Portugal has started building their largest solar power facility yet!
“The 58m euro (£40m) plant near Serpa, 200km (125 miles) south of Lisbon, will produce enough electricity for 8,000 homes when it starts next January.
The 11-megawatt solar power plant, to be made up of 52,000 photovoltaic modules, will cover a 60-hectare (150-acre) southern-facing hillside.”
Solar power maybe coming to a roof near you, if you live in Toronto. Some residents in the city are purchasing solar panels in bulk, so they can get a cheaper rate, and are installing them on their roofs. It’s a great way to save money, the environment, and meet Kyoto Protocol goals, something that Canada should be aware of.
Other communities have done this, and let’s hope that these Toronto purchasers will lead the way for others to do the same.
“In the Riverdale, Leslieville, and Beaches communities, about 75 homeowners have banded together to make a bulk purchase of rooftop solar photovoltaic panels that will meet a portion of each home’s power demands. Solera Sustainable Energies Co. won the contract and will begin installing the panels this week.
Across the city, in an area encompassing Parkdale, High Park, the Annex, and Seaton Village, a group of more than 150 homeowners has been similarly inspired and will soon invite interested solar companies to bid for their business. This grassroots project has caught the attention of the Harbord Village Residents Association, which is now considering its own bulk-purchase initiative.”
Africa’s most arid nations, you know, the ones covered in all that sand have grouped together to stop the increasing rate of Africa’s decertification. They will look into ways to protect forests that already exist, water, and improve agriculture.
“Svetla Rousseva, soil erosion researcher at Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science in Bulgaria, says the North Africa Green Belt Project will be “a good point to start combating desertification in Africa and will soon become an excellent example for the entire world”.
“Soil cannot be conserved through sporadic efforts or short-term projects; what it needs are long-term programmes backed by sound land-use policies and strategies to catalyse their development,” says Rousseva.”
Scientist at Ghent University in Belgium and University of Queensland in Australia are working on a prototype device that generates electricity from the solid waste that we humans produce every day.
The process works by harnessing the energy that waste-eating bacteria make and turning it into electricity.
Not surprisingly, the researchers are hoping to use the technology to power water treatment plants, but they say a domestic power plant is also possible in the future
Brazil is using the internet to ensure that policies are carried through. This includes monitoring the environment using the internet with the Agenda 21 System.
“The agenda also represents a new global development standard for the 21st century, placing priority on sustainable economic models that don’t harm the environment.”