A groundbreaking ceremony is hosted last week in celebration of the start of construction of Japan's largest solar and wind power plant, located in Tahara City. The major project will be spread over 800 thousand square meters and is estimated to generate 67.5 thousand megawatt hours of electricity each year which would be enough to power 90 percent of the homes in Tahara City with green energy. It is also thought that the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions each year will be approximately 32 thousand tones. The solar and wind power plant is part of a collaboration of seven firms (Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsui & Co, C-Tech Corporation, Toagosei Co, Toshiba Corporation, Toray Industries, and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co) who initiated the project last October, with permission granted in September 2012. Design and construction on the plant is US$ 225 million with the majority of the money being sourced through loans from the Development Bank of Japan. The participating companies will maintain a cooperative technological relationship with the Chubu Electric Power Co., and will acquire new technology and knowledge unique to the nation's largest solar energy generation facility.

As reported by inhabitat.com, today Japan will become completely nuclear free for the first time since 1970 as it shuts down the Tomari nuclear reactor on the island of Hokkaido. One by one the country's 54 nuclear reactors have been shuttered for maintenance, but they have not reopened because of the public's fears over their safety. Anti-nuclear demonstrators plan on celebrating Tomari's shutdown, but one consequence Japan faces is a 15 percent increase in greenhouse gas emissions because of its increased reliance on fossil fuels. Nuclear power provided Japan with about 30 percent of its electricity needs before the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that killed over 16,000 people and damaged the Fukushima Daiichi power plant. As additional nuclear power plants were closed last year, Japan endured its hot and humid summer by running factories on nights and weekends while office workers relied on fans instead of air conditioning to keep cool. But despite nationwide conservation efforts, Japan still suffered from a massive shortage of electricity, so power plants running on oil and natural gas stepped in to meet the country's energy needs. As a result Japan will produce an additional 180 million to 210 million tons of emissions this year. The increasing reliance on fossil fuels has not only challenged Japan's emission targets, but also affects Japan's export-driven economy. For the first time in over 30 years, Japan rung up a trade deficit this year because energy companies and utilities spent billions on oil and gas imports to meet the continued demand for power. Japan's government is trying to convince the public that nuclear energy still has a future, but citizens are still skeptical about its safety. A recent poll showed about 60 percent of the public opposed the government's wish to reopen two nuclear reactors in western Japan. Local officials have been especially vocal in their opposition to restarting nuclear plants in their cities and towns unless Japan's central government can provide assurances beyond what is currently required by law. Meanwhile Japan's economy is still stagnant, and the country's options are limited. Renewable energy options like solar only make up one percent of the country's overall energy portfolio, despite several ambitious projects that are currently in the planning stage.

After waves of controversy following the destructive tsunami and subsequent failure of the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March of 2011, Japan began ramping down its atomic energy industry and actively pursuing safer, alternative energy sources. As reported Reuters, Electronics firm Kyocera Corporation, heavy machinery maker IHI Corporation and Mizuho Corporate Bank announced about their agreement to launch Japan's biggest solar power project at a cost of US$ 307 million. Mizuho will finance the development, and IHI will lease the land on which Kyocera will provide the solar modules and design of the site. An artist's rendering of the farm shows 290 thousand solar panels arranged on 3.14 million square meters of reclaimed land off of the southern city of Kagoshima. Their 70-megawatt plant will generate about 79 thousand megawatt hours of electricity per year, enough for about 22 thousand households. A special-purpose company (SPC) will be set up to build and run the new plant, with construction starting in July. Further elements of the project, including a start date for commercial operation, will be decided after the government sets prices for a subsidy scheme for renewable energy sources that is also scheduled for launch on July.

Elevated land-based islands are what one architect is proposing for the Tohoku region of north-east Japan, the area that was devastated by last March's magnitude 9 earthquake and the mega-tsunamis it triggered. As reported The NewScientist, Keiichiro Sako of Sako Architects in Tokyo has created a blueprint in which groups of these islands form entire towns. They are designed to protect people living in low-lying areas from future tsunamis. Tohoku Sky Village is not just an architect's flight of fancy: one municipality in the affected region is making moves towards building one in its locality and others could follow. Most islands will be used for residential purposes, with between 100 and 500 houses and apartments. Fuel stations, waste disposal and storage facilities, and car parks are on lower floors. Commercial islands, meanwhile, will house factories and processing facilities for industries such as fisheries and agriculture. As well as lifting residents high above the destructive power of the waves, the design comes with a number of safety features. A reinforced gate at the back of each island automatically closes after a tsunami warning, while steps up the sides let people climb to safety. Power is off-grid, from renewable energy sources including wind and solar, to ensure supply following a disaster. Lithium-ion batteries act as backup. The islands' oval shape is also important. Flat surfaces take the full force of a body of water, but an oval one allows water to flow around. Each three-storey island would offer 90 thousand square meters of usable space and be bolted deep into the bedrock via vast steel pillars. The exterior walls are made of 50 centimeter-thick reinforced concrete, while utility spaces on the bottom floor are compartmentalized in a radial formation for even stress distribution - rather like the spokes in a bicycle wheel. At the centre of each cluster of islands would be the administrative area, home to municipal offices, schools, businesses and leisure facilities. The ambitious plan also features the world's first indoor marina to protect the local fishing fleet. Critics point to the complex issue of how the reconstruction will be funded. Yasuaki Onoda of the Department of Architecture and Building Science at Tohoku University says that while the idea is sound, estimated costs of US$ 250 million per island are prohibitive. To mitigate these costs, Tohoku Sky Village will recycle debris from the disaster for use in some building components. Sako also believes the islands will become a tourist attraction. Previously, we wrote about another project named "Levitating Home" developed by a Japanese architectural firm Air Danshin Systems which also aimed to protect the public from the earthquake.

A Japanese company, Air Danshin Systems Inc., has come up with perhaps the most inventive solution we've seen - they fit out existing houses to levitate in the event of an earthquake. In the wake of last year's Fukushima disaster the company is set to install the levitation system in 88 houses across Japan, reported The Inhabitat. As fantastical as a home levitation system may seem, Air Danshin claims that the technology is not only effective, but also 1/3 cheaper than many other earthquake-proofing systems out there - and it requires little maintenance. According to Spoon & Tamago, the technology calls for a fairly simple, if powerful, set of mechanisms to be installed around a property. When an earthquake hits, a sensor responds within one second by activating a compressor, which forces an incredible amount of air under the home, pushing the structure up and apart from its foundation. The air pressure can keep the home levitating up to 3cm from the shaking foundation below. An indoor valve controls the flow of air under the house, keeping the structure steady as it "floats". Once the earthquake is over the home gently falls back onto an earthquake-resistant reinforced concrete foundation. While the earthquake-resistant levitation system is presently being installed in houses, we hear the Japanese firm hopes to expand to install the system in larger, potentially more critical structures. To promote the technology, Air Danshin Systems have made some fairly convincing, and somewhat humorous, videos to demonstrate their technology in action.