Japanese Region Balances Hot Springs and Geothermal Power

The same conditions that create in-demand hot springs can also be used to generate geothermal energy — and that’s appealing to advocates concerned about the importance of sustainable power. That said, there’s been some concern that the two can’t coexist. For example, a 2021 lawsuit filed by theCenter for Biological Diversity, an environmental group, sought to block a geothermal project in Nevada Springs under concerns that it would damge the region’s ecosystems, springs included.

On the other hand, there’s the experience of the Japanese region of Tsuchiyu Onsen, which Nicolás Rivero and Julia Mio Inuma explored in a recent Washington Post article. Here, the residents have sought to find a balance between generating geothermal power and preserving the hot springs that have made it a destination for over a thousand years. There’s also been a geothermal plant in operation there for the last nine years, established in the aftermath of the 2011 meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Rio Watanabe, the owner of the Sansuiso Hotel, told the Post about the need to balance tradition with the nation’s energy needs. “It’s really important to preserve the Japanese culture of onsen and the identity that is so important to Japan, so that needs to be protected at all costs,” Watanabe said.

As the Post‘s reporting points out, there’s also an easy way for the hospitality industry to get on the same page with the power generation: the energy company behind the geothermal power plant was formed by the owners of numerous facilities that depend on hot spring-related tourism. It represents a break from the attitudes felt around geothermal power from similar businesses elsewhere in the country, which have been more hostile to the idea.

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While it’s an outlier in Japan, Tsuchiyu Onsen isn’t the only locale where residents have sought to balance preserving hot springs with generating geothermal power. Similar efforts have been established elsewhere, from Kenya to Alaska; they could go a long way towards safer forms of energy.