For my latest post for CleanTechies I propose a reflection further to an interesting op ed Thomas L. Friedman wrote on the New York Times on why America should tax more gasoline. As I noted earlier US drivers pay less than ten euro cents per liter of tax when their German, British, Italian, Turkish or […]
Could America tax gas more and fund cleantech? Read More »
As Eurobserv’ER published a market barometer for heat pumps I thought it might be the occasion to have a look at this most interesting and promising technology which already accounts for nearly 9 GW th of capacity in Europe. With over 100,000 systems installed every year throughout the European Union, heat pumps can both heat
Why heat pumps are a fantastic idea Read More »
A new report published by many agencies of the United Nations – including the FAO, the UNEP and the UNESCO – shows that maintaining healthy oceans is a vital topic for climate change mitigation. Indeed, more than half of the carbon dioxide captured by Nature is captured by oceans and seas. Coastal ecosystems like mangroves
Healthy oceans matter in climate Read More »
After the United Kingdom which pledged to cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 34 percent by 2020 and Japan by 25 percent, Norway is another country to pledge to drastic emissions cuts. Meanwhile, the European Union still clings to cuts from 20 to 30 percent if other major emitters join them. It would be nice
Norway to cut its emissions by 40 percent Read More »
Concentrating Solar Thermal is a fantastic energy source and some experts estimate that it could answer a quarter of the global electricity needs by 2050 if large plants were installed in sunny deserts. However the New York Times notes that this energy source use significant amounts of water. Since this resource is already scarce in
Concentrating solar needs huge amounts of water Read More »
It is widely known and agreed upon within the scientific community and our elected representatives that Mankind has to limit the increase of temperatures to two degrees Celsius (3.6°F) by 2100 compared to 1850 levels. However, we have recently seen that the least developed nations and many island nations in the Pacific Ocean call for
2°C of temperatures increase might be too much Read More »
Alstom and various US partners have been testing carbon capture on a small Wisconsin coal-fired plant. After a year of testing, this pilot project is a success as 90 percent of carbon dioxide was captured. The French company is willing to commercialize CCS for new and existing coal fired plants as early as 2015. But
Carbon Capture and Storage works ! Read More »
Some believe that with the current economic crises we can’t afford to spend extra money on climate change mitigation or on the protection of the environment. However various recent studies show exactly the opposite. In today’s article will see how and why this is possible. This occurs just a few days after I wrote on
Fighting climate change makes financial sense Read More »
The European Union will give over the next decade up to 50 billion Euros to research on low carbon energy. Solar energies will receive 16 billion euros, wind power 6 billion, nuclear 7 and energy from waste and biomass 9 billion. This is due to enable the 27 members to compete on cleantech with the
EU to give 50 billion euros to energy research Read More »
America is the world’s second largest greenhouse gases emitter and thus needs to act. It seems it is the case as the local Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may cut emissions from the energy and industry sectors as early as 2011. This is good news as 70 percent of US emissions come from them. Additionally, the
America is going forward on climate change Read More »
