Climate Action: Yakushima

Living on 100% renewable electricity

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Yakushima is Japan’s fifth-largest island, world-famous for its natural beauty. The island consumes about 7500m kWh of electricity per year, supplied entirely from renewable sources. The vast majority of this comes from hydroelectric sources, but the island also uses wind, PV, solar thermal, biomass and waste energy sources as a supplement.

Recently, the island made a commitment to become carbon-free. This means replacing any fossil fuels (the island imports LPG, kerosene, gasoline, diesel oil and heavy oil) with hydrogen produced through electrolysis of water. The plan is also based on the development of a sustainable fleet of vehicles (either electrical or hydrogen-powered). The island has become a test bed for companies such as Nissan and Mitsubishi to develop vehicles completely powered by renewables.

Not only does Yakushima’s community benefit from being 100% renewable, but it is also regarded by many as a forerunner of what’s to come. As a result, the island is a trendsetter with a long list of localities and cities across Japan making similar commitments to 100% renewable power.