Cheap LED Blub Edges Below $20 (The New York Times)
A new marketing effort has been triggered by Home Depot to assure that households accept LED lighting. Early in August, retail giant launched the sale of light bulbs placed in their highly energy-efficient stall at amazingly cheap prices, below $20. Other stores are going to adhere to the same policy in September.
At a first glance $20 appears expensive but these energy-efficient bulbs are expected to have a life-time of 30 years. Very recently experts predicted that these bulbs would cost around $30 up to 2012.
In 2012 federal laws will be enforced, making it compulsory to sell only light bulbs, which use less than 30 percent of the energy consumed by the actual incandescent bulbs. Manufacturers are already suggesting that enhancement to current incandescent bulbs will not match those standards, so they are now trying to promote LED bulbs.
The florescent bulbs have been disliked by consumers due to its pallid light but these innovative LED bulbs provide brightness akin to the incandescent bulb.
A spokeswoman at Home Depot claims that bulbs labelled as EcoSmart is highly popular, and it is hard to keep stock.
China Solar Projects Draws Interest from 50 Companies (Bloomberg Business Week)
The Herculean effort by the Chinese government to double the solar power capacity has already attracted bids from some 50 companies, including nuclear plant operators to even circuit-breaker makers.
The tender that is in force has stemmed 135 offers to construct as well as to operate solar plants across six of China’s provinces. According to Vice Director of Beijing-based solar-module maker Astronergy, Qiu Zhanwei, even the nation’s second-biggest atomic plant builder, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Co, is included in the bids.
Dennis Lam an analyst at DBS Vickers Hong Kong Ltd says that the government is committed to develop the renewable sector of the economy and companies are eager to be part in this growing sector.
Currently, subsidies, tax breaks, premium rates and loans are offered by the Chinese government to promote renewable energy. The country is known as being the world’s biggest air polluter, but now they are expanding its solar capacity by 60 times, to a total of 20,000 MW by year 2020. They are ostensibly making an effort to reduce dependency on fossil fuel and thereby cutting carbon emission.
Presently, 80 percent of China’s power plants operate on coal.
For Parched Farmers, a Crop of Electrons (New York Times)
There is a grand plan to establish one of the world’s largest solar energy construction on farmland located in the San Joaquin Valley of California. However, in other areas’ mega- energy projects have been faced with resistance from farmers, environmentalists and ranchers. They claim concerns for the consequences that solar power plants might have on agriculture, scarce water supplies and wildlife.
This is not the case at San Joaquin Valley’s Westland Water District, as farmers are embracing solar power projects. Additionally, environmentalists are pushing the project forward as a mean to avoid the construction of solar power in pure desert regions.
The west side of the San Joaquin Valley was in the 1960s changed from a desert into a productive agricultural center. This was achieved through intense irrigation projects, involving the piping of water from Northern California to some 600,000 acres of farmland via 1,034 miles of underground pipes.
China’s energy crackdown: more PR than big efficiency step? (The Christian Science Monitor)
Currently, the Chinese government is announcing a large shut-down scheme of energy-wasting factories. However, this step to boost energy efficiency is more of public relation than strategic energy policies.
The reason for considering it as a buzz rather than a step is that out of the 2,087 factories that are listed on the Industry Ministry’s website for closure by the 30th of September, some of them are already closed. There are even a few, which have been inactive since for two years.
In other words, as Christian Science Monitor tried to contact the companies which were blacklisted, and they found that 75 percent was no longer operational. Most of the companies in the list have been dismantled before the date suggested making the listed rather PR announcement instead of concrete step towards energy-efficiency.
Greenland ice sheet faces ‘tipping point in 10 years’ (Guardian Co.Uk)
New researches are suggesting that the whole mass of ice on Greenland will vanish from the world map, if temperature increases with a tiny two degree Celsius. A penal of Scientists, claims that this would have intense ramifications on globe landscape.
Richard Alley, a geosciences professor at Pennsylvania State University said that last week one of the largest ice pieces in Greenland was sliced-off. The future of Greenland is sombre as scientists are doubtful that Greenland will survive rising temperature during the next decade. Allay said that if the temperature would rise in a range of two to seven degree Celsius Greenland’s ice surface would be annihilated.
The consequence would be heightening sea level; by up to 7 meters (23 ft) leaving cities like New Orleans benefit sea-level. What is currently happening in the Arctic is the most imminent and fast-growing threat to global landscape ever experienced.
Source: Our Planet Today
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