The vast Tibetan Plateau is the closest place on
earth to the sun. Solar energy, one of the region's superior
energy resources, is widely used. Solar cooking stoves and
bathrooms, for instance, are fitted in thousands of
households. A stove using a 2-square-meter solar panel is
equivalent to a 2-kw electrical stove in most places. Many
families have also installed solar water heaters for
year-round supply. As farmers and herdsmen are scattered
across a broad expanse of land, electricity is beyond their
reach. Well-to-do farmers and herdsmen were longing for an
electric light to replace their buttered oil lamps and
candles, as well as wanting a radio and television. The
spread and application of solar energy cells have made their
dream become true.
To know the current living
situation of the Tibetan people, one has only to look at
what they eat and wear, what they use to decorate their
rooms. their spacious and bright houses, and their smiling
faces. Because harsh natural conditions featuring thin air
and low temperature are not conducive to horticulture and
growing garden crops, fresh vegetables and fruit have to be
brought in by road and air from elsewhere. The development
of heliogreenhouse technology has considerably enriched
dining tables year-round with fresh fruits, vegetables,
meats and eggs. People begin to pay more attention to
nutrition and healthy food. Reform and opening policy, as
well as successive waves of scientific and technological
revolution, have made the Tibetan people's lives better and
prosperous.
Since 1979, the Solar Energy
Research Institute of Tibet Autonomous Region has been
developing solar energy stoves, ovens, water heaters, heat
collectors, greenhouses and heating houses. All these
facilities have passed through the experimentation and
demonstration phases and have been widely used. By the end
of 1995, a total of 60,000 stoves and 55,000-square-meter
water heating facilities had been in use, along with 700 kw
of solar power facilities including over 4,500 sets of solar
power supply equipment for satellite ground station. In
addition, the region had built a swimming pool and 140,000
square meters of housing with solar heating system, and 1.5
million square meters of various types of heliogreenhouses.
This has helped save energy equivalent to 120,000 tons of
standard coal annually. The annual comprehensive economic
returns from solar energy are now valued at more than 96
million yuan. As a result, the region's Sunlight Plan is
being rapidly expanded.
After dark, lights are
lit on every street and household. The lights twinkling in
the households of remote mountain villages seem like stars,
giving all of Tibet a warm, harmonious atmosphere. All these
come from indispensable geothermal and hydropower resources.
In July 1977, the Yangbajain Geothermal Power
Station, the first of its kind in the region, was erected on
the beautiful grassland of north Tibet and began generating
power three months later. The state has invested more than
200 million yuan to make it the largest geothermal
experimental base in the country. The station now has an
installed generating capacity of 25,000 kw, ranking the 10th
in the world. The development of the Yangbajain Geothermal
Field and construction of power station there are of great
significance not only to power supply in Lhasa but also to
exploration of abundant geothermal resources in Tibet and
the country as a whole.
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