Japan’s current renewable energy policy focuses on generating power from solar, wind, and geothermal sources. For biofuels, the Government of Japan (GOJ) maintains its 2010 plan to introduce 500 thousand kilo liters (kl) (oil basis) of biofuels by 2017. Due to the increase in food prices during the past few years, there is a broad debate within Japan about the use of food crops to produce biofuels. This is a major reason that Japan is focusing research efforts on technology to produce biofuels from sources that do not compete with food.
