In French, we have an expression, ” la fuite en avant “ which can be explained this way : “A fuite en avant is something one does when one is in a losing situation, and one hopes to salvage it by doing more of the same or worse.” Not that I want to delve into […]
Oil : the headlong rush Read More »
It seems that April is a bad month for the environment. Last week I was writing about the BP oil spill and now I am writing about what took place in Ukraine. The worst nuclear accident ever indeed took place on April 26th, 1986. This was the occasion for Ban Ki Moon – the secretary
Another anniversary : 25 years after Chernobyl Read More »
To CleanTechies : ” Worldwide installed wind capacity grew by 38.3 GW in 2010, according to the Global Wind Energy Council. That’s an increase of 24% in global wind capacity “. This is as much as what was installed in 2009. China alone installed nearly half of it alone with 18.9 GW. The United States
Global wind capacity grew 24 percent in 2010 Read More »
I recently wrote a lengthy comment to an article on CleanTechies. Since it took me some time to write, I think I might share it with you : I never understood people stating it’s either nuclear or renewables as to me we need both. Now I don’t understand the “false choice” of nuclear or fossil
Is it really about nuclear OR renewables ? Read More »
Only two months after reaching $100, oil prices reached $120. As the AFP notes: ” Oil prices surged to new heights Monday, with Brent crude topping $120 a barrel for the first time since August 22, 2008″ It took very little time back to 2008 for oil prices to reach $140 once they had reached
Oil prices reach $120 Read More »
CleanTechies often republishes blog posts from the Official White House blog. This enabled me to learn about a significant series of measures designed to help America cut its oil dependence and energy consumption. Indeed, new standards will enable future cars to cut their oil consumption (not by much though…). US households will also be able
President Obama gets more serious on efficiency Read More »
With all the agitation around the Fukushima catastrophe, I thought it would be interesting to put some facts and figures on the dangerosity of energy sources, including oil, coal, natural gas, some renewable energy sources and nuclear… The global death rate for coal is 161 per TWh (15 in the United States), 36 for oil,
A look at deaths per TWh by energy source Read More »
Despite its recent economic harshness, Iceland is rich as it is located on one of the world’s best geothermal hot spots. The potential is so large they are thinking about exporting electricity to neighboring European nations. As Ecogeek noted: “Iceland’s biggest utility, Landsvirkjun, has announced a plan to build the world’s longest undersea cable at
Iceland may help power Europe with geothermal Read More »
It’s a well known fact, the production of electricity via traditional coal and natural gas burning plants and in a lesser way nuclear reactors is vastly inefficient. But this might change soon thanks to scientific research. To Ecogeek : ” Researchers (…) are developing a new gas turbine to increase the efficiency of conventional electrical
Generating electricity 40 to 50 % more efficiently Read More »
During my daily hours of ride in the trains to go and come back from the job I read books but also newspapers. This allowed me to read a great article in the New York Times about an unexpected problem with solar power plants in California. ” Just weeks after regulators approved the last of
Solar power plants face problems in California Read More »
