France

EDF buys half of Constellation nuclear activities

The French national utility Electricité de France – EDF –  just bought half of nuclear activities of US based utility Constellation for 4.5 billion US Dollars (3.3 billion euros). This occurs only a few months after the acquisition of British Energy by EDF, which is willing to become a major global player in nuclear energy, …

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The Grenelle: 440 billion euros of investments

The Grenelle de l’Environnement, the cornerstone of the French environmental policies, might lead to investments worth of 440 billion euros (or $560 billion) by 2020. An important part of this money will be allocated to transport and doubling the amount of fast train lines (TGV, left). Other major sectors will be renovating buildings and renewables. …

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The Grenelle is still alive : some bright ideas

The cornerstone of the environmental policy in France – the Grenelle de l’Environnement – has been facing wide criticism as it is not going as fast as it should be. Yet, interesting ideas arose in the last weeks on reducing the light pollution at night and providing financial aid to those willing to insulate their …

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EDF takes over British Energy for 15.7 billion €

The French national utility Electricité de France – known as EDF – is beginning to take over the UK company British Energy for an estimated cost of 15.7 billion Euros (or $23 billion). According to the Financial Times quoted below, this is the largest international expansion plan for EDF. The company plans to build at …

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GDF Suez : A French energy giant is born

As the official website was launched today,  I would like to write about this major event in the energy industry. After two years of talks a new giant energy company is born : GDF Suez. The company is the product of the merger of Gaz de France and Suez. The group weights nearly 75 billion …

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The French tax system for the promotion of efficient cars

The French Grenelle de l’Environnement may not be as advanced as it should be, but one of its first part is already in place since January 1st. It is a huge success. Since this date, if you buy a car in France you may be the subject of a price reduction or an additional tax …

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How I avoided 200 kgs of CO2 emissions in ten days

Two weeks ago I took some vacations and visited my family near Nancy. Additionally, I went to the renewable energies fair in Paris. It was also the opportunity for me to have a most interesting meeting. All this brought me to travel up to 1,600 kilometers (approx. 1,000 miles). By choosing the train instead of …

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Renewable energies and the fears of recession

In two different articles, Les Echos [Fr] and the IHT are fearing that the current fears of recession might endanger the expansion of renewable energies. Indeed the IHT noticed a drop in stocks of these companies and Les Echos reported a fear that the French government might not respect its Grenelle’s commitments. Indeed, as the …

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The Carbon Atlas : see your country’s carbon emissions

The UK newspaper The Guardian published last December a fantastic map displaying all countries and their respective carbon emissions. Very visual, it enables us to see easily who are the largest carbon emitters and even the thumbnail on your left shows the huge importance the USA and China have. According to this rating, France is …

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Oil prices reached 110 USD a barrel !

That’s it, yesterday at the New York Mercantile Exchange the oil prices reached $110 for the first time in History. This occurs only two months and a half after it reached $100. This can be explained by the fact that the Dollar is weakening as time goes and as now the Euro is worth $1.55. …

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