Interestingly, I live in rural Japan and went on a trip with some of my neighbours. One of them brought her son along who is a buyer of natural gas for Fuji fi

Interestingly, I live in rural Japan and went on a trip with some of my neighbours. One of them brought her son along who is a buyer of natural gas for Fuji film. I asked how they are set up. He told me that they generate all of their electricity onsite from natural gas generators. It seems that they also need the waste heat for some other processes so it makes sense for them. I asked him about solar and wind because I know that both are fairly good bets here (more than 200 days of sun per year at 34 degrees latitude, coastal position with near constant moderate wind). He said that because of the waste heat that they need, it's still much cheaper for them to go with natural gas and figured that it would continue for some time (though... I suppose he might be biased given his job ;-) ). Unfortunately my Japanese isn't quite good enough to understand what they were using the waste heat for. Fuji film makes a lot more than film -- they do a lot of electronics too, so I'm not quite sure what they are doing. I also know a few people who work for automobile parts manufacturers (suppliers for the big car companies here) and most of them also use primarily natural gas, apparently (which surprised me greatly). I did notice that a few years ago quite a few factories in the area have covered their roofs with solar panels, so I think it's moving slightly. I suspect that in many parts of the US, the national grid is so cheap that it makes sense to use it. But at least here in Japan it seems to be common to generate at least some of the energy yourself.