Electric Vehicle Chargers Expand Across Hong Kong

There is some good news for environmentalists and residents in Hong Kong with the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations across the territory.



Hong Kong is ideally suited for the mass use of electric cars than many other countries with its small geographic size and the only external routes are cross border with China.

Road side pollution is of a major concern and even with a comprehensive mass transport system many commuters still drive around the SAR and emit toxins in to the air.

Now with up to 300 electric charging stations there is a viable alternative in the the electric car. While energy must still be produced to produce the electric fuel any emissions are not concentrated in the highly urbanised city.

The technology of electric vehicles cannot yet match the performance of fossil fueled cars but this does not matter for a country as small as Hong Kong. Travel distances are small and easily accomplished with a fully charged electric vehicle.


Even with a small number of cleaner cars on the road the charging network needs to be quite comprehensive. Hopefully the charging stations will become more abundant and then there will really be no reason not for residents not to switch to electric.

iPhone App for Hong Kong Travellers

Travelling on the Hong Kong Buses has been made easier for residents and tourists. The Kowloon Motor Bust Company has developed an iPhone application that helps you on your way.

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For residents who often work long hours for very little pay the journey home allows time for them to catch up on a little bit of rest. They can often be seen eyes closed and head dropping as they nearly fall off their seat sleeping.
Now this little application will warn them of their approaching stop with a wake up call.

For tourist the application functions as a route search, it is often the case that you know where to go but you never know how to get there. As well as indication where to jump off your bus you can be informed of where the nearest bus stop is to catch you bus and what number you should take.

There is one big problem and it is quite a big one. The glue that holds the whole system together is the GPS system built into the iPhone which appears to be quite unreliable.

Errors in the GPS of up to 1000 meters can occur and this could see you heading in the wrong direction to catch that bus or completely missing your stop if you are soundly sleeping.

Record Breaking Pulling a Jumbo Jet

The International airport serving Hong Kong was the scene of a recent Guinness World Record attempt. This task involved hauling a huge Boeing 747 airliner over 100 meters.



A team of 100 pulled the airliner which had a weight of 218 tonne across the tarmac at Chek Lap Kok. The strong team included members of the Immigration Department, Police Force and Fire Service Department as well as other Government services.

The Government of Kong Kong is making small steps to reduce pollution at the airport. It is not clear if this is an attempt to reduce emissions by having teams of residents pull aircraft around the airfield.

The record is still an admirable feat and too place as part of a celebration of 100 years of aviation in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Radiation Fears

The effects of the recent tsunami in Japan is reaching Hong Kong in waves of despair. While the outpouring of sympathy for the Japanese people was slight evident there were more pressing concerns in the Special Administrative Region.

Image: HKO

Hong Kong hosts many Japanese restaurants and of course they have their customers wallets to entertain. The continuing supply of genuine Japanese raw fish for sushi was in doubt.

Knocking on the door is the continual spewing of radiation that is spreading and invisible cloud of warmth over Japan. Now the door has been opened and the importation of Japanese food has been banned in the country.

With increasingly high rent and the fear of eating potentially radiated fish by customers I wonder how many of those establishments will survive.

Home grown fears of radiation have seen a somewhat deluded idea that salt will protect the population. A rush on salt sales has occurred with prices sky-rocketing for the white condiment to many times their original. Unfortunately the protection does not work and excess consumption of salt will probably make them more sick than any impending radiation.

The government has tried to put the populations fears at rest by indication that there is no threat from any radiation cloud in Hong Kong. This comes at the same time as the Meteorologist at the Hong Kong Observatory have started to publish radiation levels form various locations.

Love and Revenge Hong Kong Style

 
Hong Kong is a relatively safe place to work and live but crime does happen. The small number of criminal acts make up for their rarity by being very dramatic in their actions.

In a recent case a neglected wife took revenge on her cheating husband in a quite gruesome way. The husband who has apparently hopping across the Hong Kong / Chinese border for a bit of tender female company though his secret was safe.

However that was not the case, his wife found out about his naughty visits and planned her revenge. While feeling quite safe and soundly sleeping the plotting wife enacted her plan.

Her instrument of revenge here was a large bucket of sulphuric acid which was thrown over the sleeping man. Which I'm sure caused quite a burning sensation.
As a result the husband required facial surgery. For the wife, she has been sentenced to 4 years in prison.

The couple have been married for over 30 years and after this incident who knows how much longer that will last

Hong Kong Busses Pollution Improvement

The roads of Hong Kong are to be come a little bit less polluted with the introduction of more Euro V standard busses. There are currently around 90 Euro V busses travelling routes around the region.

Image from Kowloon Motor Bus

The Kowloon Motor Bus company is expecting the arrival of 300 new Euro V standard busses which reduce the emissions of Nitrogen Oxide by nearly 50% when compared with the Euro IV. In addition tests will be carried out in retrofitting existing Euro II and III grade busses with catalytic converters.

The European Emission Standards set the levels of exhaust emissions for road transport in the European Union. These include amounts permissible of Carbon Dioxide, Hydrocarbons and  Nitrogen Oxide.

Hong Kong has a pollution problem caused partly by traffic and on many days the levels of toxins in the air can rise to dangerous levels. This is an increasing problem for Hong Kong and of a major concern for its residents.