TOKYO – Japan’s central government isn’t the only one re-examining its entire energy strategies after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown. Japanese companies and municipalities are as well.

And Kohei Hayamizu, the CEO of Tokyo-based Soundpower Corporation, says he may have part of the solution for an alternative to centralized energy production, a signature of Japan’s manufacturing might.

PRETORIA, South Africa — Scientists at the Center for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are among the leading innovators of the lithium ion technology found in cellphones, laptops and even hybrid cars. 

The global demand for batteries is over $70 billion dollars, and growing every year.

This modest research center, which is the country’s national lab, has led the world the world in creating systems that harness clean energy and use it in the most economical ways possible.

BARCELONA, Spain — Barcelona is more than just a buzzing Mediterranean tourist destination. It’s a city with ambitious goals to become one of Europe’s greenest cities by 2020.

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — The steam rising from the Pacaya volcano and the hills and rivers surrounding it on the outskirts of Guatemala’s captial city hints at a power source that could give the country the energy security it craves.

Geothermal steam and water some 2,000 meters below the surface of the green hills and mountains is being tapped by the global alternative energy company Ormat, converted into electricity, and fed into the city's main power grid.