Tokyo, Japan (BBN)-By one estimate, more than 600 golf clubs across Japan now sit empty.
The deserted courses remain a haunting reminder of Japan’s Lost Decade (the 1990s), when the nation’s bubble economy burst and the GDP plummeted, reports the Discovery.
In a symbolic convergence of past and present, Japanese electronics manufacturer Kyocera is now making use of several of those abandoned golf courses to harvest tomorrow’s sustainable energy.
The company recently announced two large projects that will convert deserted golf courses into massive solar power plants, one of which will cover nearly 500 acres and become Japan’s largest operating solar power plant in Kyoto Prefecture.
Together, the plants will have a combined output of approximately 115 megawatts, enough to power nearly 40,000 homes.
Kyocera announced that it will ensure the use of “environmentally friendly construction methods” during the plants’ construction.
Both plants will be operational by 2018.
The company has also invested heavily in eco-friendly floating solar power plants.
In addition to harvesting solar power, the 100 per cent recyclable floating polyethylene structures are said to “reduce reservoir water evaporation and algae growth by shading the water”.
BBN/SK/AD