Author: Chasing

Karma, or A Perfect Confluence of Events

September 21, 2010 / / 1 Comment

It’s been a few weeks since I last posted and I owe you an explanation.  I’ve been spending some time on another “project,” one that, if successful, will have a much more widespread (albeit weak and indirect) impact on environmentalism in China than this simple little blog.  In any case, I’ll let you know if it comes to fruition.

On to today’s post.  I experienced my first bike accident in Beijing today.  Please don’t weep or gnash your teeth in sorrow. With the exception of a slightly bruised scrotum, I’m fine and nobody else got hurt either.

This morning, I was cycling to the neighborhood vegetable market along an alleyway that I travel every day when the collision occured.  Here’s a diagram I drew depicting what happened:

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Powering rural China with the sun

September 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments


The extra cost of solar power can sometimes be more acceptable in rural applications than in urban areas because traditional sources of power also cost more to deploy in rural areas.  Solar photovoltaic technology places the energy source adjacent to where it is needed, minimizing the need for transmission and distribution lines which are particularly expensive and cost-inefficient to build out to remote locations.

The cost of solar PV also stays relatively constant at varying scales, unlike thermal power plants which are only cost-effective above a certain size.  This means that, on a per kilowatt hour basis, a household photovoltaic system doesn’t cost much more to install and operate than a utility-sized system.  Also, photovoltaic systems are self-contained, generally needing no inputs and generating no waste, meaning that fuel transportation costs are avoided.

Below are a few solar photovoltaic applications I’ve seen in rural and semi-rural China.  Unfortunately, most are just boring street lighting, but they do illustrate China’s push to widely deploy solar photovoltaic technology.

This one shows a road winding up a mountain northwest of Beijing called Feng huang ling (凤凰岭).

How many solar-powered streetlamps can you find?  Click on the picture and then click on the image again to see a full-size version.   I count…

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Drowning in garbage

August 23, 2010 / / 8 Comments

Taking the train in China is a relatively cheap, convenient, and low-carbon way to travel.  One oddly enjoyable part of train travel is shopping for snacks before the trip so you don’t have to buy the expensive and unappetizing train food.  This is the one time that I have no qualms about eating instant noodles and processed, packaged snacks.  In preparation for the 18-hour (actually, 20-hour due to delays) train ride from Shanghai to Shenzhen,  I bought a seemingly harmless package of dried seaweed.  When I spotted it in the grocery store, memories of childhood flooded into my mind – the puckering feeling of the salty, dried seaweed as it touched my tongue, the flood of flavor as it melted onto the roof of my mouth, the spiciness that lingered on my lips after the seaweed had disappeared into my belly – and I had to have it:

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