Renewables

EU to give 50 billion euros to energy research

The European Union will give over the next decade up to 50 billion Euros to research on low carbon energy. Solar energies will receive 16 billion euros, wind power 6 billion, nuclear 7 and energy from waste and biomass 9 billion. This is due to enable the 27 members to compete on cleantech with the […]

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Canadian wind energy industry is booming

Until now when I was thinking about Canadian energy I had the exploitation of oil shale in mind. But this is changing as the local wind energy industry is booming with up to 2,000 MW of installed capacity at the end of 2008. This is only the beginning as a deal for an offshore wind

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Why Merkel’s reelection may be good news for climate

As Angela Merkel was reelected German Chancellor and is due to begin a new coalition with the Liberals, nuclear power plants may not be phased out in 2020 as it was previously agreed. Meanwhile, and if Germany keeps it targets of renewables answering 33 percent of the electricity demand in 2020 this may mean that

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We still are funding fossil fuels industries

After the quite encouraging news of Wednesday I would like to present you a study showing that the United States’ government still gives much more money to polluting fossil fuels industries rather than lower carbon solutions. This occurs as I noted last year than to the UNEP  cutting the subsidies given to big oil and

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IEA : Global CO2 emissions decreased

According to a study to be released in November by the International Energy Agency, global greenhouse gases emissions decreased by no less than 2.6 percent. This can be explained by several factors. Among these factors are the economic recession which decreased the emissions of the global industrial sector but also the various commitments of the

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A global renewable energies boom

Thanks to GreenUnivers, a great French blog on green business, I came across the latest report from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21). It presents various figures worth mentioning. Between 2004 and 2008, solar PV capacity increased sixfold to more than 16 GW, wind power capacity increased 250 percent to 121

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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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