Thursday, December 28, 2017

Heat vs emissions

Below 2C: "China is planning to produce 7 million electric vehicles per year by 2025. "

Here is the problem. Human activity, building, maintaining, moving... generates heat. If we stop economic growth we will still be generating the same amount of heat, no matter what fuel is used.

And if we grow the economy, which actually is the plan, we will increase the amount of heat generated, regardless of what fuel is used.

The idea of renewables is that we will reduce carbon in the atmosphere. But China's plan is to get to zero emissions in 2030. That means they will continue to ADD carbon until that time.

Only if the economy shrinks can heat and emissions both be reduced.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

New Taipei children to receive 50% discount on MRT fares

Taiwan News: "Children between 6 and 12 who reside in New Taipei City will be eligible for 50% discounts on the MRT and buses starting early in 2018"

Monday, December 18, 2017

Thought police and oil in China's Xinjiang

Thought police, surveillance, and indoctrination in China's Xinjiang | Taiwan News: "KORLA, China (AP) — Nobody knows what happened to the Uighur student after he returned to China from Egypt and was taken away by police. Not his neighbors, not his classmates, not his mother."

URUMQI -- An oil company announced Thursday that it had found a conglomerate oil field with an estimated one-billion-tonne reserve in the Junggar Basin in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Thursday, November 30, 2017

Taiwan’s Kaohsiung fights pollution with 3 months of free public transport

Taiwan News: "TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – In an effort to combat air pollution, Kaohsiung announced Tuesday it was making its public transport at least partly free for passengers in December, January and February.

Each winter, the weather and the city’s geological position prevented polluted air from escaping the area, harming air quality in the area, Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said Tuesday."

Tuesday, November 21, 2017

Taiwan Cannot Develop Renewable Energy While Secretly Subsidizing Fossil Fuels

The News Lens: "Taiwan plans to triple its renewable energy production to 20 percent by 2025 but carefully hidden subsidies threaten to keep Taiwan tied to coal, oil and gas."

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Yangon traffic has killed over 500 people in 2017

Coconuts Yangon: "Furthermore, police figures show that the danger of Yangon’s roads is not decreasing significantly. In January, 174 traffic accidents killed 35 people and injured 197. In May, 215 accidents killed 51 people and injured 275. In October, 182 accidents killed 42 people and injured 224."

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Climate change might be worse than thought after scientists find major mistake in water temperature readings

The Independent : "Global warming might be far worse than we thought, according to a new study. The research challenges the ways that researchers have worked out sea temperatures until now, meaning that they may be increasing quicker than previously suggested."

Saturday, October 7, 2017

China running low on oil

medium.com : "This also has major implications for the prospect of a 2018 oil squeeze — as China scales its domestic oil peak, rising demand will impact world oil markets in a way most forecasters aren’t anticipating, contributing to a potential supply squeeze. That could happen in 2018 proper, or in the early years that follow."

Friday, October 6, 2017

The reality of living with 50℃ temperatures in our major cities

theconversation : "Australia is hot. But future extreme hot weather will be worse still, with new research predicting that Sydney and Melbourne are on course for 50℃ summer days by the 2040s if high greenhouse emissions continue. That means that places such as Perth, Adelaide and various regional towns could conceivably hit that mark even sooner."

Monday, June 12, 2017

Hong Kong urged to follow South Korea with free public transport days to fight air pollution

South China Morning Post: "The Clean Air Network argued the city should follow the South Korean capital of Seoul’s lead by waiving public transport fares during rush hour on days when air pollutants reach dangerous levels.
From next month, Seoul will operate rush-hour trains and buses free of charge when the daily average density of ultra-fine dust in the capital reaches 50 micrograms, according to a recent report in The Korea Times."

Friday, June 2, 2017

Sydney bus drivers let commuters ride free in protest against privatisation

(Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "Thousands of commuters in Sydney are taking public transport for free today as bus drivers escalate their industrial action against the Berejiklian Government's plan to privatise some services."

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Seoul to introduce free public transit to fight pollution

The Hankyoreh: "Seoul to introduce free public transit and voluntary alternate driving system on days with severe fine dust pollution"

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Buses vs Cars

  • Buses bring customers to market
  • Cars block access to the market
  • Buses work 18 hours a day
  • Cars sit 18 hours a day 
  • Buses free up space
  • Cars take up space
  • Buses are safe
  • Cars are dangerous
  • Buses allow you to text
  • Cars and texting are deadly 
  • Buses help you make new friends
  • Cars are anti-social, annoy pedestrians
Can you add to this list?

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

People in Asia killing themselves sending consumer products west

The Economist : "Of these, the team reckon just under an eighth were associated with pollutants released in a part of the world different from that in which the death occurred, thanks to transport of such particles from place to place by the wind. Almost twice as many (22% of the total) were a consequence of goods and services that were produced in one region (often poor) and then exported for consumption in another (often rich, and with more finicky environmental standards for its own manufacturers)."

Saturday, April 8, 2017

Free buses break record in Taiwan

Taiwan News : "Taipei, April 6 (CNA) Free buses for people heading to clean up ancestral graves in Taipei for Tomb Sweeping Day carried a record high number of 775,843 passengers this year, according to bus operators. The buses, a measure meant to alleviate traffic as people flocked to public cemeteries, made 16,476 trips on March 22-23 and 29-30 and the three-day Tomb Sweeping Day weekend April 4-6."

Friday, March 31, 2017

「106年清明節掃墓期間」交通管制疏導措施

臺北市政府行動版 ─ : "「106年清明節掃墓期間」交通管制疏導措施
臺北市殯葬管理處及公共運輸處於106年3月18、19、25、26日及4月1、2、3、4日等8天,於「富德公墓」、「南港軍人公墓」及「陽明山第一公墓」等墓區,規劃5線免費掃墓公車供民眾搭乘。"

Kaohsiung lays on free bus rides for kids

The China Post: "KAOHSIUNG -- To celebrate this year's Children's Day on April 4, the

operator of the double-decker |

tour bus in Kaohsiung City announced Saturday that it will

offer children under 12 years

of age free rides on weekdays

for the entire month of April.

Kaohsiung Bus Group currently has two double-deck buses

running around the city to

introduce its attractions."