Energy

Peak coal to occur in 2027

In a bit more than 15 little years, the entire world may face declining coal production. This was the subject of a post on The Oil Drum. This is a huge problem as to date it accounts for 41 percent of the world’s electricity (IEA 2010). ” World coal production is dominated by China. China’s […]

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Energy sobriety: Japan shows the example

Further to the Fukushima catastrophe in March, Japan has been decreasing in a massive way its electricity consumption. Indeed, only 17 nuclear reactors are bringing power to the grids out of the 54 existing ones. As the New York Times notes : ” Preliminary figures indicate that regions under conservation mandates have been able to

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Book review : Uranium, by Tom Zoellner

Here is a post I should have published last year as I read Uranium, by Tom Zoellner. Here is my review. It offers a detailed history of the discovery and the use of the 92nd element in the periodic table of the chemical elements. Will the 21st century be Uranium’s century like the 20th was

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Putting the A/C at the right temperature

Air conditioning is a fantastic invention as it allows to remain cool when temperatures are reaching 30°C and even 40°C. However, in many buildings around the world, the A/C is not set at the right temperature. As the New York times noted : “Without fail, every year since moving to Hong Kong, I get a

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France issues new regulations for large solar PV installations

Here is my latest post for CleanTechies : “On Monday, the French Minister for Environment and Sustainable Development, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, presented new regulations for large solar installations.” “(…) Let us hope these new projects will be successful as the previous attempts at creating an solar photovoltaic industry in France have been a resounding failure. ”

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How the USA could get rid of OPEC oil

According to Environment America, a federation of US organizations, the country could reduce its oil dependence by 79 billion gallons per year—more than all of their imports from OPEC nations. For those who are not familiar with gallons and other non-metric – I almost wrote exotic – measures, this represents 299 047 530 936 liters of oil, or

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Great technologies for our computers

To Clean Technica : ” Samsung has developed a new computer that is solar-powered! The Samsung NC215S netbook it will be the first computer of its kind. The power will come from a solar panel embedded in the lid. “ Still to Clean Technica : ” a team of researchers at Australia’s RMIT have demonstrated a new,

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France first country to ban fracking

” Last week the French government was the first to enact a law forbidding hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking”. This technology enables to recover shale gas via the use of massive amounts of water and chemicals.” ” The former remaining afterward polluted, hence the controversy. The law had been discussed by both the lower

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Is liquefied coal really what we need ?

An article from Cleantechies pointed out that according to a new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) liquefied coal may become an economically viable fuel option by 2015. Further to this, I left a comment : ” Just as we are thinking about solving the climate/energy equation by ditching coal, some are willing

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Is this the beginning of the end for biofuels ?

To TreeHugger : “A measure that would remove roughly $6 billion in annual ethanol subsidies just passed the U.S. Senate, signaling, among other things, a shift in public attitude towards the once-heralded alternative fuel. ” It wasn’t so long ago that corn ethanol was considered a plausible replacement for oil – but that was before

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