Clouds caused by a colossal dust storm in Taklimakan desert in China in 2007 completed more than one full circle around the globe in 13 days.  The dust cloud – measuring about 1.9 miles vertically and about 1,242 miles horizontally – was formed in Xinjiang, in north-western China. Interestingly, the cloud remained in that formation all through its journey around the Earth.

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Major business groups in the United States have warned US Congress that it will trigger what may be called a “green trade war” if Congress passes a climate change bill which “threatens” other countries with taxes on energy-intensive goods.

In a letter to US Senate leaders, the National Foreign Trade Council, the United States Chamber of Commerce and two other groups urged the Senate to desist from including provisions that could “negatively impact US relations with key trading partners and disrupt the global trading systems.”  Climate change, the letter adds, is a global problem which requires international cooperation and not “unilateral ultimatums.”

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China-based Suntech Power Holdings – the world’s biggest manufacturer of crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules that convert light energy into electricity – has signed agreements to develop 4 solar-power plants in China.

Suntech Power Holdings Company Limited says it has signed pacts with the governments of Shaanxi province and Qinghai province as well as the city governments of Shizuishan and Panzhihua to produce 1.8 gigawatts of solar power.

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In China, more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed as a result of an earthquake that struck in southwest China.

The quake left more than 300 people injured when it hit Yunnan province in southwest China Thursday evening. The quake was a 6.0-magnitude according to Xinhua. The U.S. Geological Survey gave a figure of 5.7. (more…)

It is not often that we come across wind powered electricity generation projects that have the capacity of producing 40GW. Surreal as it may sound, but the ‘Three Gorges of the Land’ project being constructed outside the northwestern city of Jiuquan in Gansu Province is capable of achieving such high standards.

The achievement will be phased in however, as only 5GW power generation will be in place by 2010. It will go up to 12GW in 2015 and by 2020, it will reach 20GW ,with the installed capacity eventually reaching the magic figure of 40W.

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As the Kyoto agreement runs out in 2012, the world is getting together to make sure that they have another international treaty in place by then, to address the deteriorating environmental issues and to ensure that each nation has a certain emission cut targets set for it.

Image by lingaraj

However, developing heavyweights like India, China and Brazil, seem to have taken a hard stand when it comes to agreeing to the emission cuts they will abide to. And India’s chief climate negotiator, Shyam Saran, said that the developed world should guard itself against green protectionism and must offer greater help to developing nations to deal with their eco-problems.

Not only did he warn against a growing discord between the developing and the developed world when it comes to dealing with green issues, but also stated that nations like India could only sign on treaties with realistic goals in regards to emission control.

While Energy Secretary Steven Chu suggested slapping a tariff on imports from nations that do not require emissions cuts to “level the playing field”, Saran responded saying that the negotiations were already starting on an uneven playing field.

The sour grapes between, seems to suggest that a realistic figure when it comes to curbing carbon emissions is still a long way away from materializing and while India’s pledge of never letting its per capita emissions exceed those of rich nations, it seems a pretty fair deal in itself.

More has to be done at this point rather than worry about political brownie points …

Meanwhile, Tata Motors launched the Nano— world’s cheapest car, in India!

Via: Yahoo! Green

With Tokyo expected to make buying surplus solar power at double the cost a requirement demand for solar panels is expected to climb in Japan.

Image by richardmasoner

Sharp Corp. and Kyocera Corp. are Japan’s biggest solar cell manufacturers. However, Chinese, Taiwanese and other foreign solar cell makers are getting ready to enter the market in Japan.

There is a 2nd International Photovoltaic Power Generation Expo happening in Tokyo this week.

1. Taiwan’s Sun Well Solar Corp. has thin-film solar cells. The company already sells two types of solar cells, one see-through, mainly in Germany and Spain.
2. Chinalight Solar Co. manufacturers and sells machinery hopes to start selling its solar cells in Japan through the machinery sales network.
3. Most Chinese and Taiwanese sell their solar goods in Europe. Now they take aim at Japan.
4. Some Japanese chemical companies are aiming to enter into the solar cell business.
5. Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. is working on an organic thin-film solar cell  with built-in solar cells.
6. Fujikura Ltd. is displaying pigment-sensitized solar cells at the expo.
7. Kyocera is displaying a  polysilicon module cell that maximizes the light-capturing area by placing the electrodes on its back.
8. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. is promoting a polysilicon solar cell that uses infrared rays.
9. Sharp’s is displaying a solar module that requires an installation space of just 13 sq. meters.

In the end, the customer and the Earth will win this competition, eh?

Source (sub req)

Chinese scientists at Shanghai Jiao Tong University have recently found that by replicating the structure of the wings of the Papilio Paris butterfly, they can enhance the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSCs).

The species of Papilio Paris live in very cold conditions and sustain their body temperature by trapping sun’s heat using a special design pattern on their wings. On examination, researchers have found that the honeycomb-like microstructure of the wings is responsible for that, and they are now trying hard to translate it into a pattern at a micro level.

While the process is neither easy nor yet successful, this will help usher the stagnant technology of the dye-sensitized solar cells which are nowhere close to matching the efficiency of the photovoltaic solar cells. However, researchers are hoping that this new stroke of inspiration will soon change that.

Another step forward or just, money spent on ‘research’?

[via CleanTechnica]

The population of Yunnan golden monkeys has grown form more than 500 in 1983 to around 1,300 at present. I suppose that’s a lot but I know conservative churches that grow faster than that by just letting their congregants have babies. Maybe, we need to send these monkeys to church, no?

The population increase happened at the nature reserve due to the protection efforts of local government and residents.

China – the only country where they can be found,has some 2,000 Yunnan golden monkeys altogether in the country. They are mammal and are listed in Category I of the Chinese Wildlife Protection Act. They are one of the most endangered animals in Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). They are also on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN).

Further, they can never be found in church or chances are there would be a lot more of them, and if not, well they’d be happier in eternity.

Seriously. Congratulations to China and the reserve on the population growth of the monkeys. But, then…China has never had problems with having a huge population, now has it?

[via Sina]

China wants its car makers to develop smaller, fuel-efficient models NOT the gas guzzlers that the US Big Three produced despite all the warnings to the contrary.

“We used to believe medium-sized cars would have the biggest market in China, but actually small cars have the greatest potential in terms of energy efficiency and price,” said a senior engineer  of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China.

While Americans kept producing gas hogs, Japan quietly went about its business gaining a stronghold appealing to the fuel-conscious consumer.

Toyota expanded its presence in the US with cheap fuel efficient cars back during the 70s crude oil crisis…and never looked back. Now that prices have dropped back down, chances are America will keep driving their cows around while this time, China ALSO gains a foothold.

Chinese still want midsized sedans. In ‘06-’07 sales for small compact cars dipped while the sedan sales went up 20%.  But, that will change….or will it?