1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese
Energy and Environment Council released the Innovation Strategy
for Energy and Environment and its Future Use in 2012, which
stated that the installed capacity of renewable energy, including
hydropower, by 2030 must be three times greater than that in 2010
[1]. In 2010, renewable energy contributed to less than 10% of the
total energy supply [2]. Hence, it is necessary to support the
expansion of renewable energy to achieve this target.
In particular, the introduction of renewable energy at the local
level by each municipality is significant [2] because renewable
energy resources are widely distributed in low densities and the
technologies carry potential impacts for the lifestyles of local residents.
However, some problems should be solved in relation to
introducing renewable energies at the local level. It is difficult to
satisfy the entire demand of all sectors by a single renewable energy
resource because renewable energy is usually generated by
small-scale units of variable output and each type of renewable
energy has disadvantages such as temporal variability. Furthermore,
inadequate renewable energies implemented in a region can
have various impacts on both the lifestyle of local residents and the
natural environment. Thus, a renewable energy production system
should be optimized by an appropriate combination of different
renewable energy resources while considering the environmental
impacts from multiple perspectives.
The combination of renewable energy to be introduced and the
evaluation of its impact on the local environment is not easy for
local residents to determine. However, consensus in local communities
including various stakeholders is necessary for locally
owned developments of renewable energy. To better understand
and communicate the impacts of developing renewable