Your Daily Greens – Solar Panels in Space, Reef Warning, and Lunar Time

Daily happenings around the GreenSphere (People, Companies & Communities):

Solar Panels in Space: Mitsubishi and IHI Corp. have decided to join a $21 billion Japanese project to build a giant solar-powered generator to provide electricity to our planet. First, years of technology development is in order, but they hope to be ‘up’ and running within three decades. The solar station would have four square kilometers of solar panels and could generate power regardless of weather conditions on earth.

Reef Warning: A U.N. backed project to quantify the financial repercussions of damaging the natural environment claims that current climate targets are not stringent enough to rescue the world’s coral reefs. They suggest that reefs are worth more than $100 billion annually, from being nurseries for fish to protecting communities from storm damage. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere not only warms ocean temperatures, but it is also absorbed by seawater, lowering the pH level of the oceans and making them more acidic.

Lunar Time: Scientists and artists are collaborating to build a 40m-wide lunar clock beside the River Thames in London, England. Slated to be complete for 2012, the goal is to create a landmark as iconic as Big Ben, while returning to a more natural way of marking time. The clock will run on power created by tides from the Thames and is to be named Aluna – meaning ‘memory, possibility’. Those involved in the project believe it is time to focus beyond modern devices and look to celestial bodies, such as the moon, to track natural time cycles.

Shakers and Movers: The green energy sector could see an increase in mergers and acquisitions, after a period of dormancy in Canada. Due to a thawing in credit markets and uncertainty about carbon emissions penalties, Haywood Securities in Toronto said it is reasonable to assume there will be increased activity in renewable energy sectors, with at least two high-profile deals announced in the past month, including TransAlta Corp’s $654 million bid for Canadian Hydro Developers Inc., the largest exclusively renewable power company in the country.

Tagged as: Business, Electricity, Ocean, Power, Science, Solar