Energy

Whatever concerns energy and the ways to produce it goes here

Europe goes forward on energy

I found during the past few weeks news showing that Europe is investing more and more in solving the climate / energy equation by using various solutions : energy efficiency, smart grids and renewable energies. Here are some examples : Sweden pledged this week for the installation of 2,000 wind turbines by the year 2020 […]

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$2.2 trillion : the huge costs of environmental damages

The Guardian published last week a most interesting series of articles on a report to be published this year by the United Nations and Trucost which estimates the damages on the environment to $2.2 trillion per year. To the newspaper ” the activities of the world’s 3,000 biggest companies estimates one-third of profits would be lost

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US electricity : more nuclear and less coal

Things are slowly but irresistibly changing in the United States. Wind power added ten gigawatts of capacity to the grids last year alone and coal is less and less used to generate electricity. Meanwhile, a nuclear renaissance may be under way in America as last month President Obama announced a $8.3 billion (6 billion euros)

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My humble opinion on Bill Gates’ speech at TED

Last month the founder of Microsoft gave a speech on low carbon energy and climate change at TED, a renowned event on Technology, Entertainment and Design. To Mr. Gates we need five means : carbon capture and storage, nuclear power and renewable energies (solar PV, Concentrated Solar Thermal and Wind power). I agree with that.

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Worth an article – my February 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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Can Australia become carbon neutral by 2020 ?

While having a look at the RSS feed of TreeHugger I found something that made me smile : How Australia Could Be Carbon Neutral in 10 Years. Let’s be honest : it really can’t be done. Let’s see why here. The plan outlined by Beyond Zero Emissions states that all the energy consumed in the country

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Biofuels aren’t a sustainable solution

At first I wasn’t sure even if I had huge doubts. But now this is a certainty as I came accross three articles on how biofuels production in the United States, Brazil and Europe is a threat to our societies and our environment. In Brazil, biofuels production are a danger to the Amazon rainforest as farmers

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Why we should promote solar water heaters more

France is promoting via aggressive feed-in tariffs the expansion of solar photovoltaic. I believe this is quite a good thing even if our electricity is 90 percent low carbon. (80 percent nuclear and ten percent hydro) Indeed, we will soon need additional capacity for both heat pumps and electric vehicles. However I believe the French (and other)

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Could Wall Street pay for your home renovation ?

I know it since my Master’s Thesis : insulating buildings and installing efficient renewable energies heaters is one of the most important ways to cut our fossil fuels consumption and greenhouse gases emissions. Meanwhile,according to a report published by Ernst & Young investing in energy efficiency is in vogue as required investments are lower and

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A global wind energy boom

If you think 2009 was a rotten year for all businesses, read on. To the Global Wind Energy Council 37.5 GW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2009 alone. This represents a 31 percent increase over 2008. In Europe, capacity grew up by 10 GW and investors pumped 13 billion euros into the industry.

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