Day: 5 September 2006

Germany Crushes Competition in Solar Market

There really isnt much more to this story than what the title title says. Germany has heavily embraced renewable energy, especially solar power, in every appliciable measure.
Lets see how….

Germany generates enough power from the sun’s rays to meet the needs of households in a city of 590 000, according to the Solar Energy Association BSW.

Last week, a solar electric power plant, billed by its operators as the world’s biggest, went into service in the southern German state of Bavaria. More than 1 400 movable solar modules will collect the sun’s rays and harness them into energy for around 3 500 homes.

Germany accounts for 60% of the world market in solar energy, with some 5 000 firms exporting one-quarter of their products in a sector that employs 45 000

Germans last year invested €3.7bn in solar energy, one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy along with wind power and biomass. Solar energy accounts for less than 1% of the country’s energy needs, but the figure is expected to grow to more than 5% by 2020, according to the BSW.

Stay in School Forever

I really like this dude’s suggestion that we live our lives like we are in school. You know, read some, learn some, run some, and do all sorts of things that a “normal” day-to-day working life forgets.

“If we model our lives on the structure of how we were educated as children, our lives would be a lot more balanced. We would constantly be learning. We would try new things and learn a wide range of skills. We would appreciate literature, music, science and history – even more now than when we were kids. We would have our own phys. ed. classes were we wouldn’t have to feel like we are competing with everyone else – it would be enough just to BE active. Here are some of my tips on how we would re-capture that spark of life that was learning and being educated.”

Blair Calls for Better Poverty Reduction

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is calling for a better approach to fight poverty in Britain. Current government programs are not reaching “deeply excluded” families and that needs to change in order for the government to make a much bigger impact.

“He said a small percentage of every generation were “stuck in a lifetime of disadvantage”. “We have to recognise that for some families, their problems are more multiple, more deep and more pervasive than simply low income,” he continued.”