Month: July 2008

On the exploitation of oil shale and sands…

You think drilling for Arctic oil would be an ugly mess ? Then have a look at the exploitation of oil shales and tar-sands that is already occurring in Canada and the United States. The WWF released a new report on how recovering these difficultly recoverable oil barrels are literally destroying entire regions with massive …

On the exploitation of oil shale and sands… Read More »

Better Place : an interesting project of hybrid cars

Even if oil prices decreased during the last weeks – as I write these lines they are around $120 at the NYMEX – there is no doubt they will soar again and reach $200 in the very next months. Since our transportation habits are depending so much on this energy source, it is high time …

Better Place : an interesting project of hybrid cars Read More »

Breaking the climate deadlock : a great report

While browsing the many articles published on TreeHugger I came across one that read “The most important report you’ll read this year”. Quite a catchy title for quite important news. According to the Climate Group, the debate over global warming is over as it is occurring and as all developed nations are now acknowledging it …

Breaking the climate deadlock : a great report Read More »

Great astrophotographies – July 2008

What happens when it is Monday evening and you haven’t posted the article you generally publish on Sunday ? Well, it’s easy, you write a quick article. My review of this month’s astrophotographies will thus be brief, very brief. As a matter of fact there won’t be any descriptions of the photos I liked, just …

Great astrophotographies – July 2008 Read More »

A great video on why CFL are fantastic

If you had a look recently at the sidebar of this blog, you may have noticed that I added a link on what is RSS just next to the subscription button. This sends you to a page featuring a great video by the Common Craft Show. This company didn’t stop right there and did the …

A great video on why CFL are fantastic Read More »

Arctic oil… Should we drill and burn it ?

According to a study released today by the United States Geological Survey, a fifth of world oil and natural gas reserves may be located under the Arctic. This would represent 90 billion barrels of oil and a lot of natural gas. As you can imagine, countries of this region – The United States, Canada and …

Arctic oil… Should we drill and burn it ? Read More »

Decreasing by 80 % US CO2 emissions by 2050 is possible

You perhaps remember my lengthy article where I stated that cutting by a factor four our carbon dioxide emissions by the middle of this century is feasible. Well, it seems I am not alone thinking this as a team of Minnesota scientists just released a study pointing to the same results : We can do …

Decreasing by 80 % US CO2 emissions by 2050 is possible Read More »

GDF Suez : A French energy giant is born

As the official website was launched today,  I would like to write about this major event in the energy industry. After two years of talks a new giant energy company is born : GDF Suez. The company is the product of the merger of Gaz de France and Suez. The group weights nearly 75 billion …

GDF Suez : A French energy giant is born Read More »

Beijing Olympics and the fear of bad air quality

After the algae bloom come the worries on Beijing’s air quality. To improve this, the local government took a drastic measure : cars will be allowed to drive on alternate days. This measure is due to decrease by up to 60 percent the pollution of the 3.3 million cars of the city. Meanwhile, new subway …

Beijing Olympics and the fear of bad air quality Read More »

Smart meters lead to smart behaviors

Since the writing of my Master’s Degree thesis I am fully aware of how insulating housing is a vital part of solving both climate change and energy scarcity crises. By reading a New York Times’ article I learned that halving houses’ carbon footprint in only five years is feasible. This is the result of an …

Smart meters lead to smart behaviors Read More »

%d bloggers like this: