From a great environmental/architecture/design blog, Pruned:Last week, The Guardian reported that Europe is looking to Africa to serve its energy needs by basically turning the continent into one giant solar power plant.
Europe is considering plans to spend more than £5bn on a string of giant solar power stations along the Mediterranean desert shores of northern Africa and the Middle East.
More than a hundred of the generators, each fitted with thousands of huge mirrors, would generate electricity to be transmitted by undersea cable to Europe and then distributed across the continent to European Union member nations, including Britain.
Billions of watts of power could be generated this way, enough to provide Europe with a sixth of its electricity needs and to allow it to make significant cuts in its carbon emissions. At the same time, the stations would be used as desalination plants to provide desert countries with desperately needed supplies of fresh water.
Fascinating stuff, right?? Especially just now as the Bali conference is going on! I think the post-colonial ramifications of this have not been fully understood, but it seems like a good idea green-wise.
Another recent post from Pruned discussed the issue of the housing shortage in Manila that has driven some people to take up residence in cemeteries. Kind of like an "extended-stay" "Day of the Dead." But moreso. (?)
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