China Rules the Air

We just saw that Mexico has a huge wind farm, well it’s apparently nothing compared to what China is up to. China is now the world’s largest producer of wind energy, and this is only in a couple years of installing wind-powered generators.

China last year doubled its wind energy capacity – for the fourth straight year – adding 6,300 megawatts of new electricity generation for a total capacity of 12,210 megawatts. A third of the world’s new wind capacity last year was installed in Asia, with China accounting for 73% of that power. China reached its 2010 target of generating 5,000 megawatts of wind-powered electricity in 2007 and is expected to hit its 2030 goal of 30,000 megawatts years early.

“In 2009, new installed capacity is expected to nearly double again, which will be one third or more of the world’s total new installed capacity for the year,” Li Junfeng, Secretary General of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industry Association, said in a statement.

Mexico Gets Winded

Mexico is firing up the largest wind farm in Latin America. It’s great to see so many countries using renewable energy!

According to Spanish energy company Acciona Energia who has been assigned the project, the farm will produce enough energy to power a city of 500,000 people, while reducing carbon monoxide emissions by 600,000 metric tons each year.

The new, $550 million project is in a region so breezy that the main town is named La Ventosa, or “Windy.” It’s on the narrow isthmus between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, where winds blow at 15 mph to 22 mph, a near-ideal rate for turbines. Gusts have been known to topple tractor trailers.

Google Earth Includes Oceans

Google Earth is a neat program, but what people can use it for is far more interesting than the software itself. Google has gone ahead and modified their program to now include information about the Earth’s ocean to make people aware of how the oceans are connected to our lives.

“I’ve been struggling my whole life to figure out how to reach people and get them to understand they’re connected to the ocean,” Dr. Earle said.

“But I go to the supermarket and still see the United Nations of fish for sale,” she said. “Marine sanctuaries are still not really protected. Google Earth gets all this information now and puts it in one place for the littlest kid and the stuffiest grownup to see in a way that hasn’t been possible in all preceding history.”

By choosing among 20 buttons holding archives of information, called “layers” by Google, a visitor can read logs of oceanographic expeditions, see old film clips from the heyday of Jacques-Yves Cousteau and check daily Navy maps of sea temperatures.

Will Ethical Capitalism Arise from the Recession?

It’s always nice to see someone write what I’m thinking but do it much better than I ever can. Here’s a short piece exploring the failings of the neo-liberal economic order and how we can build a better, kinder, greener, and more efficient form of capitalism.

For me, this recession has been defined by frustrating paradoxes. Easy money, overcapacity, and reckless consumption are what got us into this mess, yet governments must react by lowering interest rates and pushing through enormous fiscal stimulus packages with the hope that the housing, retail, and investment markets won’t fall much more. Similarly, long-term sensible investments in clean energy and social welfare are hindered by falling oil prices, a lack of funding, and fresh anxiety about corporate bottom lines.
From these developments, one could conclude that the global economic system is inherently flawed, that it is unethical and doomed to destroy itself. In fact, what is critically needed is moderation, a middle ground between total freedom and principled action. The incoming Obama Administration calls it “smart policies.” The alternative is protectionism, a rolling back of the open global economy, and political if not armed conflict.

101 Ways to Make the World Better

Here’s a nice list of 101 ways to improve your world, some of the ideas are really nice and simple while others are bit more extreme.

From the 30s:

31. Make breakfast in bed for someone you love.

32. Find something you’re good at and use it to help someone else.

33. Learn a new language, then volunteer as an interpreter.

34. Know someone who is sad and single? Find someone to hook them up with!

35. Bring coffee or baked goods to city workers who might appreciate it.

36. Help someone with a heavy load.