Japan Homes Make Their Own Power

Article Excerpt

BY PETER LANDERS AND MAYUMI NEGISHI
OSAKA, Japan—In a post-tsunami revolt against conventional electric utilities, tens of thousands of Japanese homeowners have started generating their own power from hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels, turning the country into the world’s leading laboratory for overturning the traditional grid and the century-old business model behind it.
Two and a half years after a nuclear-plant disaster crippled a primary source of electricity, major home builders are incorporating the alternative technologies as a standard feature of new homes. Japan’s biggest builder of single-family homes, Sekisui House Ltd., says more than 80% of those it produces have solar power and half …
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