The Daily Populous

China breaks ground on first “Forest City” that fights air pollution

A pollution-fighting green city unlike any before is springing to life in China.

The futuristic city will use renewable energy for self sufficiency and be blanketed in almost 1 million plants and 40,000 trees—a sea of greenery capable of absorbing nearly 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide and 57 tons of pollutants annually.

This first Chinese Forest City will host 30,000 people in a community where all buildings are entirely covered in nearly a million plants of over 100 species, as well as 40,000 trees, that produce approximately 900 tons of oxygen.

The use of greenery-covered facades builds on Stefano Boeri’s previous works, including the Vertical Forest residential building in Milan.

The new green city will be entirely wired and connected to Liuzhou with a fast rail line used by electric cars.

Powered by geothermal and solar energy, Liuzhou Forest City will include residential areas, commercial and recreational spaces, two schools, and a hospital. »

Chinese province runs on 100% renewables for 7 days

Authored by climateactionprogramme.org

The trial – which ran from 17 June to 23 June – saw the entire province generate all of its power needs with clean energy sources, including solar, wind and hydro power.

Quan Shengming detailed that during the seven day period electricity use was 1.1 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), the equivalent of 535,000 tonnes of coal.

Hydro contributed as much as 72.3 per cent of the electricity, with new energy sources including wind and solar providing the balance, said Han Ti, Vice General Manager. »

Exclusive: U.S. warship stayed on deadly collision course despite warning - container ship captain

Authored by reuters.com

TOKYO A U.S. warship struck by a container vessel in Japanese waters failed to respond to warning signals or take evasive action before a collision that killed seven of its crew, according to a report of the incident by the Philippine cargo ship's captain.

Spokesmen from the Japan Coast Guard (JCG), U.S. Coast Guard and ship owner, Dainichi Invest, also declined to comment.

Another focus of the probes has been the length of time it took the ACX Crystal to report the collision. »

'Harry Potter' turns 20

Authored by cnn.com

(CNN) Believe it or not, the world almost missed out on Harry Potter.

Author J.K. Rowling has told the story of how she received "loads" of rejections before "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (known in the U.S. as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") was finally published on June 26, 1997.

In celebration of the 20th anniversary the first Potter adventure, let's take a look at how Rowling's magical writing changed the world. »

Betelgeuse captured by ALMA

Authored by eso.org

This orange blob shows the nearby star Betelgeuse, as seen by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA).

This is the first time that ALMA has ever observed the surface of a star and this first attempt has resulted in the highest-resolution image of Betelgeuse available.

Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars currently known — with a radius around 1400 times larger than the Sun’s in the millimeter continuum. »