A vast Chinese province of nearly 6 million people has generated all the power it needed for an entire week without using any fossil fuels, according to state-run Chinese media. Qinghai, a Tibetan plateau province in the country’s northwest, derived all of its power from wind, solar, and hydro-electricity from June 17 to June 23. The experiment was part of a trial run by the government to see if the electricity grid could cope without the kind of constant, reliable energy normally provided by fossil fuels.
Continue reading... →Renewable energy is gaining ground. In some places, though, it may be gaining too much too fast. The infrastructure isn’t able to handle the large amounts of added energy from renewables, in countries like China and Germany. Providing adequate energy has always presented challenges. With the new technologies that are available today, new opportunities, as well as new difficulties, arise. Although the transition may seem problematic, the benefits are well worth it. Consumers can help move the transition forward by learning more about renewables and purchasing renewable energy when possible. As a country and a planet, we need to invest in new technologies, work to increase grid flexibility and be open to new ideas if we are to navigate the move to a more renewable energy generation mix smoothly.
Continue reading... →China has announced that it will invest $361 billion in renewable energy through the end of the decade — another signal that the world’s most populous nation is serious about combating climate change. The investment, Reuters reports, will continue China’s shift away from coal and other dirty fuels. In addition to fighting climate change, investing in clean energy should help China address its air-pollution problems. Major cities like Beijing are often blanketed in smog, due largely to coal burning and other industrial activity.
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