While significant concerns remain about how geothermal development could impact culture and tourism in Japan, residents in Tsuchiyu Onsen are putting those fears aside and believe their hot springs could continue to thrive while being part of a clean-energy future.
As detailed by the Washington Post, Japan's 3,000-plus hot springs, or onsens, are an important cultural tradition and are situated near the bulk of the country's geothermal energy reserves, the third-biggest in the world. For generations, communities have depended on the onsens for their livelihoods, with many coming to the hot springs for rejuvenation and healing.
Worrying about hot springs contamination and citing a lack of legal protections, the onsen industry has overwhelmingly opposed geothermal development, according to the Post.
However, as the news publication explained, Tsuchiyu Onsen residents took matters into their own hands and built a geothermal plant with their own money in 2015, thanks to a partnership with a local tourism association and energy company Genki Up Tsuchiyu.
"It's really important to preserve the Japanese culture of onsen and the identity that is so important to Japan, so that needs to be protected at all costs," 22nd-generation Sansuiso Hotel owner Rio Watanabe told the Post. "But we also need to start promoting clean energy as Japan, so we need to think about creating a new identity."
According to the report, the project began to take shape after the earthquake and tsunami-triggered Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.
After the meltdown, Japan temporarily shut down reactors that generated almost one-third of the country's energy, setting back its transition to carbon-free power. Now, most of Japan's energy comes from imported dirty fuels, which release pollution associated with millions of annual premature deaths and are the primary cause of rising global temperatures.
As the Post explained, though, Japan's largely untapped geothermal resources could generate around 10% of the country's power. Nuclear now makes up 5.8% of the power mix, per the International Energy Agency.
While disasters like Fukushima are very rare (and new safety enhancements were birthed in the aftermath), they are serious. For Tsuchiyu Onsen residents, whose inns helped house evacuees for up to one year, the experience made them want to try something different.
"If it wasn't for the nuclear meltdown, things might not have gone so smoothly," Watanabe shared with the Post. "There may have been more opposition."
According to the report, the Tsuchiyu Onsen plant was built without any new well drills, and it produces enough non-polluting power for around 800 homes, also providing energy for a nearby shrimp farm. Importantly, residents say that water temperatures and quality appear unchanged.
Genki Up Tsuchiyu renewable energy area manager Tomio Sakuma acknowledged to the Post that Tsuchiyu Onsen's centralized spring water source did make the plant's construction less challenging, and other communities without one might have to drill new wells.
Nonetheless, International Renewable Energy Agency analyst Kolbrún Ragna Ragnarsdóttir suggested to the news publication that the project could pave the way for larger-scale geothermal plants in Japan.
"This helps to [convince] local communities all over Japan, hopefully, that they can build something like this and they will not destroy their natural, beautiful environment," she said.
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