Japan's Environment Ministry eyes developing renewable energy supply

The ministry said it is looking forward to creating "energy that can really be renewable" if hydrogen can be produced using the natural energy of wind-power.

The envisioned system is to extract hydrogen from seawater through electrolysis using wind-generated electricity, the officials said.

The construction of wind-power plants has become common in Europe and Japan in recent years, but a facility where hydrogen is extracted to power fuel cells "has no practical precedent even worldwide," according to the ministry.

A power station is to be built on a large floating structure in the sea where winds are relatively strong. The research project will develop an efficient way to extract hydrogen from seawater and transport it to land.

Fuel cells generate electricity through chemical reactions of hydrogen and oxygen, emitting only water as a byproduct and not carbon dioxide (CO2), which is believed to be a cause of global warming.

The cells are already put into practical use in automobiles.

However, the current supply of hydrogen depends on fossil fuels such as methane, which is believed to promote global warming 10 times more than CO2, and natural gas and gasoline that emits CO2.

The ministry has included in its fiscal 2003 budget request 100 million yen for research expenses on the project at the National Institute for Environmental Studies, the officials said.

Emissions of CO2 in Japan in fiscal 2000 had increased 10% from 1990, the base year in the Kyoto Protocol which aims at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

The ministry said developing technologies to lower such emissions is an important task. It is also urging people in Japan to save energy.