MANILA, Philippines — The first 12 electric jeepneys (e-Jeep) rolled off the charging station at Makati Fire Department on Tuesday morning, and plied routes to Salcedo Village and Legazpi Village from the Landmark Mall.
Makati electric care philippines
The 12-seater vehicles will offer free rides to commuters on weekdays during rush hours from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
They look like ordinary jeepneys with their flashy murals. However, they don’t emit smoke. They don’t wait for passengers for long at jeepney stops. Some eJeepneys bore texts “Rebolusyonaryo (Revolutionary)” and “Sakay na (Take a ride).”
“We are making the climate solutions of tomorrow available for Filipinos today,” said Red Constantino, director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities (iCSC) at the launch of the project dubbed as the eJeepney Makati Green Route.
Through its major funder the Stichting Doen, a Dutch foundation, the iCSC put up the project to help reduce carbon dioxide emission of transport vehicles.
According to the iCSC, the climate change-inducing carbon dioxide emission levels are expected to triple in Asia in the next 20 years. The rise is mainly attributed to the transport sector.
Constantino said his group would like to make eJeeps free for commuters for a long time, by relying on the income they generate from business partners’ advertisements.
The three-year-old project has garnered worldwide praise and recently bagged the top award in the Discovery Channel’s Ecopolis program. It was touted as a new transportation technology that can transform modern cities today.
The Pinoy-style eJeepneys were manufactured by the Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturers Association of the Philippines in cooperation with the National Center for Transportation Studies at the University of the Philippines, Philbio, the British Embassy, Oxfam Great Britain, Greenpeace Southeast Asia, and the Foundation of the Philippine Environment.
Former beauty queen Miriam Quiambao, supporter of the iCSC, drove one eJeepney from the charging station to the Landmark Mall where the eJeepney stop sign was unveiled.
As the eJeepneys took to the road, commuters’ heads turned and eyes watched.“Soon, eJeepneys will be a common thing on the road. And, it’s here to stay,” Constantino said. REad the original article here http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20091110-235370/12-electric-jeepneys-hit-the-road-in-Makati-City
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Edit ThisThe cover story in the November issue of Scientific American contends that renewable energy can already theoretically power 100% of energy needs, and totally replace carbon emitting sources by 2030.
The authors, Stanford University professor Mark Jacobson and University of California Davis researcher Mark Delucchi, charted a roadmap to shift the power and transport sectors to renewable energy by 2030. Mr. Jacobson, who heads Stanford’s Energy Program, and Mr. Delucchi say this is possible by combining wind, concentrated solar, geothermal, tidal, solar photovoltaic, wave and hydropower and linking them together in an intelligent manner, using information available from meteorological sources for example.
Both authors base their arguments on a 2008 paper published in the Journal of Energy and Environmental Science, arguing that shifting vehicles from liquid fuels to electricity and cutting energy losses would make possible a global energy demand reduction of 30%.
Detractors argue that initial capital costs for some renewable sources are still expensive, and that some sources of renewable energy like wind and solar, are intermittent. The wind doesn’t always blow when you want it to and the sun doesn’t always shine in a particular location, they argue.
However, these issues are slowly being solved both financially and technically. Cost considerations are now being offset by financing mechanisms like the Carbon Development Mechanism (a.k.a. carbon credits) and incentives like the feed-in-tariff popularized in Europe and in Asian laws like the Philippines Renewable Energy Act of 2008.
Technical intermittence issues are also surmountable with proper planning and coordination with weather forecasting agencies.
Averaged over a large area and connected together through the grid, there is always a place where the wind and sun are available at any given moment. Storage mechanisms such as batteries, elevated lakes, and old salt caverns (through compressed air storage) can store excess energy for use when needed. Most intermittent renewable energy generators simply connect these power sources to the electric grid, and act as a source when available. Issues with connecting intermittent generating sources to the grid is increasingly being researched, along with the use of smart appliances with built-in chips that can adjust their demand depending on the power situation at a given moment.
But we all know that what is theoretically possible, even in the face of scientific argument, is not always what happens. Take the Beta versus VHS, or even the Windows versus Linux argument, there will always be advocates and detractors of a particular technology.
Notwithstanding the fact that climate change skeptics still abound, on the question of large-scale adoption of renewable energy itself, the main barriers now are cost and practical considerations, whether these be technical or business related. To speak of 100% renewable energy is still to say the least, quite radical at this time, even among technologists. It is somewhat akin to John F. Kennedy’s challenge in the early ’60s to the American scientific community, to send a man to the moon before the end of that decade. Theoretically possible yes.
Practical? Not yet but if made a goal, it can be. We know where Kennedy’s gauntlet took us, and sometimes it simply takes the right challenge to go into a particular direction.
Don’t get me wrong. Aiming for a 100% renewable energy future will be fraught with challenges, and will take a lot of money, time, energy, and will have some failures along the way. The electric grid itself has to evolve, from generation, transmission and distribution and even to the appliances to become smart so that all become intelligent and talk to each other just like the Internet. Read the complete article here
http://beta.bworldonline.com/main/content.php?id=1143
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FOSTER CITY, Calif. — Lyndon Rive, a former member of the U.S. National Underwater Hockey team, didn’t have a mother who doted on him.
She worked until 11 p.m. most nights and didn’t go to his boyhood sporting events.
Yet, Rive considers her the “best mother in the world” and not because she retired at age 45 as a millionaire. “She always supported me in whatever I wanted to do,” Rive says.
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That turns out to have been a good choice.
Rive, 32, is now CEO and co-founder of SolarCity, which in three years has grown to become a leading residential solar installer in California, the nation’s largest solar market.
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Perhaps more important, California-based SolarCity has emerged as one of the top consumer brands in solar at a time when green is hot and President Obama makes solar and other renewable energy sources front-page news.
Last year, SolarCity helped pioneer a way to bring solar to the masses and remove one of the biggest hurdles to its widespread adoption: costs of $15,000 or more for homeowners to go solar. With a SolarCity residential lease, customers can lease a system at no money down, and in many areas, save 10% to 15% a month on their combined electric and lease-payment bill, SolarCity says.
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While other companies offer similar financing options, SolarCity has “created the first brand in solar for consumers,” says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com, an online trade publication. “They were very smart and creative in an industry that had been plodding along.”
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On any day in San Francisco, chances are good that you’ll spot a green SolarCity van en route to an installation. The company claims 4,500 residential and commercial customers in California, Arizona and Oregon, including eBay and Intel.
Rive says SolarCity’s revenue will grow 40% this year – despite the recession – and 250% next year, given orders on the books. SolarCity employs 450 and plans to add 180 workers in the next quarter, he says. It also aims to expand to at least five states in the next year. Rive, while not releasing revenue for the privately held SolarCity, says it turned its first profit in the recently finished third quarter.
“Our trajectory is on fire,” Rive says.
That’s not a new phenomenon for him.
At age 17, Rive raked in thousands of dollars a month in his native South Africa as a distributor of natural cosmetics. The business ate up so much time, Rive never went to high school, and faced expulsion. His mother told him to “solve this problem,” Rive says.
Armed with his financial statements, Rive met with the principal, who then agreed to let Rive skip school but take the exams. Rive graduated and never set foot in college.
Still, he was a millionaire at age 30, he says, thanks to the sale of his second company, PC-monitoring firm Everdream, to PC giant Dell in 2007. At age 18, he was able to buy himself a two-seater plane and a ski boat. He now drives an electric Tesla Roadster; retail price: $100,000.
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While Rive enjoys the perks of his success, business comes first. Lunch on a recent afternoon amounted to a bagel eaten while the 6-foot-2-inch Rive loped two steps at a time up an escalator to get to a meeting.
“Lyndon is a classic Silicon Valley entrepreneur,” says John Fisher, managing director of venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which invested in Everdream and SolarCity. “He’s savvy, gutsy, ambitious, fearless and driven.”
Too good to be true?
Rive will need all those attributes in the competitive solar market.
Nationwide, hundreds of solar companies and installers vie for business, especially in SolarCity’s key market, California. Competitors, such as REC Solar, Akeena Solar, GroSolar, SunPower and others, are also building successful brands.
To date, solar provides 1% of the USA’s energy. Despite the push by the Obama administration for more use of renewable energy, many states still lack strong enough incentives and laws to move broad solar adoption, says Matthew Woods, vice president of sales for REC Solar.
Financing and incentives can also be touch-and-go. Earlier this year, some SolarCity customers had to wait six months to get installations done after financing options dried up following last year’s financial market meltdown. SolarCity has since solved that problem with the creation of a $100 million fund by US Bancorp to finance its lease deals, it says. Other companies got caught in the same credit crunch, SolarCity spokesman Jonathan Bass says.
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Still, one of Solar City’s biggest challenges is overcoming homeowner skepticism that its lease deal is too good to be true.
“We hear that a lot,” Rive says. “But we do save you money, and it doesn’t cost you a cent to go solar.”
SolarCity’s leases run for 15 years. The company designs, installs and maintains the system. SolarCity owns the system and gets the accompanying federal tax credits and state incentives. Homeowners pay SolarCity for the lease and the electricity they use. That’s typically about 15% less than their traditional monthly electric bill, SolarCity says.
Lease rates go up each year by up to 3.9%, no matter how much or how little electric rates move. And people who don’t use a lot of electricity aren’t likely to see savings, SolarCity says. In California, for instance, that’s anyone with electric bills under $150 a month.
Given federal tax credits, homeowners with available cash may also do better financially to buy a system, says REC’s Woods. SolarCity, as does REC, also offers outright sales, as well as leases or leaselike options.
But for those without cash or the gumption to maintain their solar systems, leasing is a “pretty good deal,” says Paula Mints, analyst at research firm Navigant Consulting.
The too-good-to-be-true thought crossed the mind of Los Angeles architect Colin Summers, 43.
“It felt a bit like subprime loans,” Summers says. He contacted SolarCity after spotting a Prius blanketed in the SolarCity logo.
Summers signed up for a SolarCity lease for his 2,000-square-foot Santa Monica home last year. The impetus? He likes being green. He loves technology. And his electricity bills had jumped to more than $300 a month.
Summers now pays about $200 a month: $80 for electricity and $120 for the lease. If he sells his home, Summers can transfer the lease to the new homeowner or pay it off.
Given the lure of green living among Santa Monica residents and the financial savings, Summers expects solar to be “more of a selling point than a problem.”
Underwater hockey ’showed drive’
Some big names have bet on Rive and his elder brother, Peter, SolarCity co-founder.
SolarCity has raised $80 million in venture capital funding, including from Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
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Lyndon Rive was 22 when the venture capital firm first invested in him. One thing that impressed Fisher was Rive’s underwater hockey skill. The sport is played with lead pucks, pushed along the bottom of the pool by short sticks. Players wear fins and snorkels.
At age 18, Rive joined South Africa’s men’s open division team. In 2004 and 2006, he played for the U.S. team. In 1998, he first came to the U.S. as part of the South African team. Shortly thereafter, he sold his South African company and followed a brother to Silicon Valley.
“The notion of playing hockey underwater while holding your breath showed me Rive had extra passion and drive,” Fisher says.
Another SolarCity investor is Elon Musk, co-founder of online payment system PayPal, co-founder of electric carmaker Tesla Motors and CEO of rocket-maker SpaceX.
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To say that Musk and Rive go way back is an understatement. Not only are they cousins, but their mothers are twins, and their fathers share the same birthday.
It was on a road trip with Musk to the Burning Man art event in the desert of Nevada that Rive first started thinking of solar.
Musk had invested in Everdream, too, and asked Rive what they were going to do next. Musk tossed out the idea of solar.
Rive and his brother, Peter, who is so green he catches his rainwater, vetted the idea. While technologists at heart, the Everdream co-founders decided the market didn’t need a new solar panel or something else technical as much as it needed a new brand that made adoption easier.
Currently, about 65% of SolarCity’s new residential customers choose to lease vs. buy a system, SolarCity says. The key to SolarCity’s future success, Rive says, is getting every homeowner-customer to feel like a VIP – whether they lease or buy.
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MANILA, Philippines – Alternergy Philippines Holdings Corp. (APHC) has signed six service contracts with the Department of Energy (DOE) for its proposed wind projects worth an estimated $85 million.
With a $14.1-million project cost each, the wind power facilities will be put up in Pilillia, Rizal; Kalayaan, Laguna; Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro; Sta.Ana, Cagayan: Sta Praxedes and Cagayan and Pagudpod, Ilocos; and Aparri, Cagayan.
Two of the wind farm projects will run on 40 megawatts (MW) capacity while the capacities of the other four have yet to be determined.
The wind power projects of APHC, headed by former Energy Secretary Vincent Perez, form part of the over $300 million worth of wind power service contracts that were signed by the DOE recently.
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Perez is a staunch supporter of renewable energy use and actively participated in the passage of the law in Congress.
After his stint in the Energy Department, Perez formed Alternergy, a renewable energy company for emerging Asia.
APHC aims to have strong presence in at least six countries in the Asia Pacific Rim in the next five years, with more than 500 megawatts in generating capacity from wind, small hydro, biomass, biogas, geothermal and solar resources.
APHC has investments on the 33-MW Bangui Bay wind farm in Ilocos with NorthWind Power Development Corp.
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In September this year, APHC entered into a joint venture with Eurus Energy Japan Corp. and Korea East West Power Co. (EWP) to develop renewable energy projects in the Philippines. Both companies will invest a total of $100 million into the company.
EWP is a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) while Eurus Energy is a subsidiary of Eurus Energy Holdings Corp. of Japan which, in itself, is owned by Tokyo Electric Power Co., Inc. and Toyota Tsusho Corp.
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Volcano-rich nation to award contracts for projects totaling 620MW in capacityThe Philippines, the world’s second-largest developer of geothermal power, plans to award contracts for 19 geothermal power plants that could attract more than US$2.5bn in private investment, according to a senior official.
In the next five months, the government will issue tenders for the development of 10 geothermal sites, with a further nine deals under direct negotiation with various companies, Alejandro Oanes, division chief for geothermal energy at the Philippine Energy Department, told Reuters yesterday.
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He said Icelandic geothermal project developer Geysir Green Energy and the Philippine’s biggest producer of geothermal power, Energy Development Corp, were among the companies bidding for contracts.
Officials estimate that more than 620MW of geothermal energy could be generated from the 19 sites, which include two volcanoes: Mt Isarog in Camarines Sur province, with a potential capacity of 70MW, and Mt Labo in Camarines Norte, which may yield up to 65MW.
Geothermal resources have also been identified in the provinces of Benguet, Cagayan, Palawan, Oriental Mindoro, Surigao del Norte and Laguna.
The Philippines is located within the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire – an area encircling the Pacific Ocean and parts of the Indian Ocean where active earthquakes and volcanoes are concentrated along tectonic plate boundaries. Most of the region’s richest geothermal sources are located within the area.
The country generated 17 per cent of its electricity from its 2GW of geothermal capacity last year, according to government data. By 2020, it hopes to raise the figure to 4.5GW as part of a broader goal of doubling its renewable energy capacity over the next decade.
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Edit ThisMANILA, Philippines – Ayala Corp. remains interested in the renewable energy business as well as in highly extensive investments like mining, the company’s top officials said yesterday.
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In a roundtable discussion with reporters, the conglomerate’s chairman and chief executive Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said while the mining and power sectors remain attractive to them, the group’s commitment to sustainable development and innovation would play a stronger role and should have a greater impact on the decision-making process.
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“There’s renewable power. We just can’t say we don’t want to venture into this industry because we need all these resources for the betterment of the people. There’s a better way of doing them. Our partners or the companies we plan to bring in are also demanding it,” he said.
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He said the company is still open to exploring opportunities in the renewable energy business. “ That’s actually very interesting. It’s something we like to do if given an opportunity.”
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Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer, said the company’s goal of achieving sustainable development could have resulted in limited investment choices but believes those are “tough choices we need to make” to do business more responsibly.
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The Ayalas have long been trying to enter the energy sector, particularly in clean and green energy. Earlier reports said they were interested in investing in the Lopez family’s geothermal crown jewel, Energy Development Corp. (EDC).
It was earlier reported that the conglomerate had long been trying to break into the energy sector, but did not want to acquire coal-fired power plants, which were the ones mostly on the government’s auction block.
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Analysts said the Ayala Group is in a good position to acquire assets in a tough business environment. But unlike other moneyed groups, the conglomerate has just been very quiet and focusing on its existing businesses over the past years.
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Today, it is one of the biggest, most respected, and most widely diversified conglomerates in the Philippines, with leadership positions in real estate development, banking and financial services, telecommunications, electronics and information technology, water infrastructure development and management, and car dealership. Read the complete article here http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=520363&publicationSubCategoryId=66
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Earlier this year, the Obama government announced its federal-level energy policy to simulate demand for renewable energy. As a result, solar power is no longer the luxury it once was. In addition to federal programs, there are state incentives which together help reduce installation costs by 40% to 90%. New Jersey, for instance, offers up to 90% incentives for home solar panel installation through federal tax credits, a cash rebate, and a funding program through PSE&G. According to a recently released study by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, panel prices fell 31% over the ten-year period from 1998 to 2008. Analysts expect a further 8% to 10% reduction in prices in the coming years. But even though falling prices have spurred demand, the leading equipment manufacturers’ results weren’t all sunny. With Chinese manufacturers flooding the market, American companies are trying to respond by better managing their offshore Asia manufacturing operations. Like all other manufacturing businesses, solar power is also seeing China and Asia becoming critical to companies’ scaling and competition strategies.
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), the largest manufacturer in the United States, saw revenues slide from $520 million last quarter to $480 million. Revenues grew 38% over the year but missed the market’s expected revenues of $528.8 million. EPS of $1.79 managed to exceed the market’s expected $1.74 target. Read the complete article here
http://www.sramanamitra.com/2009/11/03/china-rising-to-the-solar-challenge/
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Edit ThisThe Philippines Department of Energy has awarded 87 new contracts worth a combined $2.2 billion in the renewable energy sector to 18 companies. The contracts entail the development of biomass, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy resources, with a total power generation potential of 4,042 megawatts. This development is being touted as the largest number of contracts awarded in a single day.
Of the 87 contracts signed, 65 pertain to the development of renewable energy projects. The remaining 22 are conversions of existing agreements and service contracts into renewable energy contracts: 17 for hydropower projects and five for geothermal projects.
The contracts were awarded pursuant to the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, also known as Republic Act 9513, which calls for investments of about $8.5 billion to be made in harnessing renewable sources of energy over a period of 10 years. The projects are expected to result in cost savings that will be passed on to consumers. According to earlier estimates, about 1,636 MW of renewable energy projects are expected to be commissioned in the next five years. This number is likely to increase, as new projects get under way.
The DoE aims to increase renewable energy generation capacity from 4,500 MW to 9,000 MW during 2003-13, targeting about 40% of the country’s primary energy requirements to be serviced by renewable sources. Targets set for this period include the addition of:
* 1,200 MW of geothermal energy generation capacity, to reach 1,931 MW
* 2,950 MW of hydropower generation capacity, to reach 5,468 MW
* 417 MW of wind power generation capacity
* 131 MW of biomass, ocean and solar power generation capacity.
The Philippines is considered to be the world’s second-largest producer of geothermal energy and Southeast Asia’s largest developer of wind energy.
In July this year, the DoE announced plans to establish a $2 billion renewable energy trust fund to help develop renewable energy sources and promote the use of renewable energy in the country. In September, the DoE awarded seven renewable energy contracts, with a combined value of about $1 billion, to six companies for the development of 379 MW of wind power generation capacity. At the time, the DoE indicated that about 70 renewable energy projects were in the pipeline, including 50 mini-hydropower and 20 wind power projects, and one ocean energy project.
The National Renewable Energy Board is expected to release soon an incentive package for investors in the Philippines‘ renewable energy sector. Under the Renewable Energy Act of 2008, investors and project developers are offered several fiscal incentives, including tax-free carbon credits; exemption from tariffs; exemption from import duty on machinery and equipment for the first 10 years of operations; income tax holidays for the first seven years of operations; and exemption from value-added tax on power generated from renewable sources of energy. Non-fiscal incentives include mandatory utilization and priority dispatch of power from renewable sources in the grid.
http://www.breakbulk.com/content/?p=1004
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As utilities start to build large solar projects and solar power makes up an increasingly larger portion of the electricity mix, integrating this energy into the grid will be a challenge. Solar, like wind, is intermittent — power from the sun fluctuates when clouds pass overhead and wind doesn’t blow consistently. Now General Electric, which has been a major player in helping to integrate wind into the world’s power grids, wants to do the same for solar.
The company has turned a 1.5 MW wind converter into a new, 600 kW solar inverter for utility projects, Rick Robertson, an inverter program manager at GE, told us at this week’s Solar Power International. The inverter, pictured above, is targeted at multimegawatt solar projects with multiple installations on a single site, he said. GE is now taking orders for the inverter, which was introduced at the conference, and plans to ship its first units by the end of this year, he added.
The inverter is another sign that GE sees solar as “the next wind.” It said last month that it plans to grow its solar production next year, and has also invested in technologies that could make solar cheaper.
To modify the inverter for solar, GE changed the way it connects to power projects, because solar panels generate direct current, which must be turned into the alternating current used by most appliances, whereas wind turbines generate alternating current, said Minesh Shah, a product line leader for renewables systems. GE also modified the software to enable utilities to monitor and control the solar power plants, he added. And the inverter had to be packaged with a new skin suitable for outdoor installations, as wind inverters are usually kept inside the towers, while solar inverters need to be able to survive the elements, said Tony Galbraith, an inverter program manager for GE.
When it comes to the hardware, however, GE says it hasn’t changed much, with the idea being to leverage its experience — and volume — in wind converter manufacturing. The conglomerate already makes 4,000 wind converters annually, and keeping the hardware similar will allow it to simply add new solar volumes on top of that, according to Robertson. GE also believes its reputation and track record with the wind converters will give investors confidence in its solar inverters, as it has 12,000 wind turbines in the field with 175 million operating hours at this point, Robertson said.
One of GE’s main advantages in this space is the company’s understanding of what utilities and power plant operators are looking for, so that it can make solar projects look similar to other power plant interconnections, Shah said. “We know how to turn a 30 MW system from just a collection of panels and modules into a power plant.” The software that comes with the inverter presents information about solar projects in the same way that utilities and power-plant operators are already familiar with viewing power plant data, he said, and it also enables the same level of control to manage the voltage of the electricity output so that it can be smoothly interconnected with the grid.
GE’s move into utility solar is a sign that big companies are starting to see solar as a potentially significant part of the energy mix. But in order to make that happen, the industry needs to start preparing to integrate solar into the grid now, Shah said. “In the solar industry today, people are not thinking about these types of issues,” he said. While other companies are working on smoothing the load from variable renewables, it’s true that the work at the utility level is just beginning.
Jenny Chase, head of solar research for London-based New Energy Finance, said she’s seeing a growing number of companies working on integration. With the world’s largest solar projects underway, “it’s probably quite a good thing that people are thinking about this now,” she said. You can expect to hear more about it soon. Hundreds of megawatts of utility projects are already underway in the U.S., with more announcements expected as utilities work to meet state renewable energy standards. Original article here http://www.nytimes.com/external/gigaom/2009/10/30/30gigaom-ge-puts-wind-converter-to-work-for-solar-60755.html?pagewanted=print
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Edit ThisSolar panels installed on Kaohsiung’s World Games Stadium. The government’s plans for developing the green energy industry include a strong focus on solar energy and LED lighting. Taiwan is playing its part in APEC’s drive to promote more efficient energy use and slow global warming.
Taiwan decided to target the green energy industry as one of the island’s six flagship industries for future development.
The government has earmarked a budget of NT$45 billion (US$1.36 billion) for the green energy industry with a strong focus on the development of solar energy sources and power-saving LED lighting, along with wind power generation, biofuels, hydrogen-based energy sources and fuel cells.
The industry’s production value is expected to increase from NT$160.3 billion (US$5.09 billion) in 2008 to NT$1.16 trillion (US$35.15 billion) in 2015.
In addition, according to one of the conclusions reached at the National Energy Conference in Taipei in April this year, the central government plans to create two low-carbon communities in each of Taiwan’s 16 counties and seven larger cities within two years. Six of the larger cities are expected to achieve low-carbon designation within five years. To assist in this effort, in June this year the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) established the Office of Eco-community Promotion Program, which is responsible for working out carbon reduction measures in five areas: renewable energy, energy conservation, resource recycling, green architecture and green transportation.Read the complete article here this is only a summary http://taiwanreview.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=69656&CtNode=1337&mp=1
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009 From Business Mirror
From the Business Mirror Contrary to popular misconception, environmental initiatives often don’t raise costs, they lower them—and fast. Leading companies continue to find large savings in shockingly simple actions, such as changing lighting or using outside air to cool a data center.
