Greentech

Global capacity doubled : a solar boom

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Solar capacity is boomingTo Greentech Media : ” two-thirds of all solar PV capacity in place worldwide has been installed since January 2011. Let’s put that into perspective. It took nearly four decades to install 50 gigawatts of PV capacity worldwide.”

” But in the last 2 1/2 years, the industry jumped from 50 gigawatts of PV capacity to just over 100 gigawatts. At the same time, global module prices have fallen 62 percent since January 2011. “

” Even more amazingly, the solar industry is on track to install another 100 gigawatts worldwide by 2015 — nearly doubling solar capacity in the next 2 1/2 years. “

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Renewables are surging much faster than thought

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wind and solar powerA close observer of renewable energy markets I am amazed at how fast they are growing around the world. Many countries are banking on them to get out of the current triple crisis.

Even if the efforts being done are lacking the necessary scale, results are very encouraging. Portugal is getting 70 percent of its electricity from hydro and wind, Spain over a half of electricity came from clean sources as well.

In Germany, solar can provide up to 22 GW, or 44 % of the total demand. In Australia, one in eleven houses have solar panels installed.

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Worth an article – my September 2012 tweets

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https://i2.wp.com/www.elrst.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/twitter-earthrise-128x128.jpg?resize=128%2C128I 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 worth reading. This is why I use Twitter to share dozens of news that are worth your time.

I believe it offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me.

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Germany is still adding a lot of solar PV capacity

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To GreenTech Media : ” Germany installed more than 2 gigawatts of solar in the month of December alone. (…) Installations for the full year will be nearly 7 gigawatts according to the German Solar Industry Association (BSW).”

The article goes further : ” According to the BSW, solar power contributes approximately three percent of the German electricity supply, with a goal of 10 percent by 2020. “

The European leader in renewables installed in a single month more solar photovoltaic capacity than the whole United States of America installed in a whole year !

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Solyndra and the booming US solar industry

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You might have heard or read about it : Solyndra, one of the largest solar companies in the United States  – it received half a billion in federal loans – has filed for bankruptcy. It has laid off 1,100 people…

From there, you might be tempted to say that the US solar industry is going down. This is exactly the opposite as several factors are proving. 1. To Climate Progress solar is the “fastest growing industry in America” ;

2. To GreenTech Solar, the United States exported for nearly two billion USD of solar products in 2009 alone ; 3. TreeHugger noted that the industry is employing 100,000 people and will continue to hire.

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Solar PV gets even more efficient and cheaper

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To GreenTech Media : ” SunPower just announced their newest solar panels with total area efficiencies of more than 20 percent. The 96-cell solar panels use SunPower’s 22.4 percent efficient cells .” To Ecogeek : ” Researchers at Empa (the Swiss national research laboratory) have achieved a new record in thin-film solar cell efficiency. (…) … Read more

Hydrogen: A dream or delusion?

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This is the title of an interesting article at GreenTech Media. Here are some essential quotes of it : ” Hydrogen. In green technology circles, just mentioning the word is enough to start an argument. “

” Hydrogen could become a ubiquitous source of electricity and heat, say advocates. Plus, it’s somewhat prevalent. Hydrogen remains the most abundant element in the universe (…) “

” Hydrogen advocates (…) readily admit the technology has not lived up to its promise. Virtually all of the experience to date seems to bolster the case of the critics.“

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Green IT, the other cleantech

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To Ashok Kamal in CleanTechies : ” In many academic, policy and business circles, the term “clean tech” is synonymous with renewable energy.” However under this term we can put among others electric cars and green IT.

And the latter is very important and promising as GreenTech Enterprise notes that it is the biggest green market. In a brilliant article they outline seven reasons why it is the case.

Data centers have we have seen previously consume huge amounts of energy and this is only the beginning as we are using more and more the Internet.

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The USA and China cooperate on climate change

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USA-China-collaboration-climate-changeLast week two different news about how the two countries responsible for more than 40 percent of the global greenhouse gases emissions could sign an agreement in November and work together on greentech.

To the New York Times a deal on climate change could be signed in November when President Obama will visit China. No doubt that such an agreement – with the right targets – would be a huge boost to discussions in Copenhagen.

Concerning cleantech, TreeHugger reports that the Chinese government launched an initiative to pair American technologies and Chinese manufacturing.

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