Evaluating Alternative Technologies in Meeting Energy Policy Goals in Japan:Financing Biomass Waste to Energy Plants

摘要

Biomass and waste are considered to be an important fuels and renewablernenergy resources to construct a sustainable society in Japan. However, there arernconcerns about economic competitiveness and compliance of environmental regulations.rnThere is few engineering and economic analysis for the emerging “green energy”rnindustry in the literature. This paper deals with the evaluations for public policy andrnprivate enterprise that require a resource supply analysis that including both costs andrnimpacts to the environmental pollutions. We use engineering cost estimates taking intornaccount local variation in cost-determining factors such as biomass and waste contents,rncompetition from alternative supplier, geographic density in the region and compliancernof environmental regulations. Then using our estimates, we develop an optimalrntechnological choice model based mainly on energy recovery capability and apply torntown-level data in Japan. Our results show that waste and biomass are more importantrnenergy source than previous estimates.