Movements to promote so-called green energy, such as wind and solar power, are gaining momentum in Japan as opposition to the use of nuclear power increases following last year's fatal nuclear accident and rising pressure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

A suprapartisan Diet members' association to promote green -- or renewable -- energy hopes to submit a bill before the end of the current Diet session on June 17 to boost output of such energy. Formed in November, the group has 256 members, from both houses of the Diet.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry convened a 30-member subcommittee of the Advisory Committee for Energy on April 24 for the first time in a decade to work out recommendations for a new national energy policy in about a year.