Asia’s social and economic performance over the past three decades has been the most important development in the economic world, and in the 21st century, it has become the powerhouse of the global economy. With this in mind, the prospect of developing Asia-oriented institutions designed to tackle some of the region’s most pressing challenges
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Asia Pacific
Even in Southeast Asia, the battle for affordable, safe, and clean energy access is generally fought on two fronts: policy and implementation. Attempting to educate myself and to acquire on the ground work, I have found myself living on the front lines of this battle in Mae Sot, Thailand, a border town known as a hub for illicit trade, humanitarian aid, and migrant
Low-income Africans and South Asians will have access to solar power thanks to an initiative called Business Call to Action (Bcta), supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) that encourages private sector efforts to develop inclusive business models that can have both commercial success and a positive impact in development.
More Than 1 Million Electric Cars Projected to Be on Asian Roads by 2015
written by Yale Environment 360
National and local incentives promoting the use of electric vehicles in Asia will help put more than 1.4 million plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on roadways by 2015, making it the largest market worldwide for electrified vehicles, according to a new report. While Asian markets have so far focused on production of plug-in hybrids, market attention will increasingly turn to the
At a factory in Wuxi, China, workers lift solar panels onto conveyor belts, while others in white lab coats move between machines as they check on a process for etching and engraving silicon wafers to form solar cells.
This scene in itself isn’t remarkable. But there is a new sort of excitement about the work. China’s production of solar panels has grown quickly in the past two years; it is it now the world’s leading exporter. When Matt Lewis, a representative of the California-based nonprofit ClimateWorks, visited the factory in October, he said it reminded him of his native Silicon Valley: The workers, even ordinary line workers, had a sense that they were part of building the future, the hot new industry.
The internecine battles in the green community are growing in number: there’s pro-renewable versus open space; the anti-hydro crowd; and the nukes or no nukes debate. Add the fight over clean coal, which the Boston Globe editorial staff weighed in on yesterday.
We know from his comments earlier this year that Al Gore essentially sees clean coal as a shell game, and he is being borne out at least in part by the larding of Waxman-Markey with billions to placate coal state legislators.
But, the Globe editorial touches on an interesting geopolitical/economics quandary. The US and Europe may be pushing toward carbon reduction reforms; but, it is the largest and fastest growing emitters in Asia that pose the greatest threat to the planet and are projected to negate even the most ambitious Western reduction estimates.
So, clean carbon technology might be the liar’s lie that Gore claims it is for US energy production, but what about the possibility of developing technology to export? Do we have an obligation to invest in clean coal research for the greater good even if its not in our future?
I’m working on a project right now and trying to get some information about the current state of CleanTech; as you might suspect finding great resources that are quotable is tough!
I’ve added a couple good links to the Links Page today, but please use the contact form to introduce us to some more.
Here are some great “fresh” resources I’ve come across today in my research: