Results tagged “Spain” from HAWT action [hot ak-shuhn]

HAWTnews - Flu & Solar Power

By John de Guzman on May 1, 2009 11:59 PM | | Comments (3) | | | |
Sometimes things happen in the news, and we've already written about it on HAWT.  Let us dive into the archives to pull up the gems.  You just read. 

The FLU!!!

Swine flu (we won't call it the H1V2, or whatever) is sweeping the world.  A few months back, we had a sassy post that explains just how terrible a flu pandemic can be.  Read this baby, and look for the Spanish Flu in the nineteen teens.  Holy moly. 

Read and Learn: Disease: Influenza (2008/07/30)

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Solar Power from a Second Solar Tower!

One of the first, most sassy environmental posts we did on HAWT was about a solar tower in Spain that used massive, massive mirrors to point Spanish sun at... well... a tower where it turns water into steam, then moves the steam through a turbine, and... BOOM.  Electricity.

Well, Spain's second tower just went live at an insane 20 megawatts.  That's enough to power 10,000 homes.  TEN THOUSAND!

Abengoa_Solar_PS20_&_PS10_610x406.JPGCheck out the original article below, then hit up CNET if you want to know about the second solar tower farm.

Read and Learn: Spain is Doing Sassy Things  (2007/12/19)

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Spain Continues to do Sassy Things

By John de Guzman on September 4, 2008 1:30 PM | | Comments (5) | | | |
Back when HAWTaction was a hairless, blind newborn, I wrote a post about how Spain is Doing Sassy Things, covering Spain's surprising effort to utilize renewable energy.  I grew up in Spain, so no one could be more surprised (and delighted) than me in these initiatives to lead the way with creative solar power options and other... sassy things.  Turns out a few other things have popped out recently and it looks like Spain Continues to do Sassy Things.


autopista.jpgFirst, Spain is taking on the auto industry.  There was a formal speed limit in Spain when I grew up there (140 km/h on highways, 87 mph), but it took hitting 180 or 200 km/h to get any cop's attention.  That's why I'm surprised at a report in Treehugger at the end of July that reported a trio of Spanish initiatives to change their automobile industry.

The country's energy minister is aiming to set the speed limit, nationwide, at 80km/h (50mph) to conserve gasoline.  Spain also intends to save jet fuel by allowing passenger planes to take short-cuts over military airspace.  In addition, they are introducing a pilot program to manufacture one million electric and hybrid cars.  Before 2014, they intend to hand out (free) 49 million low energy light bulbs.  Finally, in a move I can't applaud enough, they are expecting to limit air conditioning in public buildings to 26 degrees C (79 F).  (They will also aim to limit heat in winter.)  Nothing gets me more mad than going into a store that is over heated and/or over cooled.  It's just a waste!

That's Spain taking things seriously.  There is still more sass, though!

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Zugarramurdi Celebrates Summer Soltice

By John de Guzman on June 26, 2008 2:30 PM | | Comments (3) | | | |
We know how much coverage the winter solstice gets, what with its Pagan rituals, Hanukkah, Christmas and other parties.  Johnny Lead Foot covered the shortest day in the year and all these festival of lights in this post: JLF: The Evolution of "Our" Christmas. 

But what about the longest day of the year, the summer solstice?  Apart from being a great day to get married, it is a time of festivities in the northern hemisphere for the upcoming summer.  Festivals galore.  Let's take a look at Zugarramurdi's celebration in Spain.  It makes me want to go back to my home country, get a torch and party in a cave.  This is a National Geographic photo that shows the scene.

1_SOLSTICE_461.jpgThat is a cave.  A hole in the planet.  It's in the northern Spainish town called Zugarramurdi, and it's where sassy people get together to celebrate the summer solstice with a pagan ritual.  Pagan rituals, apparently, kick ass.

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Spain, Congratulations! It's the World's Largest Solar Farm!

By John de Guzman on February 26, 2008 1:00 PM | | Comments (0) | | | |
14392_1_468.jpegSpain has been tearing up the environmental initiative.  A couple of months ago, I talked about how Spain is Doing Sassy Things with its Solar Tower near Sevilla and "green" plazas.  So sassy.  Well, Spain has done it again, taking over 100 hectares (247 acres) of wine country to lay out the largest solar farm in the world.

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Las Vegas, España

By John de Guzman on February 15, 2008 12:00 PM | | Comments (1) | | | |
Spain got shafted when Disney chose France to house EuroDisney (now called Disneyland Resort Paris).  Wouldn't Disney want to take advantage of Spain's sassier climate and citizens?  (I'm a bit partial.)  Well, it took Spain almost 16 years, but they picked themselves up by the boina and set their sights far beyond EuroDisney to take on the entertainment capital of the world: Las Vegas.

I introduce you to Gran Scala, the second largest casino complex in the world (second to Las Vegas). 

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Spain is Doing Sassy Things

By John de Guzman on December 19, 2007 1:43 PM | | Comments (1) | | | |
Anytime Spain comes up in conversation or on the news, I pay special attention because that's where John grew from a shy infant into a not-shy man.  A couple of articles have come across my computer screen that I think are worthy to point out.  See, the Spain I knew loved to lag behind the rest of the world, almost proudly sticking to its stop-the-country-no-matter-what siesta routine.  So, when I see things like this, I get very proud of my country.  It's all grows up!

First, an article from BBC News on May 2nd.  Spain has redefined the potential of solar power near Seville.   This is a "solar tower" (it doesn't have a proper name yet):

solarpowertower.jpgAs you can see, this leaves a simple solar panel in the dust.   The technique is to point 600 giant mirrors (you can compare to the SUV in the photo above to get scale) at a tower that's 40 stories tall.  All that light (and it's an insane amount of light) turns water to steam which powers turbines and makes energy.  Steam power?  How retro!  How much power can this steam produce?  How about 11 Megawatts?  How about 6,000 homes?

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