Artist Yoko Ono has called on Japan to explore its natural energy, following the example of Iceland which uses renewable energy for more than 80 percent of its needs.

　　For now, geothermal energy makes up less than 1 percent of the energy needs in Japan, which has for decades relied heavily on fossil fuels and atomic power.

　　The biggest problem to geothermal energy is the high initial cost of the exploration and constructing the factories. Another problem is that Japan's potentially best sites are already being developed for tourism or are located within national parks where construction is forbidden.

　　“We can't even dig 10 cm inside national parks，” said Shigeto Yamada of Fuji Electric, adding that regulations protecting nature would need to be relaxed for geothermal energy to grow.

　　Researcher Hideaki Matsui said, “Producing electricity using hot springs is a decades­long project. We also have to think about what to do for now as energy supplies will decline in the short term.”

　　The Earth Policy Institute in Washington, US, believed Japan could produce 8,000 megawatts (兆瓦) and meet more than half its electricity needs with geothermal technology.

　　Japanese giants such as Toshiba are already global leaders in geothermal technology, with a 70 percent market share. In 2010, Fuji Electric built the world's largest geothermal factory in New Zealand.

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