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Report
No.230801 |
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- Domestic - |
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Government Reviews Biomass Nippon Strategy The government formulated at the year-end of 2002 the Biomass Nippon Strategy [General Biomass Strategy for Japan] as a national strategy for using biomass in producing energy etc. At this time, the government reviewed and finalized a revised version of the strategy at the cabinet meeting on March 31. The revised strategy clearly provides anew to make use of domestic agricultural products for transportation fuel. It also provides to promote the use of unutilized resources such as thinned lumbers, of which the supplies are abundantly available. The revised strategy takes effect on April 1. Chances of spreading have emerged for the moves to make use of domestic agricultural products - so far used only for food - in using them for fuel production with the help of policy support enlarged at this time. The revised strategy upholds promoting the use of biomass-based transport fuel. Sugar and starches contained in agricultural products such as sugar cane, beet, rice and wheat can be converted to ethanol which can be used for vehicle fuels. The biggest problem is the high cost of making them. The revised strategy provided for the conditions to be prepared for its propagation including the granting of support to installation of facilities for bio-fuel utilization, studying the methods of giving economic incentives such as tax breaks and the low cost procurement of agricultural raw materials. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), "Using the government stocks of old crop rice as well as imported rice under minimum access obligation for which the cost of storing is very large is also to be studied." The strategy also provides for establishing efficient systems for collection and transportation of thinned lumbers and leavings in forest areas to put them for use in power generation and gas production, for experimental tests and for creating demand for powers so generated. A plan will be formulated to promote propagation of biomass-based products such as containers through introduction of boimass mark for gaining recognition of consumers. The earlier strategy had been authorized by the cabinet meeting in December 2002 with aims to build a Recycling-Oriented Society and to reduce emmission of CO2, the source of global warming. It had set out the target rate of boimass utilization through use of manure, power generation and gas production etc. The target for utilizing livestock manure and raw waste of kitchen was set at 80% in 2010 (72% in 2005), for thinned lumbers and rice straw etc. at 25%(20%), and the policy measures for promotion were put in place. |
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