Part 7/10:
Japan's push toward renewable energy stems from a desire to mitigate climate change and reduce reliance on nuclear and fossil fuels—especially after the Fukushima disaster. The region’s natural geology lends itself to versatile renewable sources: wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal. However, each has limitations—such as seasonality, geographical constraints, and infrastructure costs.
Efforts are underway to optimize the use of geothermal resources that already exist, rather than creating new drilling sites that could disturb natural ecosystems. Binary cycle systems are especially promising because they release minimal geothermal fluid into the environment. They also allow continuous power generation with low environmental footprints.