Another article I thought you might find interesting.

Regards,



Eugenio

Review of energy policies kicks off




Asahi Shimbun 

April 25, 2000 

A government advisory panel on Monday embarked on a
comprehensive review of energy-related policies. 

``We want to come up with feasible policies and at the
same time clearly present reasons for those policies,''
Yoichi Kaya, a professor emeritus at the University of
Tokyo, told a meeting of the Coordination Subcommittee
under the Advisory Committee for Energy, an advisory
panel to Minister of International Trade and Industry
Takashi Fukaya. Kaya chairs the subcommittee. 

The nuclear development policy, including the
government's goal for building new nuclear power plants,
is expected to be a focus of the discussions. 

A spate of nuclear accidents have made construction of
plants increasingly difficult, and the nation's power
suppliers have reduced the number of new nuclear power
plants expected to be in operation by fiscal 2010 from 20
to 13. 

The subcommittee, set up for the first time in about 10
years, is made up of about 30 members, and members of
anti-nuclear nongovernmental organizations have been
included for the first time. 

Some members told Monday's meeting that the
government must stop taking the nuclear development
policy for granted and seriously look into the possibility
of introducing renewable energy, such as wind and solar
power. 

Also on the agenda will be energy saving measures. 

Energy consumption in the residential and commercial
sector, made up of homes and offices, and in the
transportation sector, which includes cars and trucks, has
almost doubled over the past 25 years. 

At Monday's meeting, many members stressed the need
to change public consciousness toward the use of
energy. 

MITI plans to present studies on how life would be
affected by compulsory energy saving measures such as
automatically turning off air conditioners at certain
temperatures or vehicle engines when they are idle.