DPJ's emission goal draws mixed reaction from ministers

Tuesday 08th September, 02:09 PM JST

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6 Comments

ilcub76 at 02:41 PM JST - 8th September

This is a numerical target that far exceeds the common sense of our business plan

When American companies are told by Congress and the EPA that they must raise the mileage on their cars, business plans go out the window. Honda should just suck it up and comply -- or risk going out of business altogether.
TheTim at 03:05 PM JST - 8th September

Hatoyama has his priorities way out of whack. Japan is already the sponsor of the Kyoto treaty and already strives to be one of the greenest places in the world. Why the heck would Hatoyama waste precious time that could be spent on the economy with this initiative? Well, I guess he wants to vote himself out of office rather than making the Japanese people do it for him.
herefornow at 05:49 PM JST - 8th September

TheTim -- because, as you said Japan "strives" to be one of the greenest. But, it has a long way to go. In case you missed it, it missed its Kyoto goals by miles. If Japan wants to sell all this eco-friendly technology to the developing world, they need to lead by example. Words won't due.
ebisen at 08:46 AM JST - 9th September

TheTim - Japan doesn't do much to become greener - just look at Western Europe countries (and EU in general). Now THEY do A LOT... Did you know that Germany has about 15% of it's energy needs produced by ecological means (mostly wind turbines)? Compare than with the measly 1-5% of Japan :))
sf2k at 10:17 AM JST - 9th September

25% is easy,

1) take away the kerosene and improve the actual building code and include insulation. The fear of insulation no longer holds to modern science and has to leave the bastion of opinion. Prove it.

2) trains trains everywhere, Japan is already ahead here, it's not transportation as the problem like other countries, it's the heavy industries. Go for grid connected vehicles and forgo the lithum batteries that have to be imported anyway.

3) heavy industries rely 100% on imported oil products to function. It is in the national security interest to not be such a loser maybe

4) geothermal, passive solar, hydrothermal all do not require new robots or flashy metal and are ideal for Japanese cities all along the coastline or anywhere for that matter. Hatoyama was an engineer and its here he could lead Japan out of its crushing energy dependencies..

Japan has 53 nuclear reactors. Japan is an earthquake country. How this isn't a problem is by mostly a fluke, but the odds are not in Japan's favour for that to continue. Going real renewable answers a lot of problems, including something called "jobs"

To not even try is to not even look
sf2k at 10:28 AM JST - 9th September

btw, Japan is absolutely FULL of engineers, more than doctors. Get the younger generation involved because the older one is too busy wrecking the planet.