China working on the ‘Three Gorges Dam’ of wind power

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 – 18:20 CEST

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gzlu/469814880/

China’s not quite done with its massive energy building. Beyond the famed Three Gorges Dam and the North-South Water Diversion Scheme, the Middle Kingdom apparently is also working on a ginormous wind farm.

According to an account this past week in the Agence France Presse, Feng Jianshen, a vice governor of Gansu province said that by 2020, China will have a fantastically large wind farm in that same northwestern province. That brings the country’s wind power energy capacity to 20 gigawatts by that point.

Adds the AFP: Zhang Guobao, head of China’s National Energy Administration, said last year that the government would build several “Three Gorges of wind power” by 2020 in provinces and regions including Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu and Jiangsu.

I think that wind companies just found their newest market.

Posted in China, Energy, Three Gorges Dam

Solar panels prices drop globally

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Friday, August 28th, 2009 – 10:27 CEST

As Chinese production of solar panel equipment has ramped up, the price has precipitously dropped. According to yesterday’s New York Times, panel prices have fallen about 40 percent since last summer, according to analysts at the investment bank Piper Jaffray.

At…

China takes larger steps to combat climate change

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, August 24th, 2009 – 09:51 CEST

Following a meeting between British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chinese officials in Beijing, China is expected to begin its next five-year development plan in 2011 with stricter measures to halt carbon dioxide emissions.

According to a report by Reuters: “I…

07.07.2009: Qigong in Linz09 Kinderpunkt

Posted by YuHan, Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 – 15:54 CEST

OnJuly 7th we practiced the ways to breathe properly and discover our potential following the instruction from a Qigong Master. Although it was raining heavily outside, we learned more about ourselves…

Over 1,200 new cars hit Beijing streets every day

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, August 17th, 2009 – 14:55 CEST

According to the Agence France Presse, quoting Chinese state media agency Xinhua this past weekend, more than 1,200 new cars every single day. According to the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, there were 261,000 new vehicles registered in the first half…

03.07.2009: Live connection to the Three Gorges Dam, China

Posted by YuHan, Thursday, August 13th, 2009 – 16:23 CEST

Talking face to face with people from Three Gorges region in China.

Johnannesburg airport hit by fuel shortage

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, August 11th, 2009 – 22:41 CEST

Apparently due to an interruption in rail service from South Africa’s coast, Johannesburg’s Tambo airport has recently been running short on jet fuel, reports the Agence France Presse.

As Africa’s busiest airport, and a key hub for next year’s World Cup…

Three Gorges Dam closed in preparation for oncoming flood crest

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 – 14:19 CEST

The Chinese news service Xinhua is reporting that the ship locks at the Three Gorges Dam has been closed since Monday and has no immediate plans to reopen.

The region has been pounded by a massive rainstorm on the upper part of…

China government audit: Xiluodu dam project overbudget

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 – 18:52 CEST

These days, it seems like China is just tackling one massive energy project after another. Of course, there’s the Three Gorges Dam, the South-North Water Diversion Project, and now, also, the Jinsha River dam. This is a $10 billion project that…

Experts Debate Energy Usage of the Lesser Evil: Nuclear vs. Coal

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, July 16th, 2009 – 18:10 CEST

Earlier this month, the American science magazine Seed conducted an online panel discussion on which energy source is the least evil.

In the United States, unlike Europe, there are only 104 nuclear reactors — representing about 20 percent of all domestic energy…

American power company plans 51-megawatt wind farm in Colorado

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Monday, July 6th, 2009 – 18:53 CEST

Fresh off the heels of China’s wind announcement, an American power company has just announced that it will be building a 51-megawatt wind farm in eastern Colorado — east of the famed Rockies.

The plant will be built by Duke…

Greenland to become the Dubai of the North?

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Friday, June 26th, 2009 – 17:47 CEST

So while the world was watching Iran’s chaos this weekend, there was a new state in the process of being born: Greenland.

Yes, that massive ice sheet that takes up an unfathomable part of your world map is well on…

President Elbegdorj could open Mongolia’s mines

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 – 23:27 CEST

New Mongolian president Tsakhia Elbegdorj was elected last month largely to help improve Mongolia’s economic problems.

One way that he might go about doing that, a recent UPI report suggests, is by opening up the countries vast mining reserves.

Mongolia has many…

Protests move into new phase 20 years after Tiananmen

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009 – 17:35 CEST

This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the June 4 culmination of a weeks-long protest in Beijing to commemorate the April 15, 1989 death of Hu Yaobang, a prominent reformer within the Chinese government. On June…

China planning to raze oldest part of Kashgar

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Thursday, May 28th, 2009 – 12:52 CEST

I’ve always had a strange fascination with Xinjiang, the westernmost province of China. It seems an entire world away from the bustle of the east with its megapolises of Beijing and Shanghai, not to mention all the other industrial monstrosities.…

The Guardian (UK) Visits the South-North Water Diversion Scheme in China

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 – 17:31 CEST

For years, China has been undertaking a little-reported engineering project, the South-North Water Diversion Scheme.

The idea is to bring massive amounts of water from the water-rich south to Beijing and other parts of the drought-ridden north.

This half-century old project…

Making Our Literary and Historical Heritage Available Online

Posted by Cyrus Farivar, Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 – 20:39 CEST

One item that caught my eye in the news today was that UNESCO has just opened the World Digital Library, the first online, international, book depository.

The project, which launched today in Paris, “draws material from more than 30 national libraries and…