WONG: The island nation of Japan has the second largest GDP behind the United States. Although it is an economically viable country, Japan imports 99% of its energy from foreign countries. With world energy costs rising, Japanese manufacturing companies are working to increase the usage of solar energy to move away from fossil fuel dependence. STORY: Over 200 companies and university academics are here for PVJapan 2008, the first photovoltaic exposition held in Japan. Photovoltaics is commonly known as solar cell technology. [Yoshihito Hata, Mitsubishi Solar Energy Division Representative]: “If the sun is shining during the day, the light reflects onto the semiconductor chip of the solar cell module and converts it into electrical energy. This is solar power technology. This technology started in Japan, but now many countries such as Germany, the US, Taiwan, China, and Korea are in a race for developing and manufacturing it. In the 1970’s there was an oil crisis, and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry started the Sunshine Project. The Japanese government had a policy to make use of sunshine, either its heat or light, as a renewable source of energy. Through this they thought about how to change it into power, and the research into photovoltaics began.” The largest solar cell manufacturers in the world are Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Kyocera, and Sharp. Japan accounts for 40% of the world’s cell production but currently only 1.3% of Japan’s energy comes from …
