Climate change

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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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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To Medvedev, this is a wake up call

As TreeHugger noted yesterday the President of the Russian Confederation, Dimitri Medvedev, believes that the current heat wave and assorted droughts and wild fires occurring in his country are a wake up call. Indeed, having a look at the current situation in Russia and its capital city Moscow sure makes you think about climate change

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China has per capita emissions higher than France

This was a shock to me. To TreeHugger : ” According to an assessment of per capita carbon emissions by the Netherlands Environmental Agency, China now emits on a per person basis more than France. ” While emissions in France in 2009 were 6 tons, those in China were 6.1 tons -up from 2.2 tons

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The top 10 coal-burning countries

We all know it : coal is by far the most greenhouse gases emitting energy source. It is also a major air pollutant. For these two reasons it is the environmental enemy #1. (cf The Economist’s cover, back to 2002) However, many countries like China, India, Germany or the United States are still relying importantly

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Claude Allegre, the French climate imposter

In France, climate change deniers are few. As a matter of fact, I can think about only one name : Claude Allègre, a former scientist who now is a politician.  His latest book – L’imposture climatique – is a model for climate deniers. Real Climate proposes a compelling article on the many mistakes written there. As

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At long last a normal winter in the Arctic

To the Daily Green ” there’s more ice in the Arctic than at any time in recent years.” To the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) specialists March was particularly cold in the Arctic. As they note on their website : ” Ice extent was above normal in the Bering Sea and Baltic Sea, but

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Are we intelligent enough to prevent climate change ?

I really liked The Revenge of Gaia and have a profound respect for its author, the famous scientist and environmental thinker James Lovelock and this, even if I find him particularly pessimistic. This won’t change as for his first interview in a long time and after the huge failure of the Copenhagen climate summit, Lovelock believes

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Xynthia, another extreme weather event

As climate warms, extreme weather events are more and more frequent and more and more violent. Indeed, after the blizzards on the East coast of the United States, Europe was hit this weekend by an important storm. Xynthia claimed more than fifty lives this weekend in France alone and the costs are due to exceed

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A look at the carbon emissions of electricity

I believe fossil fuels will be replaced sooner or later by electricity. This might prove to be a good thing as heat pumps and electric vehicles are two excellent energy efficient solutions. Thus, electric consumption is rising and is due to keep rising in the next decades. Having low carbon sources to generate electricity is very

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