Energy

Algae, the best solution to make biofuels

I have never been a great fan of traditional biofuels (nor the World Bank and the OECD) as their yield is quite small and as they require a lot of by-products (pesticides…). However, some alguae like Ulva lactuca (sea lettuce, pictured left) have a much superior yield than cereals and aren’t as much eaten as […]

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Oil producing countries to export less fossil fuels

The IHT proposed on December 9th an interesting article on the future of the oil market which brings even more gloomy prospects. The article strongly reinforces my opinion that we (France, Europe, the entire world…) should work fast on energy efficiency in order to consume less energy. To the journalist, oil-rich countries like Mexico or

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Two news on Chinese energy for the price of one

Both the Financial Times and the Worldwatch Institute provided me monday with interesting data and news on the Chinese energy market. Good news : the country is willing to get 30% of its electricity via renewables by 2050. Bad news : the growth of energy consumption last year was of 16.2 percent. This wouldn’t be

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A major Asian utility to decrease its CO2 emissions

According to the IHT, one of the major electricity producers in Asia – The CLP Group – committed itself to decreasing its carbon dioxide emissions by up to 75 percent by 2050. The company will use each and every necessary means to do so : renewable energies, carbon capture and storage, clean coal technologies and

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EPR reactor is being built in France

According to the French daily Le Figaro in its Monday edition, the construction of the first EPR reactor in France has begun and is going on well. The EPR technology provides several improvements to the current nuclear plants, including increased yield and security, decreased waste and radiations. This reactor will be operational in 2012 and

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The low-carbon revolution starts at home

Since the writing of my Master’s thesis, I am aware that huge savings of CO2 emissions could be achieved by insulating our homes and shifting toward energy-efficient appliances. This feeling is strongly reinforced by the views of the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) which is part of the renowned Oxford University in the United Kingdom. In

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Google to invest massively in renewable energies

The world famous US company Google ,which is behind the most used search engine, plans in the very next years to invest hundreds of millions Dollars in renewable energy sources. The goal is to make solar, geothermal and wind energies price-competitive with electricity from coal-fired plants. A very ambitious idea as coal is much cheaper

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Comment réduire facilement ses factures de chauffage

Les températures hivernales arrivent petit à petit dans nos contrées et avec elles les premières gelées matinales. Au même moment, les prix du pétrole ne cessent de grimper vers les 100 dollars [En] ce qui pour nombre de ménages signifie des notes de fioul ou de gaz qui s’alourdissent. C’est donc le moment idéal de

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A model of energy efficiency : Japan

I bookmarked a long time ago an article from the International Herald Tribune which is tackling Japan and its impressive energy efficiency policies. As we are more and more talking about energy conservation (the IEA recently urged to work fast on this), this country is an example many could follow. Indeed, according to the International

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A look at the clean alternatives to coal

Today’s article is on coal as I am interested by this energy source and the possibilities to clean it up. A question of importance as it is the dirtiest energy source to date. According to the data I had access to, coal emits around 975 grams of CO2 per KWh; natural gas, 530 ; nuclear

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