Another Clean Development Mechanism...(29/6)

Laddering smoke...(26/9)

Energy is a form of invisible power exists in the world. Energy is generated by various means around us and in different civilisations and religious beliefs, it has its divine status and projected imagination...our life simply co-habits with the human-intercepted forms of energy and motion pictures...we are reliant on all these invisible sensation of passion and power.
France is an advanced country to me in terms of energy generation and technology transfer. Since the second half of 20th century, nuclear energy has been contributing a large proportion of its power supply to its economic activities. While the major power generators in the world get more aware of environmental conservation & investment diversification nowadays (in monetary & political terms), and the European Union talks about energy in its regular weekly agenda, the G8 develops strategically their own energy plan to get prepared for any uncertain future development. A remarkable move of the French government is to progressively reduce the proportion of its electricity generated using nuclear power to 73% in 10-year's time, whilst it empowers new development of renewable energy sources to diversify its operation. In 2005, nuclear power generated 78% of electricity in France. The 10-year energy investment plan looks for sustainable contributions from natural resources including wind and biomass like animal and organic waste. This is not anything new, but if the French were to get hold of its development verve, such intensive implementation & alteration would need certain patience and devotion.

The visual of uprising vents is the symbolised lightness of dynamism, and the power plants along highways or at the far end of the city peripherals are always the pick of my random vision and sight. They are phantoms of reminding signs, and they are the generator of dreamy smoke. Since long time ago, I am fascinated by the upright metallic power towers which resemble climbing ladders of human intervention to the unreachable sky. These towers break the space. It is an artificial art of geometry. I like these flying tracks across the dream of humankind. It creates a hybrid habitat for the flying objects in nature from the bird eyes' view probably. To me, it just landmarks the distinction between our urban territory and the owl's night somewhere else.

1.5 century on earth...(29/8)

Just read the history of today on Encyclopaedia Britannica...there is an interesting piece:
"1859: Edwin Laurentine Drake struck oil on this day while drilling in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Drake, a railway conductor in New Haven, Connecticut, had studied the techniques of drilling salt wells. He was encouraged to drill for oil by George Bissell, a local landowner who was aware of Benjamin Silliman's report of the potential value of petroleum. Drake began drilling in 1858 and finally struck oil at a depth of 21 metres (69 feet) on this day. With the spread of Drake's drilling techniques, Titusville and other northwestern Pennsylvania communities became boomtowns. "

Another illustration of the evolution and development of the human kind. Around 150 years ago, no one knew what was oil extraction. People were still in the process of railway development fantasty. See the background of Drake, he was only a clerk and a railway conductor, but because of his "exposure" to the underground and the support (or even request) of George Bissell, he helped the Pennsylvania Rock Oil Company to extract the oil reserve below our land. He made use of his savvy technique to transform the role of work from railwork building to oil extraction. Drake thought about the way to extract oil, and his way was to dig it out. A logical thinking with his railway work experienece. He digged a maximum of 10 barrels (1.6 m³) per day at the beginning. However, the inefficient method during to water leakage took away the allocated resources of the company and Drake was facing a difficulty in continuing his project. He turned out to drill instead of dig after series of failure, and finally it worked! This was a big fortune to him. Something Drake had missed was a recognition of a patent right!! He did not tap on the wealth reserve but lost most of his money on speculation while his fortune was shared by many others who copied the way to extract the oil...
Looking back to the newspaper today, the oil price surges to USD70 per barrel. This is dramatic, and you cannot deny the ever-changing world in our everyday life. There are ironic changes and discoveries...we have a mysterious and exploratory world.

Climax...(3/7)

Finally grasped the last chance to watch the exhibition on global warming at Cite des Sciences & de l'Industrie in the 19th arrondisement...The exhibition lasted until July 3.
A bit disappointed by the scale and coverage of the exhibition...I found that the display was actually very brief and yet informative. There was a elementary introduction of the situation of global warming; major sources of CO2 emission as well as its recommended means to tackle the problem such as installing solar absorption plate in Sahara; building windmills in coastal areas etc. to replace the sole reliance of fossil energy for human. There were two screening rooms in the exhibition area producing a graphical presentation of the topic, yet impressive. The most interesting part of the exhibition is the Forum session. There were video clips of interviews with ten experts of the subject discussing issues like the advantages of global warming; the responsibility / liability of global warming in developed and developing countries respectively; alternatives to fossil energy; feasibility of nuclear energy etc. Without offering too much evidence and data back-up, the debates still offered some insights to the issue.
Interestingly, I recognise more that global warming is not a question of science or technology but more a social issue (perhaps an economics topics relating to comparative advantage and externality too). With the continuous development of globalisation, preferences and options between boundaries are getting more and more confronting. The recent incidence of objection to the referendum of EU Constitution is already an obvious example. G8 is another concern to the world now. Inevitably, global warming would be a big problem that the world has yet seriously faced with. A consensus is difficult to reach at the moment. The Kyoto consent has yet been fully implemented by US. Well, the problem of excessive CO2 emission is not only caused by the developing countries like China (of course this is a headache to be seriously tackled before it's getting too late), but also the developed countries, in particular the US. Something worthnoting is that household consumption produces significant emission of CO2, and this speeds up the global warming process. There is a proposal in UK to introduce a CO2 consumption quota for every citizen, and I see this an idea that cannot easily be legislated and implemented, but fruitfully discussable at present.
An impressive figure about France is that around 80% of energy consumed within the country is now generated by nuclear power. The figure massively outcasts that of other developed countries where nuclear power may contribute only about 17% of the total energy generated. The mature development of nuclear power of France partly explains why the G8 considers to build the ITER plant in France instead of Japan, not to mention other political reasons.

L'eau de Paris...(22/3)

...Paris city authorities began distributing thousands of specially-designed glass carafes in a campaign to wean the public off bottled mineral water and back onto the tap. A poll showed that 51%...
of the two million Parisians buy their drinking water in shops (including me, haha), and the city hall and publicly-owned water company Eau de Paris argue that the piped alternative is cheaper, more ecologically sound, and just as healthy. Hundreds joined a long queue at the esplanade in front of the Hotel de Ville where Parisians could present a coupon downloaded from the Internet or cut from a local newspaper in return for a carafe marked with the Eau de Paris logo and an Eiffel Tower...

This is not just a matter of marketing exercise for the Water Authority, but it's more a concern of the water quality and pollution of which the Parisians may have developed this drinking habit accordingly. My office, like many others, distributes bottles of drinking water and people do not drink too much tap water. A not-too-unobvious fact in Paris is that the tap water contains high percentage of calcium, and to a certain extent, I see much a feeling of insecurity to try a taste of the running water. On the other hand, I admire a lot the packaging, the quality and the distribution efficiency of the bottle water in supermarkets and restaurants, not just only the brand of Perrier or Evian or Vittel. Sparkling water, an invention I am not sure if it's also from France...(let me know if you have any idea), is another element that adds a favour to the gourmet of French cuisine. Because of the extra cost, I have a feeling that Parisians do not really drink a lot, at least not in the restaurants (excluding their red or white wine just like their own "d'eau mineral"). So how much do you know about the water you are drinking of?
(for more info, this website may help: http://www.institut-eau.com)