Sustainability Momentum Sdn Bhd

                                                                             Photo Credit: global.kyocera.com

Kyocera Corporation has launched a 70-megawatt (MW) solar power plant which floats offshore in a grid, in Kagoshima Prefecture, southern Japan. The plant is Japan’s largest utility scale solar power plant consisting of 290,000 solar panels, covering an area roughly the same area as 27 baseball stadiums (approximately 1,270,000m²). The solar plant is an example of Japan’s switch to renewable energy, as a direct result of power supply issues associated with the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. The plant also includes a tour facility, featuring a circular observation room and educational displays, to promote awareness of renewable energy.

National Geographic has recently mapped out the World atlas, showing the new coastline of the continents should all the ice on land melt and drained into the sea, raising it by 216 feet (65.8 metres).   It is reported that there are more than 5 million cubic miles of ice on Earth which scientists say would take 5,000 years to melt. The maps show major cities around the world would be submerged and islands completely disappearing. It is a reminder of the inevitable change in our climate and its impact should we continue to emit carbon to the atmosphere.

                                                                                                               Photo Credit: The Star
                                                                                          

A marine conservation project led by H2O Plus, Hume Cement and Marine Monkees saw the construction of artificial reefs in the waters of Pulau Soyak, near Tioman, Malaysia. The structure is made out of 72 reinforced cement blocks that weigh 70 kilograms each with its pH corrected so as not to interfere with the water salinity. It is shaped into a double moon crescent, in order to withstand strong water currents from any direction. It is anticipated that the structure will provide an ideal location for floating coral larvae to settle down and flourish.

Photo Credit: www.dezeen.com

The latest solution to the Chinese smog emergency comes from a Dutch designer, Daan Roosegaarde. He has proposed an ambitious idea to magnetically pull smog particles to the ground using a new “electronic vacuum”. By creating an electrostatic field using a series of electrodes connected to a power supply located just above the ground, all nearby air and smog particles will become positively charged. Another device will then pull these particles to the ground, where they will be collected and disposed of as normal waste. Although the project is still in its early phases, a working prototype will soon be deployed in a Beijing public park. For a video and diagram of the chemistry behind Roosegaarde's smog system, click on the link below.