Whatever concerns energy and the ways to produce it goes here
Warning: This is an old post from 2009, before the catastrophe of Fukushima, Japan and before the sharp decrease of prices for both solar and wind. I have since then changed my position on nuclear, cf Five reasons to oppose nuclear. Some points below however, remain valid.
The International Energy Agency recently released a report on how carbon capture and storage (CCS) could account for 19 percent of the greenhouse gases emissions cuts needed by 2050. The IEA specialists believe Mankind would need to install up to 3,000 plants by 2050. This however might prove to be a problem as CCS is …
IEA believes carbon capture and storage is crucial Read More »
During World War II, posters were advocating a series of efforts to civilian populations to conserve energy. Similarly cars industries were producing tanks. What was done in the US in the 1940s now has to be done on a global scale. Avoiding catastrophic climate change now needs war time effort at war time speed. Governments, …
I am absolutely no fan of biofuels, and am even believing they are more a problem than a solution as still hundreds of millions people are starving. It seems that it could also pose problem in the richest nations. Indeed, Green Inc. noted that the United Kingdom may have to resort to cereals imports in …
For my latest post for CleanTechies I propose a reflection further to an interesting op ed Thomas L. Friedman wrote on the New York Times on why America should tax more gasoline. As I noted earlier US drivers pay less than ten euro cents per liter of tax when their German, British, Italian, Turkish or …
As Eurobserv’ER published a market barometer for heat pumps I thought it might be the occasion to have a look at this most interesting and promising technology which already accounts for nearly 9 GW th of capacity in Europe. With over 100,000 systems installed every year throughout the European Union, heat pumps can both heat …
Concentrating Solar Thermal is a fantastic energy source and some experts estimate that it could answer a quarter of the global electricity needs by 2050 if large plants were installed in sunny deserts. However the New York Times notes that this energy source use significant amounts of water. Since this resource is already scarce in …
Alstom and various US partners have been testing carbon capture on a small Wisconsin coal-fired plant. After a year of testing, this pilot project is a success as 90 percent of carbon dioxide was captured. The French company is willing to commercialize CCS for new and existing coal fired plants as early as 2015. But …
Some believe that with the current economic crises we can’t afford to spend extra money on climate change mitigation or on the protection of the environment. However various recent studies show exactly the opposite. In today’s article will see how and why this is possible. This occurs just a few days after I wrote on …
The European Union will give over the next decade up to 50 billion Euros to research on low carbon energy. Solar energies will receive 16 billion euros, wind power 6 billion, nuclear 7 and energy from waste and biomass 9 billion. This is due to enable the 27 members to compete on cleantech with the …
