Huang Ming worked as a petroleum research engineer in the 1990s.

He started experimenting, on his own, with solar water heaters in about 1992, saying that he “felt guilty” working on petroleum production and use.  Now, in Dezhou, China, a large red banner near a new facility under construction by Huang’s company proclaims, “The Biggest Solar Energy Production Base in the World”.

What Huang wants to do is to create Solar Valley – an experiment in engineering – but not just the ‘technical’ part.  He wants to work on the social, economic, and economic aspects of this engineering project.  Tens of thousands of farmers have been moved into concrete apartment blocks – and their land is being turned into Solar Valley.  This is no small effort; the plan is about $740 million in investment and has attracted about one hundred companies.

Huang’s company is indeed now the world’s biggest producer of solar water heaters, and also has products that are, let’s say, somewhat specialized, like sun-warmed toilet seats and solar-powered Tebetan prayer wheels.  His company also completed another project recently – a five-star eco-friendly hotel and is about to launch a luxury apartment complex called Utopia Garden (see picture below).  These are large projects.

As far as the moniker “Solar Madman”, this is a preference of Huang himself.  In Dezhou he is called the “sun king” but he prefers the name “solar madman”

Perhaps we need just a little bit more of this insanity in the West. I’m sure the PMs and others who’d work on these projects would agree…

You can visit Huang’s Solar City site here:

http://www.himinsolar.org/

Utopia Garden - Solar-based luxury apartment complex

Huang Ming - China's "Solar Madman"

Much of the information in the post came from this story in the Boston Globe.

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