It’s Friday and we all know that means that each and every one of us is beyond ready to get out, get home, and start enjoying the weekend. Plus, the simple fact that this is the first Real week back to our schedules after what I’m sure was a very hectic Holiday Season, means you’re probably ready to call it a week, and head home.
So, that said, I won’t keep you long, but I did want to share an awesome little video that should help highlight a great deal more on China’s solar situation. The fact of the matter is, China is a MAJOR player on the global scale and the fact that they are taking strides to reduce their negative environmental output and start doing some serious good for the Earth as well as their energy use.
Check out this video, get a little more informed on things all the way around the world, and then have an amazing weekend. Might want to check out Northern Tool before you go, there are some Great sales going on, and stocking up with that extra Christmas cash is not a bad idea!
Way to Go CHINA! No, I’m not talking their performance in women’s gymnastics in Beijing, and unfortunately I’m not talking about how they are going to shock the world and free Tibet once and for all, but what I am talking about is a great leap forward they’re taking in the world of alternative energy, and I, for one, am going to give credit where credit is due!
That’s right, word is that China is planning and prepping the world’s largest solar farm to date. World’s Largest. We all know that 2008 was a pretty good year in the world of Solar Energy; a lot of new farms were opened, planned, prepped and developed…so far, it looks like 2009 will be just as good, if not better. According to reports:
“…the China Technology Development Group Corp. and Qinghai New Energy Co. announced plans to build a 1 GW solar farm in China— the largest in the world…Construction will begin this year on the first part of the project— a $150 million, 30 MW crystalline silicon and thin film solar power station in the Qaidam Basin. The full timeline for the project is not currently available.”
1 GW! AHHH! Talk about just making my entire month, and yes, it’s only the first week. Just how big is this planned project? Try this on for size; if they complete it, it will be almost DOUBLE the size of ANY other announced solar farm project in history. Double.
Here’s a great New Year’s Resolution I think the world should embrace: Each State in the United States, each Country in the world, should all develop solar energy farms, plans and methods this 2009. Lets all write our representatives and do what we can to make 2009 the year of Solar Power! Come on!
Talk about news that makes it not seem quite so bad that Winter has already decided to settle in around my neighborhood, reading about this makes me a heck of a lot warmer. I just read that new traffic laws passed in Beijing, China will effectively take an estimated 800,000 cars off the roads. That is almost 1 million cars!
According to reports, the new laws came into effect yesterday and instantly those 800,000 cars were off the road. I do not think the ramifications of numbers that large have truly been felt yet. The new laws, according to the article,“force 70% of government vehicles, as well as all private and corporate cars, to take turns off the roads on one out of five weekdays….The law works by banning cars with number plates ending one or six from the city’s roads on Mondays, and those with plates ending with two or seven on Tuesdays, three or eight on Wednesdays, four or nine Thursdays and five or zero Fridays. The ban does not apply on weekends.”
This new legislation comes right after a trial two-month ban on vehicles they previously attempted. What is interesting to note is that the first experiment effectively lead to a “120,000 tonne reduction in vehicle pollution.” Once the ban was lifted, unfortunately, the pollution went back up to normal. Here is hoping that this new ban and new laws will do even more to reduce pollution…permanently.
