International Symposium on Marine and Offshore Renewable Energy

As carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuels has been found to be the major cause of ongoing global warming, renewable energy is now receiving more attention. Various possible candidates for renewable energy—other than solar or wind energy, which are currently at the forefront of renewable energy options—that could be extracted from the ocean are also being re-evaluated. This trend has been further accelerated because of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Several national projects that focus on the development of ocean energy commenced last year in Japan. Surrounded by vast oceans, Japan has great potential to utilise ocean energy. This should also hold true for the United Kingdom, which is surrounded by oceans as well. Actually, in the U.K., the development of ocean energy has been extensively carried out. Under these circumstances, the Japan Society of Naval Architects and Ocean Engineers (JASNAOE) and the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA) will organize the World NAOE Forum 2013 & International Symposium on Marine and Offshore Renewable Energy in October 2013. We believe the Forum and Symposium are well timed and thus contribute to the promotion of the use of ocean energies not only in Japan and the U.K. but also in other countries.