Chinese Scientist decoded the bamboo genome for moso bamboo

 

David Nealis President of Ceres Ltd.

 

Chinese Scientist decoded the bamboo genome for moso bamboo in hopes of improving the breed and using bamboo as an alternative to wood. China is the world’s largest producer and consumer of bamboo with of 3.86 million hectares of moso bamboo which is roughly 72% of China’s bamboo growing area.

Suntech-Guosheng Ferry Uses a Solar Sail

I thought this was a cool concept and I wanted to share it; Suntech-Guosheng Ferry Uses a Solar Sail for Power.

The Suntech-Guosheng ferry made its maiden voyage on June 5^th, 2010. At 31.5 meters or 103 feet in length, the ferry set sail on the Huangpu River in Shanghai, as part of the Shanghai World Expo. The vessel features proprietary 'solarsail' technology developed by Australia-based Solar Sailor, a leading innovator in maritime solar technology. The boat is a series hybrid, meaning its propellers are driven solely by electric power, generated by the sun or by the diesel engine that acts as a secondary source of power.

In theory the boat would the ferry’s  moving photovoltaic sails would not only track the sun to gather energy, but also serve as sails, giving the boat various power source options such as solar, diesel or wind power. When docked, the boats panels would still gather solar energy, which they would feed into the power grid that would either store the collected energy or use it directly to power the ferry.

The owners of the ferry are Suntech Power one of the world’s largest producer of crystalline silicon solar panels, and Shanghai Guosheng Group which is a Chinese state-owned investment holding company.

CNOOC and Isofoton form JV in Tianjin China

China National Offshore Oil Corporation, the SOE parent of publicly listed offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC Limited, has agreed to put US$300 million toward a Tianjin based joint venture with Spanish solar-panel maker Isofoton.

David Nealis President of Blue Bridge

From the JV CNOOC will gain a technology partner to help its expansion into the renewable energy sector, while allowing Isofoton to access the China market for sales, one of the world's fastest growing solar energy markets, amid a slowdown in the European market due to government subsidy cuts.

Isofoton has advanced solar technology that can convert close to 40 per cent of energy from sunlight into electricity, around double that of conventional solar panels that are on the market today.

The goal of the joint venture will to develop solar power plants with total generation capacity of 150 megawatts for the Chinese and other markets, Isofoton said.

China's solar power panel installation surged more than six-fold to 2.9GW last year, and became the largest market in Asia Pacific with a 48 per cent share, according to industry consultancy Solarbuzz.