Fukushima city begins building solar power plant using U.S. donation (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

FUKUSHIMA (Kyodo) -- The city of Soma in Fukushima Prefecture started work on a solar power plant Friday using a $250,000 donation from a U.S. foundation.

The city office launched the project using the donation worth around 20 million yen that the foundation led by entrepreneur Elon Musk offered to support reconstruction of the city -- hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami -- through the use of renewable energy sources.

Musk, the founder of the online settlement service PayPal, told reporters in Soma that the city made the right choice and his wish is to deliver hope to disaster-affected people.

The city, about 40 kilometers north of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, will initially put in place 100 panels, increasing that number over time in line with the city's plan to establish a large-scale photovoltaic station on 11 hectares of land.

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http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20110730p2g00m0dm011000c.html

[joshcryer]

1. Elon Musk is amazing!

:D

[bananas]

2. Yes he is!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elon_Musk#Philanthropy

Philanthropy

Musk is Chairman of the Musk Foundation, which focuses its philanthropic efforts on science education, pediatric health and clean energy. He is a trustee of the X Prize Foundation, promoting renewable energy technologies. He sits on the boards of The Space Foundation, The National Academies Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, The Planetary Society, and Stanford Engineering Advisory Board. Musk is also a member of the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

In 2010, Musk begun a multi-million dollar program through his foundation to donate solar power systems for critical needs in disaster areas, with preference given to areas where SolarCity has no operations and doesn't intend to establish operations. The reason for doing installations in non-SolarCity markets is to make it clear that this is truly a philanthropical action with no expectation of return.

The first such solar power installation occurred on a hurricane response center in Alabama that had been neglected by state and federal aid. To make it clear that this was not serving Musk's commercial interests, SolarCity noted that it had no present or planned business activity in Alabama http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20101214005733/en/Elon-Musk/SolarCity/Obama

In 2001, Musk had plans for a "Mars Oasis" project, which would land a miniature experimental greenhouse on Mars, containing food crops growing on Martian regolith.<21><22> He put this project on hold when he came to the conclusion that the fundamental problem preventing humanity from becoming a true spacefaring civilization was the lack of advancement in rocket technology. He has sought to address this by founding SpaceX to create revolutionary new interplanetary rockets.

His long term goal is to help humanity through SpaceX by creating a true spacefaring civilization.<23> Musk's philosophy and description of what is needed to solve the problem are provided in the IEEE podcast "Elon Musk: a founder of Paypal, Tesla Motors, and SpaceX"<24> and article "Risky Business."<22>

[Kolesar]

3. Super in every way...eom