Tetsunari Iida is director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies in Japan. Following the Fukushima nuclear disaster, he is calling for a decrease in Japan's reliance on nuclear power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 and an increase in renewable energy

Renewable energy

Renewable energy is energy which comes from natural resources such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, and geothermal heat, which are renewable . About 16% of global final energy consumption comes from renewables, with 10% coming from traditional biomass, which is mainly used for heating, and 3.4% from...

 use.

Iida says that, from 2008 to 2010, Japan's annual increase in solar power

Solar power

Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...

 capacity jumped from 230 megawatts to almost 1 gigawatt, giving the country a total capacity of 3.6 gigawatts. He believes that, with continuing government support, huge solar farms will become economically attractive in Japan for the first time.

Biography

Iida started his career as a nuclear engineer, but he quit in 1992, and went to study renewable energy in Sweden. When he returned to Japan in 1998, he formed the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies. Since then he has set up several green mutual funds.

In September 2011, Iida launched the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation, which is backed by ¥1 billion (US$13 million) from Japan's richest man, Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son

Masayoshi Son , born a Zainichi Korean and now a naturalized Japanese citizen, is a businessman and the founder and current chief executive officer of SoftBank Capital, and the chief executive officer of SoftBank Mobile...

. The foundation will bring together some 100 experts from around the world to analyse obstacles to implementing renewable energy

Renewable energy commercialization

Renewable energy commercialization involves the deployment of three generations of renewable energy technologies dating back more than 100 years. First-generation technologies, which are already mature and economically competitive, include biomass, hydroelectricity, geothermal power and heat...

, and offer policy recommendations to the new Japanese government.

External links

• Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies Japanese & English