G­Enesis, Tokyo University Energy Club Energy Seminar Presentations and Discussions at Kashiwa Campus Wednesday 23rd April, 2008, 16:30­18:00 Environmental Studies Building, Level 3, Lecture Theatre 3, Kashiwa Campus G­Enesis Energy Club at The University of Tokyo will hold a presentation and discussion session at Kashiwa Campus. Recently, G­Enesis represented The University of Tokyo energy community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Conference and the inaugural meeting of the Collegiate Energy Association in Boston. Representatives also had a chance to see the nature of energy research and education at MIT, Harvard and Boston Universities. The research findings of a comparative study of the Japanese and German innovation systems of photovoltaics will be presented by two visiting students of the Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. Program MIT Energy Initiative and Energy Education 16:30­16:50 Christopher Lee, Department of International Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) was established in September 2006 in response to MIT President Susan Hockfield’s challenge for MIT to meet its “institutional responsibility” in tackling the global energy challenge. New initiatives in energy education strongly emphasise inter­disciplinary collaboration and hands­on learning experience, aiming to produce graduates who are literate in a wide range of technical, business and policy issues. Some of the successful activities of the MITEI will be discussed. Boston Energy Community 16:50­17:10 Takanori Tomozawa, Department of Technology Management for Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering, University of Tokyo The main themes of the MIT Energy Conference, held on the 11 th and 12 th of April, will be outlined. Also, the role of student energy clubs in improving education and awareness in energy related issues in the United States will be discussed.
1 Changing an Energy System – A Comparison between the Japanese and German Innovation Systems of Photovoltaics 17:10­18:00 Kristian Jelse and Hannes Johnson, Masters Course in Engineering Physics with International Programme in Industrial Ecology, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden In the current political debate, it is increasingly accepted that renewable energy sources will play an important role in the future energy system. One of the technologies that have the potential of supplying such energy is photovoltaics (PV), but despite 30 years of research, it has not yet penetrated the global market on a large scale. To create efficient policies to promote the diffusion of new energy technologies in the existing energy system, one cannot focus solely on the technological R&D since there are other blocking mechanisms than the price. There is an entire socio­technical system surrounding the technology that also affects its diffusion. To describe these mechanisms, one can investigate the innovation system of the technology, i.e. what actors, networks and institutions surround the technology, and what connections exist between them. This study is carried out as a masters thesis for a M.Sc. in Engineering Physics and Industrial Ecology at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. It uses this innovation system framework to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese PV by doing a comparison with the German case, which has previously been studied at our department. Data is gathered through literature studies and a three month stay at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences of the University of Tokyo in order to perform interviews with key actors. At this time, we are more than halfway through our study, and would like to show what we have learned so far before going back to Sweden. In this presentation, we will provide an outlook of Japanese PV history, how it has developed alongside governmental policies, and also highlight key differences between the Japan and Germany. The aim is to show what obstacles face new energy technologies and how to get around them.
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