Energy

Shuting down PCs at night could save billions

An article on TreeHugger caught my attention as it explained that half US employees – and similar figures in other countries – don’t turn off their computers at the end of their work day. The potential savings are impressive. In America: $2.8 billion, in the United Kingdom $420 million and Germany $1.2 billion. That’s right, […]

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More and more support for nuclear

Times they are a-changin’ sung Bob Dylan. This is true as after years of despisal more and more people – even environmentalists  previously against such solutions – support nuclear as a way to avoid dramatic climate change. This became apparent as Sweden stated it won’t stop as planned its nuclear plants next year and will

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A zero-interest rate loan for housing renovation

For my 500th post on this blog, I would like to bring you good news. The decision taken last week within the Grenelle de l’Environnement is a huge leap forward towards sustainability of housing. Indeed, the French government will launch in April an eco loan of up to 30,000 €  ($37,600) with no interest rate

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Saudi Arabia’s oil production peaked in 2005

I was reporting last week that non-OPEC oil production peaked in 2004 and Russia – the world’s second largest exporter – peaked in 2008. The situation was already quite serious. Yesterday the Oil Drum published an article stating that the world’s first oil producer saw it’s production peak in 2005 with 9.6 million barrels/day. Last

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February 2009 solar news

News on solar photovoltaïc are numerous as many companies and labs are working in research and development to bring to market the best PV cells possible in terms of price and of efficiency. In the meantime, more and more large projects are being launched. Indeed, California announced a 1,300 MW project near Los Angeles and

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Oil production peaked in non-OPEC countries

I was wondering in May 2008 if oil production already peaked. The Oil Drum brings us more data on peak oil as to their latest article non-OPEC countries’ oil production peaked in 2004. Indeed, Russia – the world’s second oil producer – saw its production peaked in 2008 and is due to decrease by 8

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A climate change mitigation paradox

Thanks to Meryn I came across a most interesting piece of information. According to the Spiegel (the leading German magazine) wind turbines in Europe do nothing for emissions-reduction goals. Despite the billions spent every year in wind energy, solar and similar renewable energy sources, greenhouse gases emissions haven’t decreased. What looks like a strong contradiction

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The end of nuclear waste ? Part II

Last week I wrote about a technology that decreases the amount of radioactive waste by hybridizing fission and fusion. Now comes another breakthrough as TerraPower prepares to launch reactors using depleted uranium. Such material would lead to lower risks of nuclear proliferation. Additionally, the amount of uranium on Earth could last centuries or even millennium

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China will burn coal (a little) more efficiently

According to Clean Tech, China will close down 31 GW of inefficient coal-fired plants and will replace them by cleaner and more efficient ones. This has to be compared with the 792.5 GW of coal plants at the end of 2008 in the country. Previously applied, such measures enabled the country to decrease the amount

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World’s latest news on wind power

According to the Global Wind Energy Council, global wind power capacity reached 120 GW in 2008. This represents an increase of 28.8 percent compared to 2007. All these installations totaled $47 billion. This is the occasion for me to present you the various news I came across on this topic in the past few weeks.

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