Posted by Greenbang on May 12th, 2008
It’s not what Greenbang usually covers, but our reporter Yan Yan was caught up in China’s earthquake today. Here is her account…
Busy Monday afternoon. I was sitting at the office and working as usual. All of a sudden, I felt kind of dizzy, and after a few seconds, I saw my table was shaking.
“Is it an earthquake?” the co-worker who was sitting beside asked, which confirmed my thought – it is an earthquake! We are on the 20th floor, if the earthquake is a severe one, what can I do? I was a little nervous and scared.
“We should go out,” I heard someone said. And I walked quickly to the front door with other colleagues.
More and more people got together around the hallway to the stairs. At this moment, the building was still shaking. Somehow, with many familiar faces of colleagues around me, I feel kind of relieved and safe.
We were orderly walking downstairs, and got stuck several times probably because as increasing numbers of people from lower floors joined the stream. And the worse part was the door toward another set of stairs was locked! All the people in the building had only one way to leave.
While walking, most people were also busy making calls or texting messages. I called my parents and told them an earthquake is hitting Beijing and I would be fine, though I was not sure whether I would be fine or not. It is the first time in my life to experience an earthquake.
The way from the 20th floor to the ground was a long journey. But it has never been so long. I thought of the Americans who worked in the World Trade Center on 911 – but I dare not think of any “what ifs”.
Finally, it took us almost an hour to get to the exit of the building. Suddenly, I found Beijing’s grey sky was so lovely, much better than the grey stairs.
I waited aside the lawn around the building with other colleagues. About five minutes later, it started to rain. I called my friends to make sure they were fine. The weird thing was: people who work in the south and west Beijing did not feel any tremors. Only those who are in the east of Beijing felt it and were evacuated from their office building.
We did not go back to the office until we had waited in the rain for about half hour. Getting back to the office, many colleagues grabbed the handbags and went home immediately. The office was almost empty.
I don’t feel any safer to go back to the department I rent which was built in early 1990s. So I stayed for a while, and checked some news on-line. Here is what Xinhua told us about this earthquake:
An earthquake measuring 3.9 on the Richter scale jolted Tongzhou District in east Beijing Monday afternoon.
The quake struck at 2:35 p.m. Beijing Time and the epicenter was initially determined to be 39.8 degrees north latitude and 116.8 degrees east longitude, according to the China’s Seismological Forecast Network.
And more severe earthquake was happened in Sizhuang province in southwest China, according to Xinhua.
Posted by jumperhead on April 11th, 2008
A story about a condom factory opening in the middle of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest? More childish minds would expect Greenbang to make smutty double entendres about Brazil nuts, magnificent erections, deep penetration or protecting wood, but Greenbang is better than that. Greenbang isn’t Benny Hill, after all.
Greenbang will treat the story in a more adult fashion, like the The Guardian has, who reports that the Brazilian government is investing £10 million in building a condom factory in the middle of the Amazon rainforest to combat its destruction. The factory in the remote town of Xaipuri, in the state of Acre, will manufacture 100 million condoms a year from latex extracted from the forest.
The Brazilian government has launched the initiative to help 500 local families make a sustainable living from the Amazon rainforest, who would otherwise make ends meet by chainsawing it down. The Brazilian Ministry of Health reckons they’ll together trouser £657,000 a year.
As well as preserving the Amazonian ecosystem, the initiative will cut out the ‘johnny miles’ created by the Brazilian’s dependence on Asia to supply the 120 millions condoms that the government distributes every year to prevent the spread of Aids.
Posted by jumperhead on April 10th, 2008
Perusing the website of Orb Energy, Greenbang was taken on a mental musical mystery tour. The landing page of the site bears the legend ‘you’ve got the power. Before Greenbang could get any deeper into the site, she was assailed mentally by thoughts of Snap’s mid 90s charttopper The Power and then subsequently, Spandau Ballet’s Gold (you’ve got the power to knooooooooooooooow, you’re indestructible, always believe iiiiiiiiiiiiin you are gold (GOLD!) etc)
Imagine the excitement. And she hadn’t even got to the news section. And then, when she did, she pulled out this little gem: solar system seller Orb has nabbed itself $1 million shiny dollars in an award from the US State Department “in support of the goals of the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate.
Orb said it plans to have up to 70 branches up and running in the Indian state of Karnataka by the end of this year. What can you do in an Orb branch? Why, this!
At an Orb Energy branch, customers can purchase solar photovoltaic systems for back up power, solar thermal systems for hot water, and a range of solar lighting solutions. Orb also helps customers arrange a loan and provides long-term service.
What’s it going to do with the cash? Orb said:
The APP award will assist with the development of Orb’s franchise partners who manage and operate its branch network. Orb will also use the award to execute in-country assembly of Swiss-designed inverters, and to enter India’s newly emerging grid- connected market for solar.
Posted by jumperhead on April 10th, 2008
Think Intel and you probably think of a jingle that goes dink dink DINK DINK and back in the dark mists of history also featured blue men mucking about in some paint. Or something.
If you need to purge that gruesome image from your delicate mind and find a more friendly mental image, then let Greenbang grease those wheels with a nice image of clean tech investment.
For Intel has a VC arm, called Intel Capital. It’s been feeling spendy of late and has a $500 million fund which is wants to dispose of in China, laying its bets on “wireless broadband, technology, media, telecommunications and “clean tech” that complement Intel’s corporate initiatives and help expand technology market segments in China”.
No word yet on what that type of clean tech that will be, but interesting nonetheless.
Posted by jumperhead on April 8th, 2008
Like Marty McFly and Sam Beckett, China is doing a little bit of time travel, unveiling a plan for renewable energy that covers 2006 to 2010.
While you might be wondering what’s the point of presenting a plan that covers two years that are already dead and gone, let’s press ahead regardless.
According to Chinese paper Xinhua, the country’s renewable energy consumption will reach the equivalent 300 million tons of standard coal by 2010 — or 10 percent of all China’s energy — and double the levels of renewable energy consumption in 2005.
And there’s more. Like a seasoned gambler, China is spreading its energy bets hither and thither. Says Xinhua, by 2010, hydropower projects will arrive with capacity of 190 million kw; wind power projects with 10 million kw; biofuels will provide 5.5million kw and solar energy projects 300,000 kw.
There’s a nod to wind too - manufacturers will cough of capacities of at least 1.5 million watts.
Posted by jumperhead on March 27th, 2008
Meandering through the pages of Chinese news service Xinhua, Greenbang came across this invention: the electronic cigarette, the invention of which has been plaguing her ever since. After all, who sat down and thought: “you know, what the world needs is a cigarette, made of plastic, that you can recharge? I’ll be a millionaire with this baby!”
Luckily, Greenbang discovered something a bit more life-enhancing than the mechanical ciggie on her web perambulations. Xinhua also reveals that the Chinese government has been finding its wallet.
According to the paper, the Chinese Ministry of Finance will spend 78 percent more than planned on reducing emissions and boosting energy efficiency to make sure it meets environmental targets by the end of the decade.
Apparently, 27 billion yuan of special funds will be earmarked for the process, 7.5 million of which will be dedicated to ten energy saving schemes “including technological transformation in factories, substitutes for oil and the introduction of energy-efficient light bulbs”, 4 billion will go on shutting down dirty coal fired power stations and steel plants while another 5 billion will sort out polluted bodies of water.
Posted by jumperhead on March 25th, 2008
What’s better than recycling? Reusing, of course. Greenbang isn’t against reusing tea bags when feeling far too lazy to get out down the shops. And reusing goods that someone else has discarded, that’s even better, right? Greenbang has picked up someone else’s Metro on the Tube. But it’s not much compared to China’s latest effort.
According to China View, China has kicked off a pilot to recover and reuse old auto parts.
The National Development and Reform Commission has inked an agreement with three auto makers and 11 parts manufacturers to join in with the program.
Apparently, says China View, the country scraps 3 million motors every year and by 2010, that will figure will be up to four million. The market for reused car parts will go up from 700 million yuan this year to 3.8 billion-worth by 2010.
Posted by jumperhead on March 13th, 2008
China is changing its eco-policy guardians from plain old State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) to a ministry - an upgrade that can only find peer in Cringer’s transformation into Battlecat every week in the kids cartoon He Man or for that matter, from Eric into the eponymous Bananaman.
According to Xinhua, the ministry will be in charge of reducing pollutants, protecting the environment and build a “resource-saving and environment-friendly society”.
It’ll also be responsible for drafting and implementing programs, policies and standards for environmental protection too. While it’s a great big signal of how China is taking green business seriously, there are still some drawbacks to the plan.
Xinhua quotes Huang Xihua, vice director of the environmental protection bureau of Huizhou, Guangdong Province:
Environmental protection bureaus at provincial level and below are under the direct leadership of local governments, who are in charge of our personnel changes and funding.
“Eat one’s hay, walk his way. It is hard for a local environmental protection bureau to work independently and monitor the government.”
Posted by jumperhead on February 15th, 2008
Here’s an interesting little development from Tunisia, courtesy of the folks of Kyocera. It seems that solar power is not just doing its thing and getting rid of other carbon-heavy electricity generation, it’s also bringing people onto the grid who have never had electricity before.
From this year, 500 households in Tunisian villages, currently without electricity of any sort, will get solar systems to power home lighting and “other needs”. The homes will be located in Kef, Siliana and Beja.
Here’s more from Kyocera.
“Kyocera Corporation today announced that it will supply and install its solar power generating systems in the Republic of Tunisia under a yen-loan project by the Japanese government through Itochu Corporation.
This will be the first case in which yen loans will be applied to the delivery and installation of photovoltaic power systems. Yen loans are a form of official development assistance provided by the Japanese government.
They are a mechanism for lending development funds to developing countries at low interest on a long-term basis. Yen loans are designed to help developing countries stand on their own economically as they strive to become self-reliant.
Special Terms for Economic Partnership will also be applied to this project for putting Japanese technologies to practical use.
Through the project, Japan’s solar power generating technologies are expected not only to contribute to the economic development of developing countries, but also to lead to technological assistance that is environmentally friendly.”
Posted by on January 18th, 2008
Getting something for nothing is inherently pleasing, right? That’s one explanation for shoplifting anyway. But making free electricity from what you do every day - just existing - is taking something for nothing to extremes.
Researchers have come up with an idea of using body heat to power electronics, gathering energy from body heat and re-routing it into your mobile phone or iPod or what have you. It involves silicon nanowires, so Greenbang will let TG Daily explain it like this:
Imagine a time in which you would not have to plug in your cellphone or iPod over night to recharge the battery. Instead you would power and charge a device simply by wearing it close to your body. The concept of converting waste heat into electricity isn’t exactly new, but it never really materialized due to efficiency hurdles. Now, scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California at Berkeley think they may have found a key increase the conversion efficiency by a factor of 100.In contrast to previous silicon nanowire-based converters, researchers have used what they describe as “rough” silicon nanowires.
The material is created in a process of “electroless etching” in which arrays of silicon nanowires are synthesized in an aqueous solution on the surfaces of wafers. According to the paper published, the “technique involves the galvanic displacement of silicon through the reduction of silver ions on a wafer’s surface”. In contrast to common silicon process methods, this technique results in vertically aligned silicon nanowires that apparently feature exceptionally rough surfaces. And it is that roughness that is believed to be critical to the surprisingly high thermoelectric efficiency of the silicon nanowires.
Greenbang likes the idea of this - a practically endless supply of readily available energy - and hopes the technology won’t languish uncommercialised for years, only to turn up on the “whatever happened to?” edition of Tomorrow’s World.
