Whole Travel Blog

Taiwan recently finished construction of an amazing solar-powered stadium that can generate 100% of its electricity from the sun. The dragon-shaped arena can hold 50,000 spectators and is made with over 8,000 solar panels.

Taiwan's solar-powered stadium can seat 50,000

The stadium will officially open in July for the 2009 World Games. In addition to the solar panels, the stadium integrates many other sustainable features such as permeable paving and maximum use of domestic materials and local labor. In addition, a plot of land adjacent to the stadium was set aside for development of public lands, including bike paths, sport parks, a pond system and green open spaces.

On days that the stadium is not being used, the government plans to feed surplus energy into the local grid, where it will meet approximately 80% of the neighboring area’s demand. This equates to approximately 660 tons of carbon dioxide per year!

There has been a huge amount of media buzz this past week and a half surrounding the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. There have been rumors, scandals, debates and comparison - all typical signs that a presidential race is rapidly approaching. This year, however, much attention has focused on the Democrat’s highly publicized goal of producing “the most environmentally sustainable political convention in modern American history.”  For an environmentalist–skeptical, pessimistic and distrusting–this might seem like just an attempt at securing the votes of a gullible electorate, but a seemingly good-faith effort was made at “greening” most every part of the convention, from energy sources and waste reduction to transportation and community support.

To me, the question that arises from the convention is: How does Barack Obama’s campaign make the same effort as the Democratic National Committee at achieving carbon neutrality and environmental benignity? Needless to say, Barack Obama and John McCain are both logging plenty of miles in their campaign airplanes, traveling from one end of the country to the other rallying members of their respective parties. But from what I’ve been able to find online, there have been only three presidential campaigns ever to make the promise of carbon neutrality: Tom Vilsack, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton after Earth Day. With these three candidates starting the trend, it doesn’t make sense that Obama wouldn’t follow suit. Making a statement like this would raise awareness that the impact of plane flight can be mitigated. Besides, I’m sure Obama would sway more than a few fence-sitters by declaring his campaign to be carbon neutral.

There has been a huge amount of media buzz this past week and a half surrounding the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. There have been rumors, scandals, debates and comparison - all typical signs that a presidential race is rapidly approaching. This year, however, much attention has focused on the Democrat’s highly publicized goal of producing “the most environmentally sustainable political convention in modern American history.”  For an environmentalist–skeptical, pessimistic and distrusting–this might seem like just an attempt at securing the votes of a gullible electorate, but a seemingly good-faith effort was made at “greening” most every part of the convention, from energy sources and waste reduction to transportation and community support.

To me, the question that arises from the convention is: How does Barack Obama’s campaign make the same effort as the Democratic National Committee at achieving carbon neutrality and environmental benignity? Needless to say, Barack Obama and John McCain are both logging plenty of miles in their campaign airplanes, traveling from one end of the country to the other rallying members of their respective parties. But from what I’ve been able to find online, there have been only three presidential campaigns ever to make the promise of carbon neutrality: Tom Vilsack, John Edwards and Hillary Clinton after Earth Day. With these three candidates starting the trend, it doesn’t make sense that Obama wouldn’t follow suit. Making a statement like this would raise awareness that the impact of plane flight can be mitigated. Besides, I’m sure Obama would sway more than a few fence-sitters by declaring his campaign to be carbon neutral.