A lot has been said about the booming global capacities of solar and wind in the past few years. But wind works at a maximum 35% of the time for onshore and perhaps 45% for offshore wind. Solar PV is even lower, with 20 to 30% capacity factor. So, backup solutions are being sought. 2017… Continue reading How energy storage made headlines in 2017
Tag: Australia
The Great Barrier Reef is not dead, yet
Last week an obituary of the Great Barrier Reef went viral, but as scientists claim, this is premature. While the situation is critical, it is not completely hopeless.
Australia unveils weakest emissions reduction targets
Ahead of the Paris climate talks in December, most countries are unveiling their climate goals and Australia unveiled their own and they are the weakest of the wealthiest nations with 20% reduction by 2030 against 1990, to be compared with 32% from the United States and a minimum of 40% for the European Union.
Australia is home to a solar revolution
I was tired of reporting how the situation is bad in Australia because of the current politicians running the country. So for today’s post here are some good news from Down Under as it is becoming a global solar leader.
Pope Francis to urge a billion Catholics to act on climate
Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, is due to call over a billion Catholics to act on climate. Ahead of the Paris Climate talks later this year, this is a big move that may even more tilt the balance on action.
2014 was the hottest year on record
2014 was according to the Japan Meteorological Agency the hottest year ever recorded. Other agencies around the world will present the same conclusion in the next days or weeks as records were broken all around the world.
Is Australia sacrificing its cleantech industry ?
For the past few months I have been worrying about Australia‘s burgeoining cleantech industry as the new government seems hell-bent on preserving coal, even if it has to cost 20,000 jobs.
Australian PM repeals carbon tax
After months of hard work the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott succeeded in repealing that great carbon cutting tool that is the carbon tax. This is a monumental error that is going in the exact opposite direction where all countries are going. As RTCC noted : ” The removal of the tax, which priced carbon at $21.50… Continue reading Australian PM repeals carbon tax
6.5 million people ( and I )
This is the amount of people that are currently working in the renewable energy industries according to a recent report from the IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency ) Bioenergy ( everything from liquid biofuels to modern biomass and biogas ) have the largest contingency with 2.5 million people (with 1.4 million, 0.8 million and 0.3… Continue reading 6.5 million people ( and I )
Solar and wind are soaring in Australia
The energy transition is taking place in Australia. According to the local website, Renew Economy, that’s pretty much a certainty as no less than 4.4 billion US Dollars – 3.17 billion euros – were spent there in cleantech in 2013. The vast majority of these huge sums – around 2.8 billion USD – were invested in solar… Continue reading Solar and wind are soaring in Australia
Australian emissions decreased in 2013
According to Enerdata, Australian greenhouse gases emissions decreased by 0.8% last year. While this seems tiny and not really reason to rejoice, there is some data worth mentioning as emissions from the power sector fell by 5%. Last year alone, there was a 4.1% decrease in power generation from black coal, -6.9% from brown coal… Continue reading Australian emissions decreased in 2013
Lockeed Martin to develop marine energies
What if companies which were making until now weapons decided to dedicate themselves to cleantech ? An example of this came from my friend Olivier Jacquemet and his great blog, Echo Sierra : ” (…) Lockheed Martin is developing its portfolio. Indeed, the defence firm signed with the Australian company Victorian Wave Partners in February to engineer… Continue reading Lockeed Martin to develop marine energies