Wednesday, July 22, 2009 will be a memorable day for those who live in Asia – as they’ll witness the longest solar eclipse in the 21st century, lasting for six minutes and 39 seconds. The eclipse will reach this six-minute maximum duration point over the Pacific Ocean.

The eclipse will be visible in and around central India and in parts of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. This will be the most watched eclipse – as it will be right over the most densly populated area in the world. But hey, if you’re not in the area of the eclipse then you can always watch it online here.

The controversial Measure B was put to a vote yesterday and defeated by hair with 50.3 percent of L.A. voters saying “No.”

Measure B would have mandated L.A.’s utility to include more solar power in its supply. While this sounds fine in and of itself, detractors claimed it would unfairly exclude private installers from getting in on L.A.’s solar power program.

While the vote count shows a defeat for Measure B, the results aren’t official yet as the L.A. City Clerk’s Office requires 21 days to certify the results.

Specifically, Measure B would have mandated the installation of 400 megawatts of solar energy by 2014. The main sticking point for this for voters was that the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) would be completely in charge of all installation, operation and maintenance of the solar panels.

Supporters of Measure B included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, The California League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club and the utility worker’s union.

Los Angeles is paving the way to be the world’s best when it comes to using solar power for it’s city energy consumption. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced yesterday the city’s plan to use solar power for ten percent of all it’s energy needs by 2020. Currently the city only uses solar for a mere one percent.

The ambitious plan requires 1,280 MW of power to be produced by solar panels. Villaraigosa plans to use both public and private facilities to generate the power needed but the majority of the power (500 MW) will come from private facilities in the Mojave Desert, while 380 MW of power will come from small programs. Once the plain is complete it will cost LA residents approximately 2 dollars a month.

People are excited about the cities plan however some critics are worried that such a massive plan will turn these good intentions into heftier costs for solar energy.