While it is undeniable that we are ramping up our actions against climate change, it is hard to deny that global warming is getting scarier every week. Here is a quick selection of horror stories I have collected this summer.
Bangladesh
7.7 million people are now working in renewables
Last year I was reporting that we were 6.5 million people working in the Renewable Energy Industries. If I have – temporarily – left it, many more have joined as now this figure reaches 7.7 million people.
Bangladesh now has over three million solar houses
I reported in June 2011 that Bangladesh, one of the world’s poorest countries, had over a million solar roofs. A few years later and these figures have tripled as the country now has 3.1 million residential solar energy systems.
6.5 million people ( and I )
This is the amount of people that are currently working in the renewable energy industries according to a recent report from the IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency )
Bioenergy ( everything from liquid biofuels to modern biomass and biogas ) have the largest contingency with 2.5 million people (with 1.4 million, 0.8 million and 0.3 million respectively)
Additionally 2.3 million people are working in the solar photovoltaic sector and 800 000 more work in the wind sector.
Worth an article : My February 2014 tweets
Here we go again : my selection of article-worthy tweets is here. Albeit I slightly increased my amount of articles published per week, I still haven’t enough time to write about all noteworthy news. Lucky for you all, Twitter is here.
In today’s article you will find – just as every month – a selection of the most interesting articles on climate, energy and sustainability related issues I have tweeted last month.
I believe this selection of news offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, please don’t hesitate to start following me.
Extreme poverty is decreasing
According to Courrier International, the rate of people living under extreme poverty – less than $1.25 a day – has been halved in the past two decades. This spectacular progress can be partly explained by the impressive economic growth in Asia. As an example, Bangladesh – which for many years had the title of world’s … Read more
Selling solar power in India’s slums
I have already written a few posts on how poor populations of Asia or Africa are leapfrogging from no electricity to renewables without going through the distributed fossil fuels electricity phase. Electrical grids are expensive and so is coal. In countries with so much sun such as India, solar energies such as solar PV looks … Read more
Soot’s underestimated role in climate change
According to the most comprehensive research on the subject, soot – also known as black carbon – may have a significantly higher role in climate change than previously estimated.
According to a BBC article quoting the study : ” (soot) dark particles are having a warming effect approximately two thirds that of carbon dioxide, and greater than methane. “
Tackling its emissions – which come mostly from wood and coal burning as well as diesel engines in developed countries – would be easy to tackle.
Huge success for Bangladeshi solar company
The huge blackout in India that affected 700 million people earlier this month has taught us a valuable lesson : big coal fired plants failed and little solar installations delivered to the point to they look like a no-brainer.
Given this, it is more than probable than the India government will be willing to increase even more its plan for photovoltaic energy and other renewables as it may install 40 GW of solar by 2022.
If they are looking for a successful example, they might not have to look no further than next door, in Bangladesh.
Six countries to cooperate on climate
This is not as good as it should be as carbon dioxide is not tackled, but this new initiative might help us in mitigating climate change in the short to medium term and improves health of million of people.
According to various sources, the United States, China as well as other countries are willing to cut emissions of various short-lived greenhouse gases such as methane, soot (black carbon) and hydroflurocarbons (HFCs)
Of course, the fact that the main greenhouse gas is not included is a major problem, but the fact that the NASA recommendation are being followed is still good news.
Down with coal ! 12 inspiring stories
Coal is the environmental enemy #1. It releases huge amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere and pollutes our soil and water. So when Grist writes on how 12 communities around the world stopped the expansion of coal I had to share.
This happens as ” According to 2010 projections by the EIA, coal consumption in the non-OECD world will increase by 23 quadrillion BTUs between 2007 and 2020. That’s roughly the equivalent of (…) a thousand coal-fired generators. “
The 12 examples taken from the article are from Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Australia, Colombia and the Philippines.