2010

An awful situation in Pakistan

It seems that Pakistan is a victim of what I called global weirding earlier this month. Indeed, to the Financial Times the country is suffering from both massive floods and dramatic droughts. To many news sources up to 20 million people have been affected by the floods. To the local government quoted by the United […]

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Iran starts its first nuclear reactor

To the New York Times, 36 years after the construction began, Iran finally opened its first nuclear reactor. The plant has a capacity of one gigawatt (compared to the 1,650 MW of an EPR). Many around the world are fearing for the region’s peace as the uranium used in the plant could also be used

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Iceland, the perfect test site for electric vehicles

Iceland pledged in 1998 to become the first decarbonized economy. And despite having been hit very hard by the recent economic crises, Iceland may prove to be the ultimate proving grounds for electric cars. Indeed its tiny population – 320,000 people – are all pretty much close to the capital city Reykjavik and the country

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UN launches the Decade for Deserts

The United Nations are launching the Decade for Deserts and the Fight against Desertification, an effort to improve the protection and management of the world’s drylands, home to over two billion people. Drylands take up 41 percent of the land surface and are threatened by multiple factors such as soil degradation, climate change and unsustainable

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America could be coal-free by 2030

This isn’t surprising as I already noted that America could cut its coal consumption by 62 % by 2020 just by increasing its energy efficiency. Now comes a new study that shows that the USA could be completely coal-free by 2030. If it can be done in America, it sure can be done in the European

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Biochar and its potential role

To CleanTechies : « Biochar is charcoal type created by the pyrolysis of biomass, and differs from ordinary charcoal only in the sense that its primary use is not for fuel, but for biosequestration or atmospheric carbon capture and storage.» «As much as 12 % of the world’s human caused greenhouse gas emissions could be

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New York State unveils solar thermal plans

Solar photoelectric and concentrating solar thermal are all the rage and little is said about the much simpler solar thermal. However this technology has a huge potential as New York will soon show. Indeed the US State is willing to add the equivalent of no less than two gigawatts of capacity by 2020. Heating water

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Youth unemployment hits record highs

Here is a post on a subject not so unrelated to sustainable development. To the International Labour Organization : “ Global youth unemployment has reached its highest level on record, and is expected to increase through 2010 “ The ILO also warns of the “risk of a crisis legacy of a ‘lost generation’ comprised of

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Global weirding, or the climate gone crazy

I heard that term before as extreme events are unfolding. But two contributors of the Huffington Post believe that what we are witnessing this summer – fires in Russia, floods in Pakistan, heat waves in America – is a sign of global weirding. And they make quite a point as in a few weeks, so

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Portugal’s bold renewable energy policy

To CleanTechnica : ” Five years ago, when 17% of Portugal’s energy came from renewable energy – about like California now – the government made a bold decision to aim for 45% during the next five years – by 2010.” And it worked : the country is due to reach this most ambitious goal by

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