USA

Solar PV efficiency new record hit : 44%

To Treehugger : “ The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and their industry partner Solar Junction, have just set the bar even higher in the race for ultra-high-effiency PV cells by achieving another world record of 44% efficiency. “ But wait, there is more as to another article solar PV panels could soon be 50 […]

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Two important milestones for wind energy

In September, two important milestones were set for wind energy as installed capacities reached a 100 gigawatts and 50 gigawatts in the European Union and the United States of America, respectively. The 100 GW of wind turbines are producing as much electricity as 62 coal-fired plants or 39 nuclear reactors or 52 natural gas generators

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RGGI slashes emissions in northern US states

Do you remember my enthusiastic post last year on a US “cap-and-invest” program, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (or RGGI) ? Well, it seems that it worked really well. To Climate Progress, the power sector of the nine participating states have slashed its emissions by 23 percent in only three years thanks to the decreased

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Americans connect the dots, demand action

Two recent polls are showing that change might soon take place in the United States. Climate Progress recently noted that 75 % of Americans support regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant, and that 60 % support a carbon tax. The same website mentioned shortly afterwards another poll showing that 63% of Americans say  their country

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It is time for a global price on carbon

It seems more and more countries around the world are willing to put a price on carbon as the evidence of carbon dioxide fueled climate change is more than overwhelming. Indeed, extreme weather events are heating all continents, all countries, all regions. France thought about it in 2009 and retracted. The Emission Trading Scheme in Europe

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Another heat wave hits America and Europe

As Al Gore noted on his blog : ” The March heat wave continues to shatter longstanding records from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast, with more than 2,200 warm temperature records set during the month so far.“ Meanwhile, President Barack Obama admitted during a fundraiser that the temperatures experienced in Chicago – around 80°F

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Coal decreases in US electricity mix

TreeHugger recently rejoiced as for the first time in over thirty years, coal has accounted for less than 40 percent of the local electricity mix. This is good news as coal is the most greenhouse gases emitting fossil fuel. This steady and continuous decrease can be explained mainly by the increased production of local natural

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Soon in our houses, see-through solar ?

To Renewable Energy World : “ Last week, researchers announced they had produced the largest see-through organic solar module to date — a 170 square centimeter functioning module that is 14 times larger than the last iteration.” ” The technology was produced through a collaboration with researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the organic

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Protect our winters : ” get political, be vocal “

You might be familiar with the problem if you are an avid skier or snowboarder : the climate is getting warmer and warmer, thus reducing the possibilities of enjoying your favorite sports. This led a pro snowboarder, Jeremy Jones, to start the Protect Our Winters campaign ” after having been turned away from areas that

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Earth is losing 500 billion tons of ice a year

To the NASA : ” Using satellite measurements (…), the researchers measured ice loss in all of Earth’s land ice between 2003 and 2010, with particular emphasis on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland and Antarctica. ” ” The total global ice mass lost from Greenland, Antarctica and Earth’s glaciers and ice caps during

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