Year: 2011

My thousandth post here : please answer the poll

I am publishing today my thousandth post. Started in the first hours of 2007, this blog has received since then more and more visitors and more and more people subscribed. Thank you all ! I would like to take the opportunity to start a poll among you, visitors, readers and subscribers. Indeed, to increase this …

My thousandth post here : please answer the poll Read More »

Sustainability in action : helping my family

This weekend was the occasion for me to go and visit my family in Lorraine (Eastern France). This enabled me to help out my two uncles and their families cut their water and energy consumption. Indeed, I first helped one family install a rainwater harvesting system that will enable them to water their garden for …

Sustainability in action : helping my family Read More »

Book review : The Plundered Planet

Here is a review of a book I finished in February. After reading Crossing The Energy Divide, I started right away  The Plundered Planet by Paul Collier, a professor of Economics at Oxford who worked for the World Bank. This is the sequel of The Bottom Billion, which was published in 2007 and explained why …

Book review : The Plundered Planet Read More »

Great astrophotographies – February 2011

I think this is a record of some sort as I am only publishing today my selection of astrophotographies for February… Anyway, here is my selection of the best pictures of the NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). This month is a bit special as my favorite is a video : ” How big …

Great astrophotographies – February 2011 Read More »

Greenland and Antarctica are melting much faster than predicted

To CleanTechies : ” According to a new NASA-funded study, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass at a much faster rate than previous model forecasts have predicted. “ ” Results suggest that the ice sheets, found only in Antarctica and Greenland, are melting faster than mountain glaciers and ice caps and are poised …

Greenland and Antarctica are melting much faster than predicted Read More »

China’s new plan puts emphasis on environment

Earlier this month – while Europe decided to keep the same unambitious targets – the People’s Republic of China decided in its 12th five-year plan to tackle even more environmental issues like water and air pollution. As the BBC noted : ” China’s latest five-year plan for 2011 to 2015 seeks to achieve a more …

China’s new plan puts emphasis on environment Read More »

Why dual flush toilets should be ubiquitous

Using clean drinkable water to flush isn’t making much sense economically and environmentally. Yet this is the most practical one. (I don’t really see how people living in huge cities could all use dry or composting toilets) This is why I believe that each and everyone of us should install dual flush toilets to minimize …

Why dual flush toilets should be ubiquitous Read More »

EU backs away from 30% emissions target. Again !

We have previously seen here that the European Union could easily achieve a 30 percent reduction of greenhouse gases emissions by 2020 (compared to 1990 levels). This would make a lot of sense both environmentally and economically. Yet the European Commission kept earlier this month on clinging to the 20 percent reduction targets by 2020 …

EU backs away from 30% emissions target. Again ! Read More »

Generating electricity 40 to 50 % more efficiently

It’s a well known fact, the production of electricity via traditional coal and natural gas burning plants and in a lesser way nuclear reactors is vastly inefficient. But this might change soon thanks to scientific research. To Ecogeek : ” Researchers (…) are developing a new gas turbine to increase the efficiency of conventional electrical …

Generating electricity 40 to 50 % more efficiently Read More »

Solar power plants face problems in California

During my daily hours of ride in the trains to go and come back from the job I read books but also newspapers. This allowed me to read a great article in the New York Times about an unexpected problem with solar power plants in California. ” Just weeks after regulators approved the last of …

Solar power plants face problems in California Read More »

%d bloggers like this: