People Fixing the World - Checking out the solar hotel

Could we build cities using solar panels instead of walls? That’s the dream that Huang Ming, a wealthy entrepreneur in China’s Shandong province, has had since the 1980s. He’s become known as the ‘Sun King’ after building a vast solar park, including a showcase hotel, to prove a new kind of solar architecture is possible. So why hasn’t it caught on? We check into a room in the solar hotel and examine the vision and sometimes unfulfilled dreams of solar architecture in China.
Plus, why do bins in Copenhagen have shelves built into them? Clue: it helps the city’s poorest people.

Presenter: Mukul Devichand
Reporters: Emma Wilson and Harriet Noble

(Image: Huang Ming and his solar hotel, Credit: BBC)

Published on Saturday, 18th March 2017.

Available Podcasts from People Fixing the World

Subscribe to People Fixing the World

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the People Fixing the World webpage.