Japan is finally awakening to the potential of biomass fuels, such as gasoline mixed with ethanol, which is widely used in Brazil and the United States, and diesel fuel made from used cooking oil.
Because such fuels help ease dependence on fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and both the government and industry are now working to devise ways to convert the 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.