As Angela Merkel was reelected German Chancellor and is due to begin a new coalition with the Liberals, nuclear power plants may not be phased out in 2020 as it was previously agreed. Meanwhile, and if Germany keeps it targets of renewables answering 33 percent of the electricity demand in 2020 this may mean that […]
Why Merkel’s reelection may be good news for climate Read More »
To the latest report of the European Environment Agency, climate change “poses a grave threat” to the snows of the Alps, and thus will decrease the amounts of water received by many rivers like the Danube, Rhine, Po and Rhone. At the center of Europe the Alps – like the Himalayas are for Asia –
The Alps are endangered by climate change Read More »
This just broke in : Romania will have in 2011 the largest onshore wind farm in the European Union with 240 wind turbines accounting for no less than 600 MW of installed capacity. This 1.1 billion Euro ($1.6 billion) project is done in order to offset the emissions of the dirty coal fired plants of
Romania builds largest onshore wind farm in EU Read More »
Some might say that this year the cuts in greenhouse gases emissions are due to the recession. It might be the case, but here the news nonetheless: the European Union decreased its emissions for the fourth year in a row in 2008. But there is more to it : the European Union and its 27
European emissions keep on decreasing Read More »
To a new study presented by a US non-governmental organization, the European cap and trade system – called Emission Trading System or ETS – seems to finally work after a much difficult start. To TreeHugger: The trading system has created a healthy carbon market now worth 56 billion US dollars, and (…) has been responsible
The European Cap and Trade system works fine Read More »
Offshore wind energy may soon change thanks to a new kind of turbines that literally floats on water. The first 2.3 MW prototype was installed 10 kilometers off the Norwegian coasts on June 8th. Developed jointly by Siemens and StatoilHydro the Hywind windmill can be located where seas depths reach from 120 to 700 meters,
Floating wind turbine may be a game changer Read More »
I was noting yesterday that renewable energies are progressing in Europe. I wrote there that combined with energy efficiency measures, we could achieve a low carbon future. It seems I was right as the European commission adopted four ecodesign measures that will save 190 TWh per year by 2020, the combined power consumption of Austria
European Union adopts four ecodesign measures Read More »
EurObserv’ER published its eighth report on the state of renewable energies in Europe. Both in French and English, it demonstrates the sector is vibrant and is just taking off. As there are too many renewable energy solutions to be handled in a single article, I will only present you here the findings of the report
Renewable energies are progressing in Europe Read More »
A few months before the Copenhagen meeting which will decide of the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the countries who met in Italy this week missed another opportunity to agree on climate change mitigation. After Hokkaido in July 2008, this G8 meeting was another failure of our elected representatives to seriously act on the defining
The G8 meeting in L’Aquila: a missed opportunity Read More »
In two days I found in my RSS feeds two articles on Russia. The first one is about a study from the World Bank stating that this large country is seriously at risk because of climate change. Indeed global warming will increase the importance of already large climate phenomena such as storms or heat waves.
Russia at risk from climate change Read More »
