Renewables

Solar Impulse flies for 26 hours non-stop

The solar powered plane Solar Impulse flew for over 26 hours without interruption and landed on July 8th. This plane has a wingspan of 63 meters – the same as a Boeing 777 – weights 1,600 kg and goes as fast as a scooter, 70 km-h. The plane gathered enough energy from the sun during …

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Colored PV panels coming to a roof near you

Solar PV capacity is growing fast, and each year it is growing even faster.  But when talking about solar with friends, some of them complain that the blue color is an hindrance as it looks out of place with red roofs. This might change soon as Lof Solar, a solar company from Taiwan is launching …

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Siemens’ European Green City Index

Europe is often considered at the forefront of the environmental scene as the EU keeps working on energy efficiency, renewables, biodiversity and other related issues. However not all countries are equal and so are their capital cities. Siemens published a study – the European Green City Index – which “measures and rates the environmental performance …

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10 GW of solar PV capacity installed in 2010

This year will remain as an important milestone in the history of solar power. Indeed to GreenTech Media : ” In 2010, we will cross the threshold of 10 gigawatts of photovoltaic solar installed globally in a single year.” This is indeed amazing as in 2000 only 170 megawatts were installed. This is 58 times …

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Offshore WIND, not OIL

After the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the huge environmental catastrophe it is leading to, more and more voices are now demanding offshore wind as a paliative. This sounds like a good idea as the important offshore wind potential is still completely untapped in the United States. Meanwhile, the European Union …

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Indonesia to invest massively in volcano power

To the AFP : “Indonesia has launched an ambitious plan to tap the vast power of its volcanoes and become a world leader in geothermal energy, while trimming greenhouse gas emissions.” “The sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands stretching from the Indian to the Pacific Oceans contains hundreds of volcanoes, estimated to hold around 40 percent …

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President Obama embraces offshore drilling

I wrote as early as september 2008 that offshore drilling is not a sustainable solution as the added oil reserves won’t enable us to go much further and will keep feeding our global addiction for oil. To rally Republicans to his climate bill, President Obama decided to embrace this solution last month. This was a …

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A third form of marine energy : OTEC

According to GreenTech Media, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion is after wave and tidal energies the third form of ocean power. Albeit it was discovered a century ago, there have been few attempts at tapping this energy source. To Wikipedia, OTEC ” uses the temperature difference that exists between deep and shallow waters to run a heat …

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Scotland to harness 1.2 GW of marine energy

Scotland announced last week that 1.2 GW of tidal and wave energy capacity would be built there by 2020. To achieve this, 10 projects will be started and will be the first commercial applications of these energy sources. Scotts are determine to have 31 percent of their electricity coming from renewables by 2011 and are willing …

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An official visit from Mr. Borloo at Ravoyard SA

Yesterday the French Minister for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Town and Country Planning, Mr. Jean-Louis Borloo visited a company in Vaudrey, less than 20 kilometers from my hometown. Ravoyard SA manufactures since its origins metallic structures. Dynamic, it recently diversified its activity to add photovoltaïc films to its existing products. As the market is currently …

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