Factors promoting clean energy in Japanese cities: Nuclear risks versus climate change risks

Abstract

This article focuses on understanding the factors affecting the subconscious minds of urban citizens in terms of promoting clean energy and deregulation of the electricity sector. Does risk perception related to climate change and nuclear energy effect their choices? Does it differ between cities? A comparative analysis was performed for four cities after the accident at the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation's (TEPCO)'s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011. This article uses a modeling technique based on surveys gathered in 2012. The results show that nuclear risks had a larger influence than climate-change risks with regards to supporting the deregulation of the electricity sector in TEPCO-serviced cities. Meanwhile, in non TEPCO-serviced cities, nuclear risks were more influential when the proportion of nuclear within the energy mix of the local utility was large. When the proportion was low, climate-change risks had the larger influence. Meanwhile, results from all four cities show that there is indeed a positive causal relationship between citizens' levels of awareness of climate change and energy savings.