many agricultural products grown domestically into biomass fuels at low cost.

The central government has set a target of doubling supplies from new energy sources, such as wind and solar power, by fiscal 2010 from the level of fiscal 2002. This target is the equivalent of 19.1 million kiloliters of crude oil or 3 percent of the country's total supply of primary energy resources, including oil, coal and hydroelectric power.

To promote biomass fuels, the government in February revised upward the estimate for annual use of biomass to the equivalent of 3.08 million kiloliters of crude oil from the 670,000 kiloliters forecast in October 2004.

Industrial machinery manufacturer Tsukishima Kikai Co. is venturing into the biomass fuel business and is eyeing as a potential energy source the some 15 million tons of waste lumber and timber from forest-thinning that remains unused.

It is more difficult to extract ethanol from lumber than from agricultural products, but the company has succeeded in developing a system that can produce some 200 liters of ethanol from 1 ton of lumber using a genetic engineering technology introduced by a U.S. company.

"This (new system) has led to the possibility of commercializing ethanol at a per-ton production cost of about 50, yen although the production cost will differ depending on how we procure and transport the waste lumber," said Masanori Sato, a group leader at the company's biomass business promotion headquarters.

The firm plans to produce 40 million kiloliters of ethanol annually starting in 2007 at a commercial plant being built in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture.

The government is also trying to manufacture bio-fuels from agricultural products in various parts of the country.

In Ie, Okinawa Prefecture, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and Asahi Breweries Ltd. began an experiment in August that involves the manufacture of a mixture of gasoline and ethanol produced from sugar cane, with the fuel being tested in a village-owned vehicle.

The government is also working on projects to convert other agricultural products into fuel -- wheat and corn in Hokkaido, and sorghum in Yamagata Prefecture.

But because supplies are limited, the fuel produced will only be distributed in the areas where they are produced, a METI official said.

The use of so-called bio-diesel fuel is also spreading nationwide. The Kyoto Municipal Government is collecting 1.5 million liters of used cooking oil annually from households and hotels. The bio-diesel fuel produced powers 220 garbage trucks and 95 city buses.

In Shiga and Chiba prefectures, projects are under way to plant rape when converting rice paddies to other crops. The rapeseed oil produced is used in households and schools, and the used oil is collected and turned into soap and bio-diesel.

However, the Biomass Industrial Society Network, a nonprofit group, warns against unbridled bio-fuel development.

"It is not a good thing to only focus on increasing biomass fuel production," said Miyuki Tomari, a representative of the network. "There are still many hurdles (to its growth) including transportation and supply systems, and the need for tax breaks to promote use of bio-fuels.

"Disorderly imports also cause problems," she said.

The Japan Times: Nov. 2, 2005

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