China is already outpacing its own wind energy goals.

Officially, China’s latest renewable energy plan sets a goal of 10 GW by 2010. That’s double the previous target. However, according to industry analysts at China Strategies LLC, China’s current pace of wind development will bring 10 GW by the end of this year, two years ahead of schedule. According to China Strategies, 20 GW is possible in China by 2010. What’s more, they foresee a total of 100 GW by 2020, an increase in wind energy of 1667%. And, they add, this may be a conservative estimate.

These figures should make critics of China’s energy policies think twice. On the one hand, China still relies heavily on polluting coal to power its factories and make the inexpensive goods that many people have come to expect. On the other hand, China is making significant strides to adopt renewable energy technologies.

The China Economic Review quotes Richard Spencer of the World Bank, who worked on one $13 million wind project as saying, “China is working very hard to reduce its dependence on coal, and it looks to nuclear, hydro and wind, particularly, to replace coal. Wind is very important.”

How will China make the switch to clean energy? One answer was the 2005 Renewable Energy Law, which required utilities to buy renewable energy. Such legislation is an important part of the answer. Similar legislation in California has encouraged major investment in wind and solar. But an underlying question remains: can China continue its recent rate of growth in the renewable energy field?

If so, the Middle Kingdom is poised to increase its percentage of wind energy from less than one percent to about 20% by 2020 says Steve Sawyer, secretary general of the Global Wind Energy Council, in the China Economic Review. For those keeping track of the economic competition between the US and China, that would set China dramatically ahead of the US goal of 5-6% by 2020.

Further reading:

China’s Wind Power Industry: Blowing Past Expectations

Wind energy: Out of thin air

Chinese Cleaning up with Wind Power

China Goes Big on Wind

China Poised to Become Clean-Energy Leader?

U.N. report: Clean energy booming globally

Photo Credit

George Lu via Flickr

So how do you make an angry populace happy again? President Lee decided that the best way to appease voters (and mark his 100th day as president) was to pardon 2.8 million petty thieves and scammers, and also to give drunk drivers a clean driving slate. Does anyone follow the logic here?

Drunk Drivers Celebrate a Return to the Wheel by Getting Completely Sloshed

Drunk drivers, for one, toasted the president’s decision. At a local bar in Gangneung, where I live, bar owner Mr. Lee celebrated his newly clean driving record with a 30% discount for all drinks in the bar. Those who drove to the bar were able to booze it up and then careen home with nothing to fear from the police.

Congratulations, Mr. President. You’ve won back the support of the drunks and criminals. A resounding “Doh!”

To President Lee’s credit, he claims that the pardon will benefit people who made bad choices years ago when economic times were harder than today, people who are now elderly and interested in living out the rest of their days in law-abiding peace.

Oh, but they had better watch out for drunk drivers.

Saving Grace: Lee Puts Environmental Leader (Not Drunk) At the Wheel

In another recent move to mollify the public, President Lee appointed environmental leader Lim Sam-jin as secretary in charge of communicating with civil society. Mr. Lim was previously at the head of Green Korea, one of the country’s two largest environmental organizations, and also held the post of civil affairs bureau chief under previous President Kim Dae-jung. Mr. Lim was also a strong supporter of Lee Myung-bak’s overhaul of public transportation when the current president was Mayor of Seoul.

Related articles:

• Mad About Mad Cow
• Mad Cow Disease Fears Spark Mass Demonstrations in South Korea
• Nearly 3 million people pardoned on Lee’s 100th day in office
• No Time for an Amnesty
• Ex-activist named as Lee’s messenger to civil society

Photo credit: Heini Samuelsen via Flickr

Now, it’s a well-known fact that infants are not always similar to the adults that nurture them. Sometimes, they’re not even of the same species. What do I mean? Take the young hippo and the 100 year-old tortoise, for example. But when a 5 week-old orange tabby kitten in rural South Korea is taken in by a 26 year-old peregrinating writer with a return ticket to California, things get tricky.

What’s more, the kitten I brought in last weekend and unwittingly adopted is not a normal kitten. At 5+ weeks of age, it’s becoming clear that the animal has cerebral hypoplasia. That’s a fancy way to say “his coordination’s not so hot.” In fact, although he’ll probably live a full and otherwise normal life, he’ll never be able to walk properly. Hence my current dilemma: what do you do with a drunken kitten?

There are those who would probably say that I should have him put down. In fact, when I brought him in early Saturday morning, he looked so weak that I believed I was simply giving him a warm place to die. However, now he’s a relatively healthy kitten, except that he’s severely lacking of motor skills.

Moreover, as my girlfriend, Whitney, and I have fed him we’ve watched him imprint on us. We’re now — collectively — “mom”. And I realize that as the kitten was imprinting on me, I was imprinting on him as well. I can’t help but feel responsible for his life.

There’s a time for every new parent when all that seems to matter is one little life. Then, the outside world fades away and the tiny space between the nutrurer and the newborn becomes an everywhere.

What can I say? I’m a sucker.

So, I guess the only thing to do is to keep him and watch him grow. I’ll start thinking again about world events as they’re splashed across the headlines and I’ll wait five months until my calendar shows the date of my return to the United States. Then, I’ll try and explain cerebral hypoplasia to the folks at imigrations (that should be fun!) and carry on raising a very affectionate but very wobbly cat.

On a (hopefully) helpful note, if you have a kitten that can’t stand at the proper age of around 4 weeks, can’t walk well (or at all), and shakes when excited, take him to a vet. If the diagnosis is cerebral hypoplasia, don’t worry. It’s not progressive or dangerous, and with time the cat will become better (though not perfect) at moving about. Here are a couple of websites that I found helpful:

• Wobbles’ Tips for Special Needs Kitties and Their Owners
• Living with a Disabled Cat

This week, EcoWorldly authors from six continents contributed articles on bicycling in their country. With exerpts from those articles and others in the blogosphere, here are seventeen very good reasons to bicycle no matter where you live. Click the headings as you go to read more.

1. The number one thing on most car owner’s minds these days is the price of oil.

“The popularity of bicycles as gasoline prices hit the roof is on a remarkable rise in many US cities,” observes Kenya correspondant, Sam Aola Ooko.

“During the week of 3 June to 9 June,” writes Sam, “in San Fransisco, the price for a gallon of regular is now US$ 4.73, in Washington, DC it is US$ 4.21 while in Wilmington it is US$ 4.40. But how much does it cost to ride around these days? The answer is zero, as it has always been.”

Associated Press Writer, James Macpherson, agrees. “Bicycle shops across the country are reporting strong sales so far this year, and more people are bringing in bikes that have been idled for years,” he writes.

2. Bicycling can make you healthy and hot… er… hotter.

Bicycling with even light effort (10-12 miles per hour) burns 400-500 calories an hour. To shape her legs for the Miss Universe competition, Miss Korea, Lee Ji-seon, started getting her workouts on a bicycle. Apparently, Miss Universe 2007, Zuleyka Rivera of Puerto Rico, is of a similar mind. She cycled through Mexico City in support of replacing cars with bicycles.

EcoWorldly’s UK correspondant, Pem Charnley, connects bicycling with solving the obesity problem in England: “I think, in all honesty, that the UK has come to the realisation that we’ve collectively reached critical mass around the waistline. Every time the news reports that we’re the most overweight in the European Union, pride and roars of approval sweep the land. It’s all we have left since we gave Hong Kong back.

“Devon is an incredibly picturesque county,” he adds, “and it seems an absolute waste to be constantly watching soccer on the TV, when outside lies the undulating greenery of England.”

3. Old bicycles can be modified and made into useful tools.

From generating human-powered home electricity to pumping water, modified bicycles have the power to do more than get you from point A to point B.

“The Engineering for Developing Communities (EDC) program at the University of Colorado at Boulder developed a prototype of a human powered bicycle for pumping water in communities where electricity is unavailable,” reports United States correspondant, Nayelli Gonzalez. “Their model was able to pump at a maximum of 18 feet below ground, at 2.5 gallons per minute.”

4. Bicycling builds social groups and better community development.

In Reggio Emilia, Italy, the “BiciBus” brings teachers, students, and parents together for bicycle commuting to and from schools.

“The BiciBus is a ‘two-wheeled bus,’” writes Italy correspondant, Eva Pratesi. “It consists of a group of students who go to and come back from school guided by volunteers by bicycle (parents, grandparents, teachers…). The students go to the route with their bicycles; they wait for the volunteers and the group and go on together toward the school.

BiciBus is preceded and supported by workshops and technical analysis in the classrooms to educate to sustainable mobility, traffic safety and bicycle knowledge. It’s also possible to organize school trips by bicycle an evening meetings with experts directed to the families in order to talk about health, sustainable mobility and safety.”

In Australia, a similar community bicycling program offers a similar program for adults as well. Cyclists can join the “Bike Bus,” a regularly scheduled commute with fixed routes and two commuting speeds: social and express.

San Francisco, California, has a third option. Though not as organized as a community bike bus program, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition can pair cyclists with “bike buddies” to share knowledge and tips or commute together to work.

5. Bicycling may encourage the breakdown of economic divides.

In wealthy countries, cycling has been adopted by all echelons of society. In fact, the word “cyclist” tends to conjure the image of a upper-middle class athletic type with an expensive carbon fiber bike, spandex outfit, and bicycle shoes. However, in poorer countries, people who have adopted driving as a social status often equate bicycling with poverty.

“Bicycling in Chiang Mai, Thailand, like in many developing country cities, is regarded with disdain because it supposedly reveals low economic status,” writes Thailand correspondant Masimba Biriwasha. “Many people are reluctant to turn to bicycles because of the social attitudes that demean human powered modes of transportation, including walking.”

EcoWorldly’s Sam Aola Ooko, adds, “In Nairobi, Kenya where I live, not many of those who drive here switch to bicycles, because bikes are regarded as [being useful only to] poorly paid factory who cannot afford the US $1 daily bus fare commuting to and from work.”

“In order for cycling to become an everyday reality in this city,” concludes Masimba, “the society will have to undergo major paradigm shifts at the attitudinal, city planning and policy making levels.” Perhaps that shift can begin one bicyclist at a time.

6. Bicycles are versatile machines with many uses.

Again, Sam Aola Ooko in Kenya: “In Africa, versatility is everything and depending on where you are, a bicycle can be a large farm truck or an ambulance saving lives deep in the African jungle.”

But, as Sam cautions, be careful to select a comfortable seat and have it properly adjusted by a professional bike mechanic.

7. By reducing air pollution, bicycling instead of driving also reduces rates of asthma and lung disease.

There is a strong and increasingly clear connection between car exhaust and life-threatening lung conditions. In South Korea, where I live, the number of deaths from lower respiratory conditions nearly doubled from 1992 to 2002. Worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates that 3 million people a year die from diseases related to air pollution. And this isn’t just in far-off countries. It includes Americans, Chinese, French, South Koreans, etc. In South Korea, asthma in particular is becoming more common. Currently, 3.9% of the population as a whole suffers from asthma. This number grows to around 12% for young children and the elderly.

8. Bicycling saves Australia nearly a quarter billion dollars in health costs each year.

Australia correspondant, Ross Kendall: “Cycling currently saves the government $227.2 million per year in health costs. The report is called Cycling: Getting Australia Moving and was written by academics from several leading Australian universities on behalf of the Federal Department of Health and Ageing.”

Despite the potential savings in dollars, health, and lives, Australia — like most countries — could stand to significantly improve its support of bicyclists. Still, Ross notes that “big cities have shown increases in bicycle traffic as has the country overall.”

Carectomy’s Josh Liberles adds “2007 marks the eighth consecutive year that bicycle sales have trumped the car market in Australia, with 1.47 million bicycles sold. In addition to the rise in sales, there’s also an increase in the amount people are riding. Cycling is currently the nation’s 4th most popular form of exercise and there has been a 17% increase in participation since 2001. Work commutes by bicycle in Melbourne have increased by a startling 42% in the same time, with a 22% increase across Australia.”

9. Bicycles require significantly less space than cars.

Therefore, an urban area developed for bicycles and pedestrians would be able to replace road area with businesses, walkways, and parks. For a perfect illustration, just take a look at this image. Now just imagine the impracticality of replacing every bicycle in China with a car.

Again, EcoWorldly’s Eva Pratesi: “With a population of about 400,000 inhabitants and a traffic density that affects the historical center, Florence is a city where bicycling is not a choice. Every day a continual coming and going of students and workers flows slowly in the city-center riding for kilometers. Cradle of new Humanism under the Medici Dynasty, Florence preserves today the ancient charm that bikers can appreciate moving towards their destinations.”

10. In some places, with a little modification, a single bicycle can be a business.

“Peruvians also are masters at modifying their bicycles in creative ways,” writes Peru correspondant, Levi Novey, “so that they can be used to transport goods and tools for their work and businesses. Fruits, vegetables, construction materials, ice cream, meat, bananas, pets, and countless other items can be transported by bicycle, when a cart has been added. Unlike in the United States though, these aren’t your everyday bicycle carts.”

11. Bicycles are efficient vehicles.

Swiss correspondant, Mark Seall, writes, “A bicycle, I once read somewhere, is the most efficient form of human transport ever developed. Coupled with the fact that bicycles are relatively cheap and trouble free, and suffer few of the traffic problems that dog other forms of transport it’s no wonder that cycling has never been more popular.”

But Mark is quick to add that bicyclists should be respectful of pedestrians. Indeed, it’s important for all cyclists to remember that in most places a bicycles follows the same rules of the road as any other vehicle. Check with your local bicycling group or city government to learn more about the rules of bicycling in your area.

12. Bicycling could save the average American at least $250,000.

According to Motor Trend and the American Institute for Economic Research, the average American car-owner can expect to pay between $240,704 and $349,968 during his driving lifetime. These figures will increase with the price of fuel and the rising cost of the vehicles themselves.

A bicycle can serve your transportation needs for commuting, shopping, and getting around town. Urbanites who are well acquainted with the frustration of paying parking tickets and towing fines will also find that bicycles are an excellent solution. Of course, you’ll still need that fuel: the occasional sandwich or cup of coffee will do nicely.

13. A bicycle crash alone isn’t likely to kill you.

In a sobering perspective on health, over 42,000 people die each year (1 million, worldwide) in the United States and some 2.8 million are injured as a result of automotive accidents. Another 70,000 lives are claimed each year in the United States from medical conditions associated with air pollution (3 million, worldwide). Therefore, for personal safety and the health and safety of others, giving up the car keys is extremely important. As anyone who has experienced a car accident will tell you, car crashes can happen to anyone, not just bad or drunk drivers.

14. Bicyclists breathe in less air pollution.

Various studies indicate that bicyclists breathe in less air pollution, making cycling an even more healthy activity. Of course, bicycles emit no air pollution themselves, which ensures cleaner air and better lung health for everybody.

15. Bicycles are zero-emission vehicles.

Bikes get an infinite number of miles to the gallon of gas. Now that’s hard to beat! Bicycling emits no greenhouse, ozone, or any gasses of any sort. Cycling, therefore, is an excellent way for all of us to stand up to Global Warming, ozone thinning, acid rain, and other negative effects of air pollution that come in part from automobiles. If everyone bicycled or rode on public transit instead of driving, the United States could instantly cut about 30% of its air pollution in a single stroke.

16. Bicycling provides a social network.

In contrast to the irritation many car owners feel for other drivers, bicyclists are by and large a supportive community. In many cities, bicycle advocacy groups help to bring bicyclists together. The groups also lobby to add bicycle lanes, improve roads, promote education about bicycling, and support clean air initiatives. These groups generally also offer a wonderful and vibrant sense community for bikers with regular social events and advocacy opportunities. Some examples of bicycle groups such as these are the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, MassBike (Massachusetts), the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and Bike New York.

17. By fostering energy independence, bicycling voids incentives for oil wars.

In countries like the United States, fossil fuels maintain a strong grip on the national economy and psyche. Access to oil is a strong incentive for territorial conflicts and even large international wars. It has been widely suggested, for example, that access to oil was one of the key motivators behind the U.S. invasion of the country of Iraq. Bicycling removes the incentive for these violent conflicts, thus helping to cure what has become known in the United States as an “addiction to oil.”

More Posts on Bicycling Around the World:

• Forget Sky-high Gas Prices, Biking Beats Them All! by Sam Aola Ooko
• UK: Bike Week 2008 by Pem Charnley
• Bicycle powered water pumps and filtration systems by Nayelli Gonzalez
• Italy’s Two-Wheeled Cities Speed Up Your Life Quality by Eva Pratesi
• In Chiang Mai, Social Attitudes Crush Bicycling Prospects by Masimba Biriwasha
• Google’s Sexy Bicycle Giveaways and Africa’s Versatile Bike Trucks by Sam Aola Ooko
• South Korean Bicycle Ninjas Do Battle Against Asthma by Gavin Hudson
• Of Course Cycling in Australia is Healthy, But What To Do With the Cars? by Ross Kendall
• Cheer up! Bicycling in Italy is a Daily Adventure by Eva Pratesi
• If You Want a Blissful Sex Life, Don’t Ride a Bike! by Sam Aola Ooko
• Bicycling in Peru: An Art of Adaptation by Levi Novey

In South Korea, it’s easy to tell a toned, avid cyclist when you see one. You’ll know by his killer ninja looks.

Underneath the cyclist’s sleek helmet: a bandanna. Below the rim of the bandanna: steely sunglasses. Wrapping from the bandanna to cover the rest of the face: a hard face mask.

All in all, the cycling outfit looks like something straight out of a ninja movie. But what battles are there for a modern day bicycle ninja to fight? Just as in a Hollywood film, these ninja lookalikes toil to protect the young and the old from a common threat. And as it turns out, that ninja-like mask and outfit isn’t just for show. It protects bicyclists from a very real enemy.

What enemy do bicycle ninjas fight? Air pollution from car exhaust. Air pollution levels in Korea’s cities are serious and sometimes fatal.

There is a strong and increasingly clear connection between car exhaust and life-threatening lung conditions. In South Korea, the number of deaths from lower respiratory conditions nearly doubled from 1992 to 2002. Worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates that 3 million people a year die from diseases related to air pollution. And this isn’t just in far-off countries. It includes Americans, Chinese, French, South Koreans, etc. In South Korea, asthma in particular is becoming more common. Currently, 3.9% of the population as a whole suffers from asthma. This number grows to around 12% for young children and the elderly.

Therefore, South Korea’s ninja cyclists are fighting a worthy battle. Forgoing the car, they ride together, emitting no pollution and encouraging others to do the same.

Where do South Korean Bicycle Ninjas Do Battle?

South Korea, while not a bicyclists haven, does offer some wonderful bike routes and options. Three of the best include:

• Rice Paddies. There’s nothing like cycling through the rice paddies in the morning. Though I wouldn’t say that I’m a full fledged bicycle ninja myself (I lack the proper ninja attire), I regularly enjoy bicycling through the rice paddies to the north of my house. Smoothly paved bike lanes with well-marked bicycle signs designate these and other rice paddies in South Korea as a great bike route.
• The Cheonggyecheon greenway. A newly restored 6 km greenway runs alongside the Cheonggyecheon stream in the heart of Seoul’s urban jungle. It’s a marvelous place for a stroll as well as a bike ride. Just relax and peddle slowly; the Cheonggyecheon stream is also a favorite walkway for pedestrians, and as Mark Seall’s article earlier this week showed, it’s important not to traumatize pedestrians with your ninja biking skills.
• Secondary and tertiary roadways. South Korea is full of farming roads, small side-roads, and other paved surfaces with few cars. Bicycling along these roads, I’ve found, is by far the best way to discover hidden temples and forgotten neighborhoods.

There are many other wonderful areas to explore by bike. Meanwhile, you’ll know that you’re taking a humble but important stance against air pollution.

Bike on, bicycle ninjas. Bike on.

For a picture of some South Korean bicycle ninjas in action, look here.

Other Articles in Ecoworldly’s Bicycling Series

• Forget Sky-high Gas Prices, Biking Beats Them All! by Sam Aola Ooko
• UK: Bike Week 2008 by Pem Charnley
• Bicycle powered water pumps and filtration systems by Nayelli Gonzalez
• Italy’s Two-Wheeled Cities Speed Up Your Life Quality by Eva Pratesi
• In Chiang Mai, Social Attitudes Crush Bicycling Prospects by Masimba Biriwasha
• Google’s Sexy Bicycle Giveaways and Africa’s Versatile Bike Trucks by Sam Aola Ooko
• South Korean Bicycle Ninjas Do Battle Against Asthma by Gavin Hudson
• Of Course Cycling in Australia is Healthy, But What To Do With the Cars? by Ross Kendall
• Cheer up! Bicycling in Italy is a Daily Adventure by Eva Pratesi
• If You Want a Blissful Sex Life, Don’t Ride a Bike! by Sam Aola Ooko
• Bicycling in Peru: An Art of Adaptation by Levi Novey

Resources:

The Current Status of Asthma in Korea [PDF] | Journal of Korean Medical Science

It is time to suggest Seoul Air Pollution litigation | Green Korea United

Image credit: R’eyes via Flickr.

This week at EcoWorldly, we’re talking about bicycling, bicycling, and more bicycling!

All week long, EcoWorldly writers from six continents will put their heads together to explore the ups, downs, ins, and outs of bicycling in many countries around the globe.

You can stay tuned to this topic by checking in daily at EcoWorldly, or subscribe to the RSS feed to stay tuned in by email.

Current Articles in Ecoworldly’s Bicycling Series

• Forget Sky-high Gas Prices, Biking Beats Them All! by Sam Aola Ooko
• UK: Bike Week 2008 by Pem Charnley
• Bicycle powered water pumps and filtration systems by Nayelli Gonzalez
• Italy’s Two-Wheeled Cities Speed Up Your Life Quality by Eva Pratesi
• In Chiang Mai, Social Attitudes Crush Bicycling Prospects by Masimba Biriwasha
• Google’s Sexy Bicycle Giveaways and Africa’s Versatile Bike Trucks by Sam Aola Ooko
• South Korean Bicycle Ninjas Do Battle Against Asthma by Gavin Hudson
• Of Course Cycling in Australia is Healthy, But What To Do With the Cars? by Ross Kendall
• Cheer up! Bicycling in Italy is a Daily Adventure by Eva Pratesi
• If You Want a Blissful Sex Life, Don’t Ride a Bike! by Sam Aola Ooko
• Bicycling in Peru: An Art of Adaptation by Levi Novey

However, as Seoul grew, the stream became increasingly polluted. Eventually, it was deemed a health hazard. Middle-aged Koreans today remember it as nothing more than a sewer. Finally, the order was given to pave over Cheonggyecheon stream. In 1968–South Korea’s industrial heyday–former dictator Park Chung-hee ordered an expressway over top of the ancient stream. And so it was… until the new century.

In Korea today, cars and industrial pollution are losing favor to green spaces and natural beauty. While he was mayor of Seoul, newly elected President Lee Myung-bak gave the surprising order to tear down the historic expressway and restore the legendary Cheonggyecheon stream.

Recycling the expressway

In disassembling the expressway, an amazing 95% of the structure’s cement and 100% of the steel was carefully salvaged and recycled. Gradually, the Cheonggyecheon was unearthed.

The stream had been the heart of the city, and so as it was uncovered archaeologists worked feverishly, fishing for forgotten secrets of ancient life. Ancient coins emerged, Joseon period shoes and pottery, a centuries-old stone bridge.

A new green life in Seoul — the Cheonggyecheon stream reborn

Finally, in 2005, the Cheonggyecheon stream was opened to the public — a stunningly beautiful 6 kilometer-long greenway and sparkling stream in the heart of an urban jungle.

Today, the Cheonggyecheon stream is a gorgeous green walkway. Along the water’s edge, school children giggle and play; families picnic; couples stroll; elderly pace the bridges, gazing in amazement at the waters that they once knew as little more than a polluted sewer. Life along the Cheonggyecheon has come back and in certain glimpses it isn’t hard to imagine the stream as it was 600 years ago.

Not 100% green?

It must be said that the Cheonggyecheon stream is not entirely green. The stream is seasonal. Therefore, for most of the year water must be pumped from the nearby Han River. The water flows through the stream and back into the Han.

However, where there was once a smog-choked expressway, there now stretches a breathtaking and refreshingly pristine greenway. I’ll make that trade any day.

Further reading:

• Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project website
• Download a Discovery documentary about the restoration project here.

Image credit: Wikipedia Commons

In six months of living in South Korea, any sign of clothes dryers has eluded me. So bring on the airing undies and the soggy bottoms, right? Well, despite having no — or at least relatively few — clothes dryers, Koreans are both perfectly dry and dignified, with seldom so much as a scrap of clothing hung to dry in view of the neighbors.

The idea might seem a little strange in the United States, but air drying clothes as they do in Korea is environmentally wise, economically smart, and practical too.

How much energy do clothes dryers use?

The average clothes dryer uses between 1.5 and 5 kilowatts, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. After the home water heater, that’s more than any other common household appliance. To get an idea of what that means, a dryer with poor energy efficiency uses more than a…

• refrigerator
• microwave
• flat screen TV
• ceiling fan
• desktop computer and monitor
• radio
• 36 inch TV
• water bed
• laptop
• coffee maker
• and a small aquarium

… combined! And that’s assuming that all of the above items are at the bottom of the energy efficiency range. To use more energy with a single device, you’d have to plug in a personal underwater treadmill. ($15,000. No joke, they sell them.)

Is it practical to air dry clothes?

Before you say that your house is too small for a drying rack, I can promise that the average Korean home is much smaller (with no garage) and fits a drying rack just fine. An area with a window works best. Most Koreans keep their clothes drying racks in small, windowed indoor patios, which are common features of Korean houses.

Now, if you don’t happen have a charming Italian patio in the countryside with a clothes line, never fear. Air drying clothes can still be for you. For about $10, you can get a natural wood clothes drying rack, which even folds up for storage when you’re not using it.

For some samples, take a look at Bed, Bath and Beyond or Linens ‘n Things.

More Articles On Washing Clothes

• Cold Clothes Are Happy Clothes
• The Solar Dryer - Free
• Clean the Lint Trap on Your Dryer and Save Energy!
• Saving on Clothes Dryer Costs

Chosun University may have the hottest male and female college dorms in the world — if you’re talking solar energy.

Atop both the men’s and women’s dorm a 25 kilowatt solar system pumps out energy. The combined electricity generation of the two buildings is an impressive 50 kw.

The dorms are connected to the energy grid of Gwangju city, where the university is located. When the buildings make more energy than students use, excess energy flows into the city’s grid. When students use more than the solar systems can produce (say, due to post-final exam parties), the dorms simply top up with energy from the city’s supply.

As if solar dormitories weren’t enough, Chosun University has an entire lab dedicated to solar energy technologies. The Solar Power Research Lab helps solar panel manufactures calculate their panels’ energy outputs under real world conditions (ie. cloudy days, varying temperatures, etc.).

The university has also put solar panels on a number of the other building surrounding campus:

• A hospital, which generates 10 kw
• A high school, which generates 20 kw
• The Engineering Department, which generates 3 kw
• The Solar Power Research Lab itself, which generates 12-15 kw during the testing of the panels
• A handful of other campus housing buildings, which have been fitted with solar panels

More Posts on Solar Power:

• Solar Days - Making Solar Energy Cool?
• South Korean Scientists Find Real Efficiency of Solar Systems
• Parking Lots with Solar Trees ™ Provide Shade for Shopping Malls
• Sun Run Offers Affordable Solar Energy!

Photo Credits: Gavin Hudson, EcoWorldly

Recently, I visited such a solar testing lab — the Solar Power Research Lab at Chosun University in Gwangju, South Korea. I was greeted by Mr. Choi Jong-sik, an engineer and a graduate of the department.

Out front of this lab, a small field of solar panels soak up sunlight. The panel’s designs range from flat to arched and even rotating; some are varicolored polycrystalline, others are neatly lined monocrystalline. Rotating panels have tracking devices that follow the sun (pictured here). The panels can rotate 180° and swivel vertically 53°, following the sun’s path across the sky. The array and variety of panels is stunning.

Inside the lab, computers whir busily. Numbers displayed on the screens climb and fall, recording the electrical input from each array of solar panels.

Theoretical efficiency measures how much of the light hitting the solar cell can be converted into electricity under standard test conditions (STC). These conditions are very strict:

• a constant temperature of 25°C
• the equivalent of 1.42 cm of water vapor in the column of sky above the panels
• 0.34 cm of ozone in the column of atmosphere above the panels
• the sun hitting the panels at 37°
• the panels 41.81° above the horizon
• etc.

However, Mother Nature is rarely this constant. Therefore, the actual efficiency of the panels often reflects much lower number than theoretical efficiency.

“We measure the actual conditions,” says Mr. Choi. He explains that companies send the university their solar panels for testing. “We measure daily power for one year.”

Then, back at the engineering department building, I see another remarkable feature of the solar power lab: a full replica of a Korean living space inside the engineering department. There’s even an engineering student sleeping in the bed.

“This is the condition of the house,” explains Mr. Choi. “There’s a refrigerator, and air conditioning system, a lighting system, hot and cold water. This is a simulation of the house.”

In order to find out how much solar energy could be practically developed in Korea, Chosun University’s engineers were tasked with calculating the amount of energy consumed by a typical Korean house. After monitoring the replica house, the university came up with an answer.

“House power usually uses three kilowatts [a day],” says Mr. Choi.

Various estimates put the average energy use in the United States at between 20 and 30 kilowatt hours a day.

When asked about the importance of the environment in the university’s research, Mr. Choi responds, “The lab’s first interest is environmental and then economic.”

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Photo credit: Gavin Hudson, Tracking solar panel at Chosun University

Google has offered to match donations made to UNICEF and Direct Relief International for all donations made at Google’s Support disaster relief in Myanmar page, up to one million dollars.

Internet users in Burma reported that access to Google and Gmail had been blocked by the strict military junta governing the country in the summer of 2006. By this time, Yahoo and Hotmail had already made the censored IT blacklist.

Go to Google in Burma and you’ll get: “Error Number 1045 Access Denied.”

The ban, of course, was put in place before the government crackdowns on popular uprisings that left many dead or imprisoned. Some of the last words to leave Burma were from observers there who described nighttime kidnapping raids on the homes of Buddhist monks. The monks were involved in the popular uprisings against the government. On mornings after a raid, only blood would be found in the empty house.

Since the crackdowns, the flow of photos and information from Burma has all but completely stopped. No information gets in. None gets out. A political black hole where a country used to be.

While we all like to see our donations doubled, giving to cyclone relief through Google is, of course, only one way to go. For more ways to help those affected by the cyclone in Burma, see this list of organizations accepting donations and possibly volunteers.

If you feel less than comfortable sending money into a country whose government would ban and obstruct the same groups trying to help its people, consider that you can also donate money directly to Buddhist monks in Burma. During the crackdown, the monks were the most visible targets of government brutality. Avaaz.org donates money directly to the International Burmese Monk Association, which will use the money to provide grassroots support to cyclone victims. Visit the site for a video from the U. Uttara, the General Secretary of the Burmese organization.

Lastly, for those wondering why all this is on a site otherwise dedicated to the environment, it’s a good question. In response, consider that most people tend to prioritize the environment after their immediate wellbeing and that of their family. (Unless you’ve chosen to live in a tree, in which case wellbeing is relative. But that’s a different story.) Only after these immediate needs for safety and wellbeing are met will the majority of people take action to help the planet. So lend a hand and hopefully you’ll get a helping hand in return.

Here, you will find six organizations accepting charitable donations for relief work in Burma as well as five organizations possibly accepting volunteers for relief efforts.

Six Ways to Donate Money for Burma Cyclone Victims

1. Donate through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

“Supplies of aid to the multitudes affected by the devastating cyclone in Myanmar last week are gradually scaling up, according to Red Cross Red Crescent workers in the southeast Asian nation. In recent days over 220,000 people have received some form of aid from government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), other organizations and the general public. Over 80,000 of them have been served by Myanmar Red Cross.”

2. Donate through the World Food Programme

“The World Food Programme has decided to send in two relief flights as planned tomorrow, while discussions continue with the Government of Myanmar on the distribution of the food that was flown in today, and not released to WFP. Today, two WFP flights arrived with high-energy biscuits, sufficient to feed 95,000 hungry people in Myanmar.

“Yesterday, WFP airlifted enough high energy biscuits for 21,000 people, most of which has been delivered over the last 24 hours to the hardest-hit areas.”

3. Donate through the International Burmese Monks Organization via Avaaz.org.

“Avaaz is raising funds for the International Burmese Monks Organization and related groups, which will transmit funds directly to monasteries in affected areas.

“In many of the worst-hit areas, the monasteries are the only source of shelter and food for Burma’s poorest people. They have been on the front lines of the aid effort since the storm struck.”

4. Donate through UNICEF

“UNICEF is very concerned about the impact of bad water on the health of children living in extremely precarious situations. Lack of access to clean water and poor sanitation, inadequate shelter and poor nutrition pose additional risks to children who are already vulnerable to disease and hunger.”

5. Donate through the UN Refugee Agency

“UNHCR responded immediately by distributing US$50,000 worth of basic supplies, including plastic sheeting and tents, to help victims of the devastating cyclone. Many families lost their homes when Cyclone Nargis hit the country on Saturday.

“UNHCR is participating in the joint UN emergency response effort in Myanmar, with particular attention on the shelter sector, and is co