Renewables

Australian per capita emissions larger than US

It is a well known fact : American per capita greenhouse gases emissions are among the world’s highest because of massive consumption of both oil and coal. But to a new study Australian per capita emissions are exceeding the US. One of the main reason is the country’s electricity production which mostly comes from the […]

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Book Review: Sustainable energy – without the hot air

I finished reading this weekend a book I strongly recommend to anyone interested by sustainable development and energy as it is packed with figures and findings that are due to start discussions among CleanTechies. One of the main findings of this book is that electrifying our cars and installing heat pumps in our buildings would

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More on the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan

My post on the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan in July was short, way too short for such a news as a major economy is committing itself to cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 34 percent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels. Using all means at its disposal – energy efficiency, renewables, nuclear, electric cars,

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Japan to invest $21 billion in space-based solar

I like creative ideas and I love everything related to space. Needless to say I am also a strong supporter of solar energies. Yet, I find that investing 14,7 billion euros in space-based solar is preposterous. All this money will be invested to see if it is feasible to have one GW of power by

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Energy sprawl is another reason to mix sources

Even if this not new as I wrote about this very issue as early as June 2008, the additional research bring us more data on how renewables – and especially biofuels – need much more land to generate energy than traditional solutions. As you can see with the graph biofuels are by far the least

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Is waste to energy a good idea ?

There is a lot of buzz going on about waste to energy as many cities are thinking about it. Meanwhile, a CleanTechies’ member started a most interesting series on the matter and one of my follower on Twitter wonders if it should be supported. Personally I think we should reduce, reuse and recycle first –

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Why solar air conditioning is a fantastic idea

In these times of heat waves – it was 37°C here in France yesterday  – we all know that solar energy can heat places but it seems the sun could also cool them down thanks to air conditioning. Even if this is not entirely new as I read about such technologies as early as 2005

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Floating wind turbine may be a game changer

Offshore wind energy may soon change thanks to a new kind of turbines that literally floats on water. The first 2.3 MW prototype was installed 10 kilometers off the Norwegian coasts on June 8th. Developed jointly by Siemens and StatoilHydro the Hywind windmill can be located where seas depths reach from 120 to 700 meters,

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How the US Army is going green

Even if I knew thanks to Thomas Friedman and his book Hot, Flat and Crowded that the US Army is willing to outgreen its opponents, I found more information in an article from the New York Times. The US Army is willing to cut its energy and water to decrease the risks inherent to their

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Renewable energies are progressing in Europe

EurObserv’ER published its eighth report on the state of renewable energies in Europe. Both in French and English, it demonstrates the sector is vibrant and is just taking off. As there are too many renewable energy solutions to be handled in a single article, I will only present you here the findings of the report

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