Comparison of Australias and Japan's Policies on Energy - Case Study Example

Surname: Presented to Institution Name, Location Date Comparison of Australia’s and Japan policies on energy. Introduction Australia is one of the countries that enjoy the benefits of the abundant and varied resources of energy; it is known to be the ninth in the world in production of energy and exporter. It is also known to be one of the three net energy exporters in the OECD. The most important energy resources that Australia produces include coal, natural gas, thorium, and oil. Apart from the mentioned exploited energy sources, it also has wind and solar energy that has never been taped. The energy sector in Australia is one major contributor to the growth of economy in the country. It contributes up to about 16 and 17 percent of the entire GDP of the country. The energy sector is also a major employer in the country, it employs up to about 100,000 individuals in the country (Tabuchi, 2011). When setting up the policies governing the energy sector, governments of many countries encounter a lot of challenges. The attempt to always try and balance the concerns of both the supply and demand of energy together with the social and the environmental considerations are really hard. Most of the countries both in the Asian region and the pacific have policies of such kind. These policies are rarely comprehensive in the developing countries. The policies in the developing countries are typically designed sector by sector (Najam A., 2004). The policies are also more integrated; they combine a series of interlocking measures that help in regulation of the market, they also widen the access, and mobilize the private sector, this helps encourage research and development (Rogner, 2000). The most common way of achieving the objectives is by developing a strategic document that gives the definition of the government’s objectives in the management of energy and its security. The policies that govern the management of energy are very important as they are the basis of all the operation of the sector; they provide basic regulations on the way things have to be done. This essay precisely gives detailed information on the policies that governments make and the challenges related to management of energy. It provides a case study that studies the comparison between the energy policies of Japan and that of Australia. In the recent past, energy policy has been a concern on the demand and supply within nations. This is with the exemption of the imports of both oil and coal. Other sources of energy which include biomass and hydropower have always been supplied from the domestic sources (Rogner, 2000). The energy policies are dominated by the idea of exploration and production of energy. The situation is quite different for the countries that are richer in terms of energy resources. The energy policy of Australia, one of the energy resources rich countries, aims at securing the domestic supplies while it increases its international exports (Tabuchi, 2011). The energy policy in Australia has always been more focused on the economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and security of energy. The Australian policy on energy is heavily influenced by the countries extensive domestic fuel resources. In the year 2005, coal as the main source of energy accounted for about 41 percent of the entire primary sources of energy. After coal it was followed closely by oil and the natural gas at 35 and 19 percent respectively. In 2004, the government had issued a white paper; it had details on the Australian future plan on energy (Rogner, 2000). This paper among other issues, given by the government aimed at investing greatly on the energy resources of Australia. It also provided incentives on the exploration of the petroleum resources. The details on exploration were not to be done only on the offshore areas but also on the foreland, they also had to develop the energy markets and totally minimize the disruption of supplies in the country. The white paper was also referred to as biennial review of energy security outlook. The other major policies of related to energy market reform and institutional changes (Najam A., 2004). Different from Australian policy on energy, japans main policy prioritized on the nuclear energy. There have been issues concerning the ability of the country to maintain the energy plants. Many of the japans plants have been closed, or operations suspended due to safety precautions. In the mid of 2012, japans 54 reactors were suspended making the country to stay without nuclear produced energy for the first time since 1970(Rogner, 2000). In a yet to be revised Japanese basic energy policy, there is an expected cut back on the dependency on the nuclear energy. Japan is expected to promote extensively on the other sources of energy which include renewable energies. Japan is also claimed to be drilling towards power saving and use of fossil fuels (Tedesco, 2003). The prime minister of Japan recently advocated for the pursuit of a four pillar energy policy, this could come to pass through the addition of the natural energies and the saving of the same in the recent policy. In comparison with the Australian plan, Japan does not focus on the saving of energy as Australia does. This has greatly affected they management of energy in Japan, the suspension and stopping of nuclear energy producing plants in Japan is due to lack of proper management policies(Segnestam, 2002). The concept of saving of nuclear energy in Japan by complimenting with fossil fuels requires that all the renewable energies and incremental savings on energy should have considerable uncertainties’ that are mainly on the economic and the technical feasibilities (Spreng, 2005). These feasibilities make up for an important part of the supply of energy. Combinations of various measures are considered in order to achieve this; it is not easy to achieve this solution with a greatly lowered capacity in policy that is present. The measure has to be examined to evaluate whether they are really practical for application in the large scale of the economy in Japan. Japan has no other way of but employs a multiple of strategies in order to ensure security in energy while also taking into account the issue of global warming (Najam A., 2004). From the case study comparing the two countries, it is clear that management of energy resources is very important to the development in the economy of each nation. The Australian government, together with the stakeholders in the sector both private and public has made their decisions on the implementation of the development strategy (Spreng, 2005). The strategy focused on the carbon capture and storage innovation. In the past ten years the economy of Australia has done consistently well the annual GDP growth has remained at about 1.5 to 4.5 percent but it is expected to grow up to about 3 percent and above after signing of the white paper policy (Segnestam, 2002). The policy has helped Australia a lot in managing its energy but Japan has suffered a lot from the issue of implementation of the savings verifications and the measurement protocols. The evaluation of the japans governance system in the energy sector shows that it has not implemented the common energy saving measurements (G. T. Goodman, 2004). These protocols are very important, the help in reducing the uncertainties in quantifying the benefits of energy efficiency, therefore, it stimulates an increase in the private sector funding of the efficiency on energy. A good policy would have enhanced the international comparability of the performance of the policies (Segnestam, 2002). It is recommended too that countries such as Japan. Should promote the risk mitigation instruments, these may include such ideas such as public and private sector partnership. It has been proven that the public – private sector partnership are highly efficient in addressing the issue of perceived risks that are associated to the energy efficiency investments. The results of the evaluation done suggest that many countries have not really implemented their policies in this particular areas. The implementation of the policy will also facilitate energy financing efficiency (Najam A., 2004). Establishing energy efficiency is the most important policy objectives. The barriers that prevent this to come to pass are the legal and the institutional frameworks, the other issues include lack of awareness and information (Tabuchi, 2011). The nations that are facing these issues have a number of solutions. The solutions include establishing the national goals, setting the standards for the efficiency, and setting stringent environmental standards. Like some countries like china Japan needs to establish and set compulsory targets. This will help in management of energy conservations and the reduction of the pollution of the environment (G. T. Goodman, 2004). The environmental governance in most countries such as Japan and Australia has always been of concern. For example in Australia the minimalists have designed ways in which they shallow down the programs that have been put in place to boost the good governance. Sustainability should be in the higher order of the social goal; the energy sector should ensure that sustainability of the values and benefits of the sector to the common man is maintained. The process of procurement by the government and other institutions has also hurt the integrity of the sector; they stimulate the diffusion of energy efficient products (G. T. Goodman, 2004). A good example is the corporate buyers and the individual consumers. The governments can also put a lot of pressure through indirect purchasing. This is done by sending signals to the suppliers that they should offer energy efficient products and follow the energy efficient practices. In Japan, the basic policy that promote green purchasing has specific provisions for the government procurement of the energy efficient and the environmentally preferable product, these include the energy star labeling criteria for the equipments for the office. Australia also has similar governing policy that favors purchases of appliances and the equipment that are above slightly the energy performance standards (Najam A., 2004). In the past the energy producers in Japan were owned the government. The government also took control of the energy markets. This enabled them to set the cost and volume of production, this way they made energy available to the people at prices that were lower than cost of production (Tabuchi, 2011). Many countries are still practicing the same giving cross subsidies to the customer categories. These systems are disappearing at the moment; this has made the cost of the renewable energy to increase. The most useful way of adjusting the prices and having to promote the renewable energy without putting downs the efforts of competitiveness is to just adjust the rates of tax. An example of this is done is the use of green tax approach (G. T. Goodman, 2004). The green tax policy brings the double evident hence allowing the government to reduce the income from taxes. Japan has started shifting from the getting taxes on income to taxes on carbon generating activities. A fierce opposition from the industrial interests, the parliamentarians has led to use of environmental consumption tax which is a good way of protecting the environment (Najam A., 2004).There is high need of raising awareness to both the consumers and the producers. Government should send information on energy conservation. This way policy push and consumer pull will be experienced. The government can decide to encourage energy efficient products and solutions; this happens while the consumers can demand more efficient devices and practices (G. T. Goodman, 2004). Renewable energy technologies can greatly help in optimizing the consumption of energy; they also widen the access to services of energy by the rural populations while also making sure that environmental benefits felt. The markets of the energy technologies have always been growing highly. But they still face lot barriers (Tabuchi, 2011). These include, high start up cost, little awareness and lack of appropriate technologies and institutions. The government can provide the right laws and regulations and incentives. The renewable energy laws and regulations have to the moment confined to the developed nations, the developing nations were a little slower at adopting the laws but are now starting to act (Najam A., 2004). Conclusion In any other country, national policies on energy carry some of the contagious and important issues. They have a great impact on the economy of the country. The environmental and societal sustainability also depends on the energy policy. Therefore the crafting and formulation should be done with a lot of caution. They should also run concurrently with the local conditions of the economy, since as the prices of fuel rises up the country has to cooperate regionally in finding ways of bringing down the costs. Many nations are not only looking just to fossil fuels, but they also focus on renewable energy and even nuclear energy, while doing that, they cannot totally integrate their national policies on energy together with those of other sectors of economy which include environment and transportation. It is important that nations take attention on how they draft and implement energy policies as they are very critical to its economy. References G. T. Goodman, W. D. (2004). Energy Risk Management. New York: Academic Press. McGill, I. O. (2004). Some design lessons from market-based greenhouse gas regulation in the restructured Australian electricity industry. Energy Policy 34 , 11-25. MMA (McLennan Magasanik Associates),to Australia’s Environmental and Economic Sustainability. (2006). Renewable Energy – A Contribution. Final Report to Renewable Energy Generators, MMA, South Melbourne , 67-234. Najam A., I. C. (2004). The Emergent System of Global Environmental Governance. Global Environmental Politics,4(4) , 23–35. Najam, A. (2003). Environment, Development and Human Security:Perspectives from South Asia. Lanham, MD: University Press of America. Roch, P. a. (2005). “International Environmental Governance Striving for a Comprehensive, Coherent, Effective and Efficient InternationaEnvironmental Regimel. Colorado Journal of International Environmental Law and Policy, 16(1). , 23-78. Rogner, H.-H. (2000). ‘energy resources’, in: United Nations Development Program, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and WorldEnergy Council,. World Energy Assessment: Energy the Challenge of Sustainability, UNDP , 135-172. Segnestam, L. (2002). Indicators of Environment and Sustainable Development Theories and Practical Experience. Environmental Economics Series , 45-98. Spreng, D. (2005). Distribution of energy consumption and the 2000 W/capita target. Energy Policy 33 (12) , 1905-1911. Tabuchi, H. ( 2011). "Japan Premier Wants Shift Away From Nuclear Power. New York Times , 987-1200. Tedesco, L. a. (2003). Trends in Australian energy intensity. ABARE report for the Ministerial Council on Energy , 1973-74. 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In the recent past, energy policy has been a concern on the demand and supply within nations. This is with the exemption of the imports of both oil and coal. Other sources of energy which include biomass and hydropower have always been supplied from the domestic sources (Rogner, 2000). The energy policies are dominated by the idea of exploration and production of energy. The situation is quite different for the countries that are richer in terms of energy resources. The energy policy of Australia, one of the energy resources rich countries, aims at securing the domestic supplies while it increases its international exports (Tabuchi, 2011).

The energy policy in Australia has always been more focused on the economic efficiency, environmental sustainability and security of energy. The Australian policy on energy is heavily influenced by the countries extensive domestic fuel resources. In the year 2005, coal as the main source of energy accounted for about 41 percent of the entire primary sources of energy. After coal it was followed closely by oil and the natural gas at 35 and 19 percent respectively. In 2004, the government had issued a white paper; it had details on the Australian future plan on energy (Rogner, 2000).

This paper among other issues, given by the government aimed at investing greatly on the energy resources of Australia. It also provided incentives on the exploration of the petroleum resources. The details on exploration were not to be done only on the offshore areas but also on the foreland, they also had to develop the energy markets and totally minimize the disruption of supplies in the country. The white paper was also referred to as biennial review of energy security outlook. The other major policies of related to energy market reform and institutional changes (Najam A., 2004). Different from Australian policy on energy, japans main policy prioritized on the nuclear energy.

There have been issues concerning the ability of the country to maintain the energy plants. Many of the japans plants have been closed, or operations suspended due to safety precautions. In the mid of 2012, japans 54 reactors were suspended making the country to stay without nuclear produced energy for the first time since 1970(Rogner, 2000). In a yet to be revised Japanese basic energy policy, there is an expected cut back on the dependency on the nuclear energy. Japan is expected to promote extensively on the other sources of energy which include renewable energies.

Japan is also claimed to be drilling towards power saving and use of fossil fuels (Tedesco, 2003). The prime minister of Japan recently advocated for the pursuit of a four pillar energy policy, this could come to pass through the addition of the natural energies and the saving of the same in the recent policy. In comparison with the Australian plan, Japan does not focus on the saving of energy as Australia does. This has greatly affected they management of energy in Japan, the suspension and stopping of nuclear energy producing plants in Japan is due to lack of proper management policies(Segnestam, 2002).

The concept of saving of nuclear energy in Japan by complimenting with fossil fuels requires that all the renewable energies and incremental savings on energy should have considerable uncertainties’ that are mainly on the economic and the technical feasibilities (Spreng, 2005). These feasibilities make up for an important part of the supply of energy. Combinations of various measures are considered in order to achieve this; it is not easy to achieve this solution with a greatly lowered capacity in policy that is present.

The measure has to be examined to evaluate whether they are really practical for application in the large scale of the economy in Japan. Japan has no other way of but employs a multiple of strategies in order to ensure security in energy while also taking into account the issue of global warming (Najam A., 2004). From the case study comparing the two countries, it is clear that management of energy resources is very important to the development in the economy of each nation.

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