The Japanese Market for Renewable Energy - Lessons from a German Case

"If the wind of changes blows, some build walls, others windmills!", this Asian proverb particularly affects me. As a child I have felt the changes the "Fall of the Wall" meant for many around me. Now people around the world worry about the living conditions of our earth in the certainty of the progressing climate change. What do large industrial nations, like Germany and Japan do against this change? Will they hide behind walls of market foreclosure or will they go forward and assist a new industry for wind and solar power to develop. This thesis focus on the development of these two renewable energies in Japan and Germany. In particular the question about the use of environmental taxes and laws for promoting renewable energies and support their market development is raised here. What different or similar approaches were used to be able to reach the current position of technological leadership in this new market sector? Do windmills have the power to change the way we care about our natural resources or are we only proceeding how we did before? Yes, we can change!