the new energy county
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news, tilting at windmills on January 11, 2009
Well, it does read a bit like an advertorial, but this piece on 京报网 has some interesting things to say on Yanqing and its plan to become Beijing’s new/renewable energy base. It’s a little long and, well, a bit too advertorial, so instead of translating, I’ll just summarise [instant update: as I write this post, I find myself more paraphrasing than summarising and adding a fair bit of commentary, some of which is a little snarky, some of which throws my own personal experience into the mix, some of which…. oh, just read it].
oh?
Armed police patrolling Beijing West Station? Yes, indeedy. As part of the extra security measures put on for the Spring Festival Rush (Chinese is so much more efficient at that: 春运), armed special police are patrolling Beijing West Station and Beijing Railway Station. Each station will also acquire a command car each, and as well as the special police, but every kind of police, including criminal police (ahem… presumably the equivalent of the CIB or CID) and security guards will contribute to the extra 2000 police being put on 春运 duty.
The article says nothing about Beijing South Station (fast trains to Tianjin), North/Xizhimen (S2 Line to Badaling and Yanqing as well as longer-distance trains northwestwards) or Beijing’s other smaller stations, but West and Beijing Stations are Beijing’s two main stations. And I guess the particular natures of the other stations would result in different kinds of passenger flows…. I dunno.
260
Posted by wangbo in Environment, life in Beijing, news on January 8, 2009
And while I’m badly, badly translating stuff from the news, I see that the Beijing’s environmental protection bureau has already set a goal of 260 “blue sky days” for 2009. But remember that a “blue sky day” is not necessarily a day when the sky is blue and the sun is shining, but a day with good, i.e. non toxic air quality.
solar power in Yanqing
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on January 8, 2009
Some interesting news from Yanqing in 京报网: A new solar power plant will be built in Badaling Township:
首座太阳能发电站落户延庆
First solar power plant will be in Yanqing
亚洲首座MW（兆瓦）级太阳能塔式热发电技术应用项目将落户延庆县八达岭镇。这个太阳能塔式热发电实验电站年发电量达270万度，相当于1100余吨标准煤产生的电量，可减排二氧化碳2300余吨、二氧化硫21吨、氮氧化合物35吨。
Asia’s first megawatt-level solar powered tower-style thermal electricity generation technology project [yeah, I’m really struggling to get a better translation, perhaps some of the pictures offered here might be of assistance, although good luck opening the original sites, or perhaps you can sift through wikipedia for some clues] will be installed in Yanqing County’s Badaling Township. This experimental solar-powered tower-style electricity generation plant will have an annual generation capacity reaching 2.7 million, equivalent to the generation capacity of over 1100 tons of standard coal and cutting emissions of carbon dioxide by over 2300 tons, sulphur dioxide by 21 tons, and oxides of nitrogen by 35 tons.
八达岭太阳能热发电技术及系统示范项目为国家科技部“十一五”863重点项目，由中国科学院电工研究所承担研究建设任务。2009年初拟建太阳 能综合实验室和高100米的太阳能吸热塔等，其中太阳能吸热塔是北京地区长城外最高的建筑物，建筑风格与八达岭景区的风貌混为一体，设计理念充分融入了中 国传统文化和八达岭长城文化特点，建筑方案已经通过专家评审，预计明年年底竣工并投入使用。
The Badaling solar-powered thermal electricity generation technology and system demonstration project is a state science and technology ministry 863 key project of the eleventh five year plan [HELP!!!!!!!! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!?!?!?], a research and construction duty assumed by the China Academy of Sciences’ Electrical Engineering Research Institute. It is planned to build a comprehensive solar power laboratory and a 100 metre tall solar power tower. The solar power tower will be the tallest structure in Beijing outside the Great Wall, and the construction style will be integrated with the style of the Badaling Scenic Area, and the design principles will be fully integrated with Chinese traditional culture and the characteristics of the culture of the Badaling Great Wall. The design has already been appraised by experts and is expected to be completed and put into use by the end of next year.
该项目在208亩地上将建成100面定日镜，用它收集的太阳光，反射聚集到太阳能吸热塔的吸热器里，将热能通过加热水，产生蒸汽，作为动力发电。
The project will see 100 heliostats installed on 208 mu of land to be used to gather sunlight and reflect and concentrate it onto the solar power tower’s heat absorber, heating water to create steam to generate electricity.
目前，镜场内已有5面定日镜开始测试聚光、跟踪实验，到2010年建成并网后，我国太阳能热发电站的建设将进入一个崭新的历史阶段。
At present there are already 5 heliostats on site starting tests for gathering light and following experiments. When construction is completed and the site is online in 2010, China’s solar-powered thermal electricity station will have entered a brand-new stage of history.
Wow. I can’t quite figure out whether I bit off way more than I can chew with this article, or whether the original writing was amazingly opaque, or both. Constructive criticism isn’t just welcome, it’s demanded.
And it was interesting to see “the highest structure in Beijing outside the Great Wall”- what a statistic. Still, a surprisingly large portion of Beijing’s land, i.e. pretty much all of Yanqing and very large portions of Huairou and Miyun and perhaps part of Pinggu, are on the northern, outer side of the wall, and that land is mostly rural and mountainous- there ain’t too many tall buildings up that way.
Still, the construction of a solar-powered electricity generation project is pretty huge news and a massive step forward. Hopefully the project will be visible from the highway so I can keep an eye on its progress every time we travel to and from our village (Badaling being at the southeastern edge of Yanqing, the entrance to the county, and our village being way out northwest of there, we’ll go past it a lot).
trees
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on January 8, 2009
So Beijing is going to build 28 new forest parks and upgrade 22 existing ones, reports 新京报/The Beijing News’ Wu Di:
郊外将建28个森林公园
28 forest parks to be built outside suburbs
北京今年拟建4条景观大道，每亩绿化费2万元
Beijing plans to build 4 scenic routes this year, cost of greening each mu 20 thousand yuan
明年起，北京将启动50个森林公园新建或改造升级项目，新建28个森林公园。昨天，在市发改委发布会上，区县处相关负责人表示，届时，北京周边将形成森林公园、新城滨河公园、中心城区郊野公园三个体系相连的公园景观。
Starting next year, Beijing will begin a project to build or reform and upgrade 50 forest parks. Yesterday at the municipal development and reform commission’s press conference, the relevant person in charge at the district and county office said that when the time comes, surrounding Beijing three linked-up systems of park scenery- forest parks, new town riverbank parks and central city open-air parks- will have been formed.
据市发改委区县处相关负责人介绍，目前北京林地面积为300万亩，其中已建成的森林公园有22个。从明年起北京将在山区开始规划新建和 改造50处森林公园，其中包括原有的22个森林公园进行升级，新建28个总面积为200万亩的森林公园。分布在平谷、怀柔、密云、昌平、门头沟、房山、延 庆等山区。“从报国家批到完成，大概需3-5年。”
According to the relevant person in charge at the municipal development and reform commission’s district and county office, the area of Beijing’s forest land is presently 3 million mu, and includes 22 forest parks that have already been established. Starting from next year, Beijing will start to plan the new establishment or reform of 50 forest parks in the mountain areas, including an upgrade of the original 22 forest parks and the establishment of 28 new forest parks covering an area of 2 million mu. They will be distributed through Pinggu, Huairou, Miyun, Changping, Mentougou, Fangshan, Yanqing and other mountain areas. “From reporting to the state to completion should take around 3 to 5 years.”
据介绍，今年，北京计划在京包高速公路、京山铁路、S2线、六环路二期等联络线建4条生态景观大道，总长176公里，绿化面积达4.4万亩。每亩投入都在2万元以上，要求须有15种以上树木植物。
It is reported that this year Beijing plans to build 4 ecological scenic routes along the Jing-Bao Expressway, Jing-Shan Railway, S2 Line, and the second phase of the Sixth Ring Road, with a total length of 176 kilometres and a greened area reaching 44 thousand mu. The investment for each mu is over 20 thousand yuan, and it is required to have over 15 species of trees and plants.
Three things:
- 1 mu, according to the conversion tables in the back of my dictionary nciku (the conversion table in the back of my dictionary being somewhat less than comprehensible), equals 0.0667 hectares.
- I really hate it when I come across a sentence I’m sure I understand perfectly well in Chinese but just can’t find a way to express intelligibly in English. Case in point: “昨天，在市发改委发布会上，区县处相关负责人表示，届时，北京周边将形成森林公园、新城滨河公园、中心城区郊野公园三个体系相连的公园景观。 “
- I was hoping this story would go some way to either confirming or denying a rumour I’ve heard about two areas in Beijing’s outer suburbs and a county in Hebei. Instead, it only adds to the tantalisingness of the possibility of the rumour having perhaps some shred of truth to it. And no, sorry, I won’t repeat the rumour. Spreading rumours is not very responsible behaviour.
Anyway, more trees = more goodness.
so this is it
2009 is here. Great. Forgive my lack of enthusiasm, but so far I’m unimpressed. I mean, what with Israel and Hamas back to their old tricks, India and Pakistan slowly lurching towards yet another war (although I suspect they will stop before the brink), and the general same old-ness of the news the last few days, I see the omens pointing to ’09 being little more than and extension of ’08. But isn’t that all each new year is, anyway?
It was a New Year delayed- first by the leap second, then by lzh not getting off work early enough for us to get up to the village on New Year’s Eve. Well, the actual chronological order of those two events was the reverse, but whatever. I long ago lost my enthusiasm for partying right through the New Year, so it was just a homemade hotpot then an early night.
We headed up to the village on the 1st, getting there not long after 1 pm. This trip we had absolutely no problems with transport. I was expecting the Badaling Expressway to be clogged with traffic, but there was nothing beyond the usual choke-point interchanges with the fourth and fifth ring roads and the Qinghe Tollgate. Amazing. Getting back was even better.
Unfortunately that evening was marred by a cousin-in-law’s man deciding to get obnoxiously drunk. It wasn’t just that he was an obnoxious drunk, but he had to be a right dick about getting drunk, too. He even decided to bite me, the bastard. But nevermind, eventually he got on the kang and slept it off and we got rid of them the next morning.
But we did get to play with their wee boy, who this time remembered us well enough to not freak out and run for mummy when he saw us.
Ah, well, the rest of the holiday was very uneventful. I got some exam marking done. I should be finishing that off now, but by my calculation I should manage to have it all done and out of the way tomorrow afternoon even if I take this morning off.
Enough rambling. Happy New Year!
dammit!
I know I’m not the only one who’ll be glad to see 2008 shuffle off into the realm of memory. But now I see that we have to wait a little longer for 2009:
2009年将“迟到”一秒
2009 will be one second “late”
WHAT?! Can’t even trust the year to show up on time anymore?
２００９年将“迟到”一秒。昨天，记者从中国科学院国家授时中心获悉，在世界时（即格林尼治时间）２００８年底最后一秒全球将同步实施闰秒，届时，全世界所有时钟都将统一拨慢一秒。这意味着２００９年将“迟到”一秒。
2009 will be one second “late”. Yesterday, your correspondant learned from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ National Time Service Centre that in universal time (aka Greenwich Mean Time), the whole world will together add a leap second after the last second of 2008, and at the appointed time all the world’s clocks will be put back one second. This means 2009 will be one second “late”.
Now, I personally don’t feel a need to go into all the technical details. But I do note this sentence appearing in the article:
２００８年为１６年来最长的一年
2008 is the longest year in 16 years.
Ya don’t say. I hadn’t noticed.
developments
I really hope somebody else translates this article in full. It’s a bit much for me to get my head around right now, and there’s a chance that lzh will be let off work at midday, which means that I may have to quickly pack up and leave for Deshengmen so we can get out to Yanqing before the tourists. In other words, I quite likely don’t have time to sit down and figure it all out. But it is certainly an interesting article that sets out planned reform and developments for Beijing’s rural areas and the rural/urban boundary areas. What grabbed my attention was the headline:
北京城乡户口拟统一登记
Beijing urban and rural hukou planned to have unified registration
Among many other reforms aimed at raising living standards in the rural areas, the registration system for urban and rural household registrations in Beijing will be unified.
There’s a lot more in that article, but hopefully somebody else has the time to translate it all properly. I’m waiting for my own summons out to the countryside, which could come at any moment, and so don’t really have time right now.
success
Posted by wangbo in Environment, news on December 31, 2008
Congratulations to Air New Zealand on its successful test of a 50:50 jatropha/jet fuel blend. Air NZ seems to have some pretty impressive plans for biofuel.
finally!
Posted by wangbo in beijing public transport, news on December 29, 2008
The Qianmen trams are finally going to start running! According to that report, all is ready and they’ll go into regular service on New Year’s Day. I’ll be up in Yanqing then, of course, but I think I’ll sneak off one afternoon after we get back to check out the trams.
Why? Because there’s something fundamentally cool about trams, that’s why. Even if they are just tourist attractions that run a mere 800 metres.