Europe

The value of a well insulated home

While browsing Cleantechnica I found the answer of a key question I have been having ever since writing my Master’s thesis. French houses are leaky ” thermal collanders “ as 20 million accommodations have to be weatherized. Potential savings could be the equivalent of 200 TWh of electricity per annum, knowing that the total electricity […]

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I attended two sustainability events in Paris

This Thursday I attended two events in Paris related to energy and environmental issues as well as on social corporate responsibility. The first event was a round-table on nuclear in France and the Energiewende in Germany. It was organized by the Green European Foundation, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the Fondation de l’Écologie Politique. The second one

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Poland could halve coal consumption by 2030

Here comes another article for Cleantechies, this time focusing on a problem plaguing many nations, coal. This fossil fuels does indeed provides a large part of the electricity there. Here is the introduction : ” Poland – as many East European nations – relies very heavily on coal as 90 percent of its electricity comes

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Worth an article : My October 2013 tweets

It is that time of the month again : here is my selection of the most interesting and note-worthy news of September in the climate, energy and sustainability spheres. Each of them could have been the subject of an article. Given this selection I believe it is safe to say we are reaching tipping points

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Death, devastation and climate discussions

Today’s two main topics are closely related, and this albeit they are taking place thousands of kilometers apart. The first one is of course the Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda that left death and devastation in its wake in the Philippines. To CNN, the Guardian and many other sources, at least 10,000 people have perished. As

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More and more French households burn wood for heating

What do you get when energy efficiency meets a local renewable energy source ? You get great news from my home country. My latest Cleantechies article is focusing on how firewood is gaining traction in France in an interesting way. ” According to a recent study from the French ADEME, wood burning is more and

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United Kingdom to build two EPR nuclear reactors

Would you buy two examples of a very expensive and complex product that nobody has ever seen functioning ? The most likely answer is ” No “. Yet that’s exactly what the United Kingdom did buy buying Monday two EPR reactors. The European Pressurized Reactor  is an evolution of third generation nuclear reactors. It was

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France simply won’t give into fracking

For my second post on Cleantechies in less than a week, I bring good news from my home country, France, as it is stepping away from polluting, nefarious and dangerous fossil fuels : shale oil and gas retrieved via fracking. ” I reported previously here on Cleantechies that in 2011 France was the first country

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European Union already close to its 2020 climate goals

Here is another post on Cleantechies, this time focusing again on how the European Union is succeeding in cutting its greenhouse gases emissions, and this without even trying that hard. Here is the introduction : ” According to the European Environment Agency, the European Union is already close to its 2020 climate objectives as it

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France unveils new efforts to renovate buildings

It had been a long while since my last post on Cleantechies, as I didn’t post during summer. But I am back with a post on a topic close to my heart as my Master’s thesis was on it. The French residential sector could benefit immensely from energy efficiency efforts and it seems the current

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