Cleantech

Portugal : Renewables supplied 70 percent of electricity

According to the Portuguese utility REN, renewable energies supplied a massive 70% of domestic consumption of electricity in the first quarter of 2013. As the press release notes, this is due to particularly favorable conditions. Hydro supplied 37 percent of the total while wind provided 27 percent. Last year, both energy sources only accounted for […]

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The climate movement can succeed. In time ?

US advisor on sustainability and author Paul Gilding recently published on his blog a compelling, fantastic and stunning piece on how victory is at hand for the climate movement. You might believe this is some hyper optimistic hype. However, Gilding keeps piling arguments in his article ; arguments that I have developed on this very

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A renewable energy boom in Japan

In the wake of the tragic catastrophe and the nuclear incident that shook Japan in 2011, we have seen that the local government is willing to push renewable energy sources forward. Among them, solar energy and wind power. This has led to the installation of 1,12 GW of solar PV capacity in only nine months

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Teen boost efficiency of algae-based biofuels

What were you doing when you were 17-year old ? Sara Volz, A Colorado, USA, teen created a biofuel lab in her bedroom. Even better, she developed more efficient algae that produce higher oil content just by selecting them artificially. This is seen as an important boost to algae based biofuels. It was done with

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Worth an article – my February 2013 tweets

I have been committed since January 2007 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. But many more news are

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Graphene could bring solar PV efficiency to 60%

According to TreeHugger, graphene could offer 60% solar cell efficiency if it were to replace silicon in PV panels. As they note : ” Researchers from the Institute of Photonic Sciences in Spain have just published results from their experiments.” ” While their results so far will probably be more useful to make better image

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A solar installation

Solar reaches grid parity around the world

Solar PV is slowly but surely reaching grid parity around the world as it is now a reality in parts of the United States, India and some European countries.

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Global solar PV capacity reach 100 GW

According to Ecoseed (via Solar Feeds) : ” The cumulative solar photovoltaic capacity of the world crossed the 100-gigawatt milestone in 2012 (…) according to figures from the European Photovoltaic Industry Association. ” The solar association also noted that the world’s PV installations can now cut 53 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year. 

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European Union can halve its emissions by 2030

Here is another Cleantechies article I wrote on how the European Union could achieve greenhouse gase emissions cuts of 50 percent by 2030. Here is the introduction : ” According to a brand new study carried out by consultancy Ecofys and commissioned by the WWF, the European Union can halve its greenhouse gases emissions by

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