France

IEA to France: increase electricity prices and competition

After a long break I am finally back to writing for CleanTechies. The occasion was given by the International Energy Agency as it released on Monday its latest country report on France. As I wrote there : Although France has not been immune to the global economic downturn, the climate change plan known as the […]

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Europe must cut its CO2 emissions by 30 percent

This is the message published today in three leading European newspapers by the Environment Ministers of the United Kingdom, Germany and France, respectively Mr. Chris Huhne, Dr Norbert Röttgen and Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo. This bold call for action changes from the traditional European Union’s message which clings to cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

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A glimpse at the farms of the future

I am fortunate to have half of my family living in the countryside with family members working as farmers. I believe this enabled me to discover the marvels of Nature at a young age. While working one sunny afternoon in April  I was reflecting with one of my uncles that the cow manure collected daily

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Why it’s time to increase electricity prices

One of the main facts of the latest World Energy Outlook is that energy efficiency “is the largest contributor in reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases , accounting for over half of total abatement by 2030.” This means that it has more impact than renewable energies, nuclear power and clean coal combined. But energy is

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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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Colored PV panels coming to a roof near you

Solar PV capacity is growing fast, and each year it is growing even faster.  But when talking about solar with friends, some of them complain that the blue color is an hindrance as it looks out of place with red roofs. This might change soon as Lof Solar, a solar company from Taiwan is launching

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Siemens’ European Green City Index

Europe is often considered at the forefront of the environmental scene as the EU keeps working on energy efficiency, renewables, biodiversity and other related issues. However not all countries are equal and so are their capital cities. Siemens published a study – the European Green City Index – which “measures and rates the environmental performance

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SNCF, à nous de vous faire préférer le train ?

The French National Railways want us to believe their service is so good you will ditch your car and take only trains. At first I thought so as the SNCF indeed enabled me to avoid a tonne of CO2 emissions in 2008. But between their often prohibitive tariffs and their repetitive and long-lasting strikes I am

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Worth an article – my April 2010 tweets

I have been committed for three years to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector. However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. However, many more great news

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Great astrophotographies – April 2010

This is time for me to present my selection of the best pictures of the NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). As always, this month was packed with beautiful images. It was difficult to select just ten. To the NASA, today’s picture : “Venus and Mercury were imaged next to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral

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