[Construction of a river bridge in the Cambodian capital has begun] Phnom Penh, February 20 (Xinhua) -- The construction of the Cambodian Pachta Long Bassa River Bridge project undertaken by Chinese enterprises was held in Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, on the 19th. Cambodian Prime Minister Khon Manay said at the ceremony that China has all along provided a lot of support for Cambodia's economic and social development, and attaches great importance to helping Cambodia develop transportation infrastructure. So far, China has used various funds to build more than 10 Bridges for Cambodia, for which the Cambodian government and people are grateful. The year 2024 is the "Year of People-to-people and Cultural Exchanges" between China and Cambodia. Cambodia is willing to work with China to continue to promote the development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation, expand friendly exchanges in various fields and promote the recovery of tourism. The Paeta Lombassa River Bridge project is located in the south of Phnom Penh city, with a total length of 1,650 meters. The project is designed with four lanes in both directions, with two motorcycle lanes and two footpaths. The project will be constructed by Shanghai Construction Engineering Group Co., LTD., with preferential export buyer's credit provided by the Export-Import Bank of China, and is scheduled to be completed and opened to traffic in 2027. Editor/Xu Shengpeng

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• 2024.03.18 18:09
• [Europe: Install solar on the roof of all new residential buildings from 2030]
• The European Parliament has formally adopted the revised Energy Performance Directive for Buildings (EPBD), which will become law after formal approval by the Council of Ministers. The directive requires all new residential buildings in the EU to be powered by rooftop solar from 2030, and public buildings and non-residential buildings will need to be phased in according to their scale and technical and economic assessments. The EPBD aims to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the building sector in line with the EU's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Currently, the building sector accounts for 40% of the EU's total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of improving energy efficiency in buildings is to enhance energy independence and sustainability in this sector by reducing the use of imported oil and gas fuels. Under the forthcoming rules, all new buildings occupied or owned by public bodies will need to be zero-emission by 2028, and all new buildings from 2030 onwards. Member States need to clearly plan the measures taken to decarbonize heating systems in order to phase out fossil fuels in heating and cooling by 2040. From 2025, stand-alone fossil fuel boilers will no longer receive subsidies, but hybrid heating systems that use renewable energy will be eligible for financial incentives. Editor/Xu Shengpeng

• 2024.03.18 18:09
• [Germany plans to build fusion power plants]
• Germany's Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger has announced a new fusion research funding program aimed at paving the way for the construction of the first fusion power plant in Germany by 2040. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has long supported fusion research at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching and Greifswald, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the Jurich Research Centre (FZJ). "This institutional funding is complemented by the second pillar of the new Project Funding Scheme," the ministry said. "The project funding aims to advance the technologies, components and materials required for fusion power plants in the first phase by the early 2030s. The second phase focuses on integration into the power plant design. The funding program is open to technology and addresses so-called magnetic confinement and laser fusion technology." In order to achieve the construction of fusion power stations as soon as possible, the program is essentially application-oriented collaborative research as a form of public-private partnership. Projects on specific sub-technologies will be carried out jointly by research institutions, universities and industry. This allows new findings from the research to be applied at an early stage and know-how to be transferred to domestic industries for further use, the ministry said. Editor/Xu Shengpeng