Lessons from Germany and Japan in Deploying Renewable Energy

With constant reports of growing and inexorable global climate change and the dangers posed by the world’s continued energy use practices, Germany and Japan stand out in their energy policies and response to climate challenges. These two global economic powers and major export economies are undertaking a dramatic transformation of their electricity supply portfolios, characterized most prominently by moving away from nuclear energy and toward the large-scale deployment of renewable energy. Japan and Germany both offer important lessons for the United States as it tries to reformulate its own energy policies.

On September 19, the Energy Security Initiative (ESI) at Brookings hosted a discussion on renewable energy in Germany and Japan. This event served as the launch of ESI’s new policy brief, “Transforming the Electricity Portfolio: Lessons from Germany and Japan in Deploying Renewable Energy.” Report authors John Banks, a nonresident senior fellow with ESI, and Charles Ebinger, ESI’s director, joined ESI Nonresident Senior Fellow and Public Policy Consulting Principal Ron Binz in a panel discussion on the findings of the study. Lisa Wood, the executive director for the Institute for Electric Innovation and a nonresident senior fellow at ESI, moderated.

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