Here are your Friday Energy Facts for the week: Japan’s use of fossil fuels for power generation increased 21 percent in 2012 after the March 11th, 2011 Tohoku earthquake and resulting tsunami triggered meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Those events triggered a shutdown of virtually all of the nation’s nuclear power stations, which prior to the tsunami provided about 30 percent of Japan’s electricity. As the graphic below indicates, power generation from coal, oil, and natural gas-fired plants increased output to fill the void left by the nuclear shutdown. CO2 emissions and fossil fuel imports have also risen sharply as a result.

Source : U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)



Note: this post is part of my (semi)regular series, “Friday Energy Facts,” which provides simple facts and graphs on energy and climate without editorial comment. Stay tuned for more…

Here are more graphics from the EIA



