Japan’s Public Schools To Go Solar By ’20

TOKYO (Nikkei)--The government and ruling parties decided Tuesday to convert all 32,000 or so public elementary and middle schools in Japan to solar power by 2020 as part of its effort to slash greenhouse gas emissions, The Nikkei has learned.

For starters, the government aims to raise the number of solar-powered schools to 12,000 by 2012, up from the current 1,200.

An estimated 600-900 billion yen will be required for solar energy to be adopted at all public elementary and middle schools. In the fiscal 2009 supplementary budget, the government set aside subsidies that will effectively keep local governments’ burdens for installing such systems at area schools at 2.5% of the costs. In budgets for fiscal 2010 and beyond, the government could earmark the use of subsidies or grants.

Schools are likely to use conventional 20kw solar panels. According to the Education Ministry, this is enough to power fluorescent lighting for one day in eight to 10 classrooms.

If all public elementary and middle schools are solar powered, the amount of electricity generated will be on par with that consumed by roughly 200,000 ordinary homes a year. And the amount of carbon dioxide eliminated per school would be equivalent to that absorbed by a forest the size of the Tokyo Dome.

The government plans to have excess energy bought and sold through a private-sector trading scheme.

Last month, Prime Minister Taro Aso unveiled a target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 15% from 2005 levels by 2020. To reach this goal, solar power generation, which does not emit carbon dioxide, must be ramped up 20-fold from current levels.

(The Nikkei July 8 morning edition)

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