{"id":258400,"date":"2023-05-21T12:05:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-21T10:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=258400"},"modified":"2023-05-21T12:05:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-21T10:05:29","slug":"vijay-jayaraj-unreliable-green-energy-has-the-world-running-back-to-coal-and-nuclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=258400","title":{"rendered":"VIJAY JAYARAJ: Unreliable Green Energy Has The World Running Back To Coal And Nuclear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From VIJAY JAYARAJ<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

REUTERS\/Benoit Tessier<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since an earthquake and tsunami severely damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan has struggled with powering its economy. While the country\u2019s initial reaction to the 2011 disaster was to abandon a once robust nuclear program, a decade later Japan is not only returning to splitting atoms and but also seeking to burn more fossil fuels than once would have been imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To an extent, Japan is an example of what is happening in developed economies across the globe. More countries are coming to appreciate the importance of nuclear energy, and an increasing number in the West are finding it hard to abandon fossil fuels despite publicly vowing to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan: An Economy that runs on Nuclear, Oil, Coal and Gas<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Tokyo\u2019s move away from nuclear energy was entirely because of the unwarranted fears surrounding the technology. However, once it was understood that Fukushima was more of a natural disaster than a fundamental technological failure, the country began to reverse its nuclear retrenchment and is now fully on track with an ambitious plan to use power reactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, much\u00a0of Japan\u2019s electricity needs have been met by fossil fuels, especially coal. Then, in the late 2000s, like most developed economies of Europe and North America, Japan was confronted by pressures to reduce coal use to address a purported climate emergency.\u00a0However,\u00a0Japan now realizes that it can continue to use coal using state-of-the-art technology, which reduces pollution significantly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its coverage of a new clean-coal plant backed by $384 million of public funds, Nikkei Asia reports<\/a> that the country\u2019s initiatives are bearing fruit and providing much needed electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJapan, which sources about one-third of its power from coal, sees the project as key to its policy of safely achieving energy security as well as economic and environmental efficiency,\u201d said Nikkei Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quoting Japan\u2019s latest energy plan, the publication said coal is \u201can important energy source with excellent stability of supply and economic efficiency at present, because it has the lowest geopolitical risk related to procurement, is cheap and is easy to store.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is likely that Japan will fall back on its coal power whenever it is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country\u2019s choice to go against the global anti-coal movement may seem unique, but more and more countries find themselves in a position where they have no option but to continue depending on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nuclear and Fossil Fuels: An Emerging Global Pattern<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. and France depend heavily on nuclear for power. More than 50 percent of all electricity generated in Slovakia, Ukraine and Belgium come from nuclear plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hell-bent in its opposition to nuclear, Germany is somewhat unique in shutting down nuclear plants in the midst of an energy crisis, Yet, Germany has consistently failed to keep its promise to reduce emissions from fossil fuel combustion and is nowturning back to coal. In 2022, Germany imported 44.4 million tons of coal<\/a>, an eight percent increase from 2021. This is no surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the world\u2019s foremost anti-fossil fuel advocates are leaders in the UK, U.S., EU, Canada and Australia. Nonetheless, many of them, especially in the EU, continue to rely significantly on fossil fuels for\u00a0various reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the EU, a shortage of gas stemming from interruptions of Russian gas supplies and a disgracefully incompetent renewable-transition policy ensured a shortage of fuels to generate power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas Moller-Nielsen in The Brussels Times notes that<\/a> \u201cthe EU\u2019s increase in coal consumption is particularly ironic, given that the bloc has previously impressed on major polluters the need to take urgent steps to tackle climate change. Indeed, in an unprecedented reversal of roles, China recently urged European leaders to take \u2018positive action\u2019 to address human-induced global warming.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u00a0what we have is a situation where the reality of energy demand beckons these advanced economies to fall back on trustworthy fossil fuels and embrace highly efficient nuclear energy. Unreliable solar and wind cannot meet the needs, and\u00a0attempts to have them do so will likely lead to national bankruptcies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the\u00a0CO2 Coalition<\/a>, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master\u2019s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK and resides in India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since an earthquake and tsunami severely damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima, Japan has struggled with powering its economy. While the country\u2019s initial reaction to the 2011 disaster was to abandon a once robust nuclear program, a decade later Japan is not only returning to splitting atoms and but also seeking to burn more fossil fuels than once would have been imagined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":258406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691819635,691818206],"class_list":{"0":"post-258400","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-coal","9":"tag-nuclear-power","11":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/00Nuclear-Power-Plant-at-night-ratio-2.jpg?fit=1999%2C1138&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-15dK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":235931,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=235931","url_meta":{"origin":258400,"position":0},"title":"Japan Embraces Nuclear Power, Cancels Phase Out Plans","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/24\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Nuclear power serves \"an important role as a carbon-free baseload energy source in achieving supply stability and carbon\u00a0neutrality\".","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0nuclear_fusion1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0nuclear_fusion1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0nuclear_fusion1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0nuclear_fusion1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0nuclear_fusion1.webp?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":414125,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=414125","url_meta":{"origin":258400,"position":1},"title":"Japan and the U.S. Have Shed the Paralysis of Irrational Warmism","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/21\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The U.S. and Japan are shedding the paralysis of irrational climate policies with a strategic pact covering rare-earth minerals, critical components for semiconductors and next-generation nuclear reactors.","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate Policies\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate Policies","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-policies"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00Screenshot-2025-11-21-144054.png?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00Screenshot-2025-11-21-144054.png?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00Screenshot-2025-11-21-144054.png?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00Screenshot-2025-11-21-144054.png?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00Screenshot-2025-11-21-144054.png?fit=1200%2C673&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":244024,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=244024","url_meta":{"origin":258400,"position":2},"title":"A Reliable Electricity Supply \u2013 Six Months and Half a Dozen Years","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/10\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Electricity is the lifeblood of the country. 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