(2) Electric Power Development and The Power Source Siting Laws
The power demand made a vigorous increase that above 10% a year on the average during the high economic growth period, and the promotion of electric power development to meet the continuously increasing demand was the top priority. On the other hand, construction of power plants and other facilities had a rough going meeting with opposition from the local people who had uneasiness to the safety and the pollution which may caused by power plants. Therefore, together with continuing the effort to remove these anxieties, it became important to improve the welfare of the region which accepted to have power plants and other facilities. In 1974, so-called The Power Source Siting Laws were approved, which were "Act on the Development of Areas Adjacent to Electric Power Generating Facilities", "Law on Promotion of Power Resources Development Tax", and "Law on Special Accounts for Electric Power Development Acceleration Measures", and based on these laws, various measures had been taken such as the “Subsidy for boosting measures of electric power source location”. As a result, the number of the nuclear power plant increased considerably, and it greatly contributed to the reduction of the dependency on oil in our country.

(1) Promotion of energy conservation and alternative energy
Our country, which had been promoted with securing stable energy supply after the first oil crisis, made stronger effort experiencing the second oil crisis.
Regarding the energy conservation, as the importance recognized, energy conservation policies were promoted such as developing the legal system and conducting various measures. As for the development of legal system, " Law concerning the Rational Use of Energy " was enacted and enforced in 1979, which provided what entrepreneurs in each field had to cope with to promote comprehensive energy conservation of factories, buildings, machineries and equipments.
For technological development, "Moonlight Project" was started in 1978 aiming for the improvement of the energy conversion efficiency and the technological development of the collection of unused energy and its utilization. Moreover, subsidy was provided to private organizations which work for the research and development of the energy conservation technology.
While promoting with securing stable oil supply and energy conservation, it was also necessary to improve the constitution of energy supply by developing and introducing alternative energy to oil to reduce the dependence on oil, and "Act on the Promotion of Development and Introduction of Alternative Energy" was enacted in 1980.

(1) Policy concerning new energy
In the change of economic and social circumstances concerning energy in and out of the country, " Law Concerning Special Measures to Promote the Use of New Energy " (New Energy Law) was enacted in 1997 aiming for promoting new energy, which had not been spread enough from economical restriction among alternative energy to oil and was especially needed in order to achieve the target of alternative energy supply. New energy law provides basic policy to clarify the role of the country, local public entities, entrepreneurs, the people, etc., and financial support measures to the entrepreneurs who utilize new energy. Moreover, " Special Measures Law Concerning the Use of New Energy by Electric Utilities " (RPS Law), which put the electrical power suppliers under an obligation to use the electricity obtained by new energy more than a constant amount, was promulgated in June, 2002, and enforced completely in April, 2003. In March, 2005, "Energy supply/demand outlook for 2030" was arranged in the Energy Supply and Demand Subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Natural Resources and Energy. In this report, the prospect of new energy introduction on the supply side in fiscal year 2010 was set equivalent to19.1 million kL in crude oil (The rate in total primary energy supply is about 3%) as shown in Table2.2 in case measures written in “Outline for Promotion Effects to Prevent Global Warming” are actually implemented and additional measures especially for the thermal utilization are taken.

(3) Restructuring of energy policy in our country
(a) Basic Act on Energy Policy
In June, 2002, “Basic Act on Energy Policy” was enacted which provided the basic energy policy of our country. In this law, three basic policies were shown, which were "Securing stable supply", "Environmental compliance", and "Use of the market mechanism" with enough consideration of first two policies. Based on this law, “Basic Energy Plan” was endorsed by the Cabinet and reported in the Diet in October, 2003 to promote long-term, comprehensive, and premeditated measure concerning the supply and demand of energy, and the government came to promote the energy policy based on this Plan.

(b) New National Energy Strategy
Considering recent change of the global situation over energy issues, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry drew up “New National Energy Strategy” in May, 2006, which included essential working program for 2030 centering on the issue of energy security. In this Strategy, the following five numerical targets were set as long-term policy that government and private sectors should have in common in order that both parties share the right focus to work for.

i)

i)

Following this Plan, the whole government will work on the energy issues in the future.

(1) Biomass Nippon Strategy¹
The expansion of bio-ethanol production was announced by the government for the first time in the Japanese Comprehensive Biomass Strategy. To promote environmental preservation and the resource distribution that centers on biomass, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in consultation with the related prefectural ministries began examining a national strategy for the profitable use and promotion of the biomass in the future.
It was stated in this strategy regarding the bio-ethanol that, “To ensure the smooth introduction of biomass fuel for car use, an appropriate investigation must be done based on the Japanese environment and circumstances. This investigation should refer to a wide opinion, be standardized across all locations, examine the supply system maintenance requirements and also examine the assumption regarding the advantages and disadvantages of the introduction of biomass car fuel”. It was assumed, and then clearly stated that “Safety confirmation and evaluation the quality of Biomass Car Fuel in a constant use system has been proved”
In March 2006 the cabinet council put forth a national policy, based on the verification of the current situation and the issue of profitable use of biomass, the new Biomass Nippon Strategy greatly revised the original integrated strategy set down in 2002. One of the review points of the new integrated strategy includes the promotion of the use of the biomass fuel for the transport.


¹Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,and relevant ministries, Biomass Nippon Strategy, 2002, 2006

< Promotion of use of biomass fuel for transportation >
○The country shows the introduction schedule, and the environment necessary for use is maintained.

(2) Significant boosting the production of biofuel in Japan²
While executing the Biomass Nippon Strategy for the promotion of biomass as a transport fuel, and the problems associated with the production expansion of domestic biofuel in Japan, the Prime Minister submitted a report on 27th February 2007 which detailed the scenarios for significant expansion of biofuel production. The implementation schedule for expansion of a domestic biofuel production was included and the production targets for domestic biofuel are setout.

²Executive committee of Biomass Nippon Strategy, Significant boosting the production of biofuel in Japan, 2007

1) Work schedule for significant domestic biofuel production expansion.
(a) Problems with biofuel production expansion
The domestic production of biofuel must be able to compete with the wholesale import prices of gasoline from other countries such as Brazil. It is therefore required to produce a low cost, highly effective production process which is capable of meeting a production cost target of 100yen/L.
Under the present situation the raw material supply is limited to the waste that can be procured cheaply including the associated waste management costs this includes glycolic raw materials such as sugarcane and non-standard wheat. Therefore until about 2010 domestic biofuel will be produced using these materials.
Also in order to attempt a significant domestic biofuel production expansion, it is important to match the biofuel production material that is not used for existing agriculture or animal feed such as abandoned cultivation land, unused biomass generated in forests, surplus material from parks and dry riverbeds, surplus material from rice plant straw or waste from sawmills.
To produce domestic biofuel with this type of biomasses, and solve the problems described by this report on the production, collection and transportation costs of raw material, as well as the manufacturing cost of biofuel must be considered.
Therefore, from 2030 a medium/long term viewpoint is taken, by developing a highly effective technology to produce bio-ethanol from cellulose raw material and resource crops such as rice plant straw or timber, the significant expansion of biofuel production will have a major competitive advantage when compared with other fuels and their respective international values.
To confirm the work schedule, the following phases were considered.
i)Study period until technology that is capable of achieving target cost is developed
ii)Proof of Concept period when developed technology is proven
iii)The implementation period, where production facilities are expanded and existing facilities maintenance is performed.

(b) Domestic biofuel production expansion work schedule
Accounting for future technological development, Figure 2.2 below shows a range of possible raw material crops that can be utilized during the expansion period
i)Crops that can be currently utilized.
・Wastes / by-products of farming such as non-standard farm products and sugarcane sugared liquids that can be procured as a raw material at a low price.
・Construction industry wastes (such as timber waste) that can be procured as raw material for only the cost of collection.
ii)Crops that can be utilized in 5 years time
・Herbaceous species such as rice plant straw
・Surplus materials from industry (such as sawmill waste)
iii)Crops that will take 10 years for technology to develop.
・Surplus material generated in forests that can be utilized for only the cost of collection and transportation.
・Resource crops (multi astringency kind using genome information)

(b) Medium to Long-term Targets (before 2030).
In the Medium to Long term, Japan aims to develop the technology to manufacture bio-ethanol from cellulose raw materials, which would make resource crops such as the rice plant straw and wood highly effective raw materials, and solve the issues of expansion of domestic biofuel raised by this report.
A significant production expansion of domestic biofuel is however based on the assumption that these developed technologies are utilized, and that a competitive edge exists when compared with the international values of other fuels in 2030.
The biofuel introduction target announced by each of the interested ministries is summarized in Table 2.3 below.

(3) Examination of promotions by each of the ministries concerned
Table 2.4 shows the various promotions and conferences held by the interested ministries and their specialists which given an overview of their grasp of the situation, goals set, and the road maps deployed by each.