Japan invests into the photovoltaic system

[World]

Yep, Japan is investing into solar energy to reduce it's dependency over fossil fuels. That's no big news for some of you. However, what might be interesting is their future projects and the huge amount of money they are investing.

Source: Weekly Green - After Petroleum Comes the Sun

[include]

I'd read about Japan betting big on solar a while ago. Kinda mixed opinions about it. Nice and all that the investment they're making, but they're not the sunniest of countries so I'm sure other countries would make better use of the money. With places like Japan and Germany hogging large chunks of the sillicon etc. needed to make the cells they're putting up prices for countries that have a whole lot of sun.

[World]

Originally Posted by include

I'd read about Japan betting big on solar a while ago. Kinda mixed opinions about it. Nice and all that the investment they're making, but they're not the sunniest of countries so I'm sure other countries would make better use of the money. With places like Japan and Germany hogging large chunks of the silicon etc. needed to make the cells they're putting up prices for countries that have a whole lot of sun.

You are making sense and I agree with you on some points. But why don't these countries that have a lot of sun invest in solar energy? They are too poor? This means they don't use that much energy. Japan uses a lot of energy. Generating that energy with Solar rather than fossil fuels is an amazing advancement.

[hefler]

Kinda catch 22 though isn't it. It's not the Japanese consumer that's investing so much as the Japanese state by subsidising things. This then distorts the market by allowing customers in cloudy Japan (and Germany) to buy solar for less than customers in sunny Australia (for instance). Indeed because sillicon supply is limited at the moment cloudy Japan makes it even more expensive for sunny Australia because they buy so much of it. I guess Australia could out-subsidise Japan, but that's probably not too healthy a situation for the long term of the industry.

[World]

There again, there is the limited resource problem. Solar is not the only solution and each country should develop in the solution they are the most advantaged in without killing the planet, of course.

[World]

Originally Posted by World

There again, there is the limited resource problem. Solar is not the only solution and each country should develop in the solution they are the most advantaged in without killing the planet, of course.

In addition, Japan is not only buying silicon panels, but also CIS panels. CIS are made of copper, selenium and indium. The CIS might be a little less efficient, but it's an alternative to the silicon getting more rare and consequently more expensive.

[Peter Bankss]

I agree with this
"Solar is not the only solution and each country should develop in the solution they are the most advantaged in without killing the planet, of course. "

We must look into other resources that we r rich in.

Peter Bankss
Save Our Planet