 levels is as follows (approximately):
| Source | 2023 | 2040 Target |
| Solar/Wind
|
11% | 27% / 37% |
| Hydro/Geo/Biomass | 12% | 14% / 18% |
| Nuclear | 9% | 20% |
| Thermal | 69% | 30% / 40% |
Japan’s long-term energy plan is, in part, based on the assumption of increasing power requirements of data centers. There is a group of well-respected engineers and scientists who believe that improving and expanding the digital world will actually reduce power consumption, as new technologies will greatly improve energy efficiency. In addition, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry stated in 2021 that “atomic energy was not the most economically efficient energy source.” They further stated that nuclear power is a more costly option compared to solar power.
A secondary consideration for prioritizing nuclear power, as stated by the Japanese government, is to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels and the greenhouse gases associated with fossil fuels.
One company, Kansai Electric Power Company, is currently evaluating a site for a new nuclear power plant – the first nuclear plant since the Fukushima nuclear accident – but is waiting on the Japanese government to ensure that nuclear power is economically viable for the long term. One of the biggest obstacles to the Japanese nuclear power industry moving forward is similar to what we have struggled with in the United States for many years: what to do with the spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste. The Japanese are currently surveying three potential storage areas in their country, but no one expects a final decision any time soon. The United States can certainly relate to this problem, as we have not been able to establish any major nuclear waste sites in this country, with thousands of tons of nuclear waste scattered around the country.
It was reported by the World Nuclear Association, April 17, 2026, that there are currently 440 nuclear power plants operating worldwide. There are over 75 nuclear power plants under construction, with over 100 more in the planning stage. Most of these are located in Asia. China has 39 plants under construction, with 41 more in the planning stage. Japan has 2 under construction, with 0 more planned. The United States has 0 under construction and 0 planned. In addition to the planned nuclear power plants, there are more than 300 proposed plants around the world: China 144, Japan 1, and the United States 25. Moving forward, it will be very interesting to see how countries balance their energy needs, their approaches toward energy production, and their environmental concerns – and which countries are proactively looking at the long-term implications of each of these issues.
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