Myrtus

All roads for El Dorado lead to China

Hey I'm no economist, but in case you haven't noticed, the dollar has been tanking as of late and it's almost too painful to watch.  Financial experts across the board are speculating that maybe inflation is upon us and the mighty dollar will soon become nothing but a worthless piece of paper, while the price of gold keeps going up.
 

OK, so what? 

I have to admit, usually these things don't interest me all that much, but the sudden rallying in the gold market this past week has everybody talking and it also happened to coincide with some major moves in the solar market with regards to China. 
Now I'm wondering if China already has everything in place to dominate the global economy for the next few decades.
Does this mean we're going to start seeing a mass-exodus of corporations heading to China any time soon?

 

Why The Energy Revolution Needs China | Solar Feeds News and Commentary Blog Network

If we want an example of good long-term resource planning, we might want to look to China. While the first world spent the last decade taking on debt and levering up dubious assets like dot-com startups and subprime mortgages, then suffering the inevitable fallout, China kept its debt relatively modest and its currency depressed while it accumulated a vast war chest of foreign-exchange reserves–some $2.1 trillion worth as of the end of June, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Now, with a significant risk of the US dollar and other currencies not backed by hard resources imploding after the greatest spree of worldwide money-printing in history, China is prepared (if not anxious) to exchange its potentially worthless forex holdings for hard assets like oil, metals, and fertilizer.

Tweet of the day!

"If you support oprah shutting down michigan ave, please unfollow me right now...." 

http://twitter.com/solarfeeds

Solar Roadways

Imagine a future where every road you drive on and walk on is made of solar panels that not only can help power every aspect of your electrical needs, but can also send off messages to communicate with you....

Hard to grasp?

Alright then, here is a visual that might help:

Marvelous, isn't it?

Well, the good news is the that this groundbreaking technology already exists, thanks to Solar Roadways, a solar company that was co-founded by Scott Brusaw - an electrical engineer and former Marine Corps sergeant - and his wife Julie from Idaho. 

The only possible drawback I can see with this concept is the "big brother is watching you" spin that may come from the paranoid amongst us, but then again, the fact that the government isn't investing billions in it already should reassure them quite easily.

So how does it work exactly?

 

When multiple Solar Road Panels™ are interconnected, the intelligent Solar Roadway™ is formed. These panels replace current driveways, parking lots, and all road systems, be they interstate highways, state routes, downtown streets, residential streets, or even plain dirt or gravel country roads. Panels can also be used in amusement parks, raceways, bike paths, parking garage rooftops, remote military locations, etc. Any home or business connected to the Solar Roadway™ (via a Solar Road Panel™ driveway or parking lot) receives the power and data signals that the Solar Roadway™ provides.

The Solar Roadway™ becomes an intelligent, self-healing, decentralized (secure) power grid.

Desperate times call for umm...sex appeal maybe?

Recently on Twitter, a whole bunch of sexy spam bots were unleashed using sex appeal to promote "solar".  I think it's funny and it may even have worked on some, but sexy or not, nobody likes spam bots!  

I'm thinking not very likely they will last.  As a matter of fact, I haven't even heard anybody talk about them yet, but they're still around.

 

And then Angry Green Girl comes along doing pretty much the same thing for "green" and she seems to be getting all the attention, probably even causing traffic jams in some places, cuz she's cute, she's hot, but most importantly she appears to be "real"...as in really caring about the environment..uh huh. (;
Plus, "angry" seems pretty hot right now, which kind of disgusts me personally, but some people seem to enjoy getting all riled up.

So are you riled up yet? :D

The Pope Going Solar

So why not you?

News hitting the fiber says that Pope Benedict is eager to back up his environmental convictions and continue the work of the late John Paul II. As such, the roof of the Paul VI auditorium will be redone next year, with its cement panels replaced with photovoltaic cells to convert sunlight into electricity.

And rumor has it, the moon will go solar too, but hold on a while longer, because we're not there just yet.

The first step will be launching a test satellite that will gather solar power and beam it back to Earth, probably in 2015. Already, ground tests show that some solar power (180 watts) can be beamed successfully.

In the U.S., where space solar has been on the drawing board since at least the 1960s, California's Pacific Gas & Electric has pledged to buy power from a planned 200-megawatt space solar station put together by Solaren that is still being developed.

But the U.S. government has mixed feelings about space solar. Despite some $80 million spent over decades by NASA, the alternative energy source is no closer to fruition using public funds. And other government agency estimates put the price tag for space solar at $1 billion per megawatt—making this the most expensive power source identified to date in any solar system.

Mama Obama Goes Solar, Thanks to Greenpeace

America better wake up or lose the solar competition to China

But then again, in today's global economy, I don't think any country is capable of competing against China's state-sponsored incentives/subsidies for the solar market....except maybe Germany, which is currently holding the title of #1 solar country in the world.

China Will Have Solar Feed-in Tariff in Place in 2009 - Suntech - Renewable Energy World

 

The Chinese government is readying a feed-in tariff (FIT) for utility-scale solar plants that will dwarf the country's previous solar subsidies, and drive a wave of investment into the sector, according to Suntech.

Can I just say something?

If my mailbox is any indication, as it is right now, in America the sun rises and sets with political debate among the people.

Sighhhhhh!

Can we please talk about something else besides what's wrong with this country...at least once in a while?

Can we talk about something else besides the nasty stuff going on between left and right?

Warming up

Getting ready for a comeback.
Still remodeling.....

Testing New Theme

What's up yo!  Forgot about this place?