Welcome ! As a young French environmental blogger, I select the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector. This blog is mainly on these topics, but also on books I liked, astronomy and photography.
I described Barack Obama’s election as a new hope for a planet in peril. This couldn’t be more true as the President-elect chose real scientists to run the environment and energies agencies.
This is a stark difference with President Bush’s policies and environmental record. But a fact was little noticed: Dr. Steven Chu, the new Secretary of Energy, could be a great link with China.
What if under the impulse of this Nobel Prize, the two largest greenhouse gases emitters were working hand in hand to solve the climate change issue ? Continue reading »
World of Goo, a brilliant video game
On December 24, 2008 | Tags: Culture
It’s Christmas eve and you are perhaps looking for a last minute gift. So, it is time for me to introduce you to a little jewel that caught my attention for the past two weeks.
World of Goo is a video game for the Nintendo Wii, PC and Mac that will make you think to solve around 40 brilliant, entertaining and poetic puzzles.
For $20, you will have cool musics, nice graphics that will look great on an old computer and hours of great fun. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. On, this: Joyeux Noel !
The Greater Mekong is a biodiversity treasure
On December 23, 2008 | Tags: Asia, Biodiversity, Environment
According to a recent news by the WWF, the region of the Greater Mekong (left) is a biological treasure trove, as it enabled to discover more than a thousand new species in only ten years.
Nonetheless, all these species are threatened by economic growth and the lack of environmental protection in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and other countries of the region.
This has to change as I noted earlier, we have to protect Nature as it is protecting us. To read out more on this topic, see you after the jump ! Continue reading »
According to recent studies global coal reserves may be much smaller than previously thought. Indeed, estimates are now of 662 billion tons instead of 850 billion tons.
That’s 23 percent smaller. So, what occurred with estimates of remaining oil is also true here : countries overestimated their coal reserves and peak coal is nearer than expected.
Coal accounts for more than a fifth of our primary energy sources. With smaller reserves, this makes it even more urgent to switch to alternatives. Continue reading »
Towards sustainability, a series of lifestyle tips
On December 19, 2008 | Tags: blog, lifestyle, Sustainable development
2009 is due to be in many countries a recession year. This makes it the perfect occasion to embrace the tenets of sustainable development and consume less energy, water and so on.
This will save you money, preserve our environment and make you live a fitter life. A bright prospect called Towards sustainability, it is the title of the series of articles I will publish in 2009.
Each month you will find tips on a specific topic such as heating, water, transport… If that sounds exciting, please feel free to subscribe to read these articles. Continue reading »
Decreasing amounts of snow in the Himalayas
On December 18, 2008 | Tags: Asia, Climate change, Environment
One of the most worrying consequences of climate change is the decreasing amounts of snow. At the end of winters, snow melts and thus brings water to billions people during the drier seasons.
Thus the snow of the Himalayas brings water to nearly 1.5 billion people, a quarter of Mankind. As climate change increases dramatically in Asia, there is less and less snow, and thus water.
Today’s article will bring you data on this fact and how the phenomenon is increasing. I wanted to investigate this after Al Gore’s speech in Poznan. Continue reading »
EDF buys half of Constellation nuclear activities
On December 18, 2008 | Tags: Energy, France, nuclear, USA
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, one of the lowest carbon emitting solutions.
EDF will manage on US soil five reactors which accounts for nearly 4,000MW of generation capacity. This adds up to the 58 reactors already managed in France. Continue reading »
Higher gas prices and lower income tax
On December 16, 2008 | Tags: Economy, Oil, Sustainable development
By browsing through the RSS feed of the Oil Drum I came across an interesting article on how increasing gas prices and lowering income tax in the meantime could bring huge benefits.
This is not new to me as I have already discussed this very topic in my review of Le Plein s’il vous plaît [Fr], a brilliant book written in 2006 by Jean-Marc Jancovici, which shares the same views.
Nonetheless, such an idea would be perfect to enable our civilizations to become less dependent on the polluting energy sources that are fossil fuels. Continue reading »
The Poznan conference on climate change ended on Saturday. Due to prepare the Copenhagen meeting - which will bring to light the successor of the Kyoto Protocol - it is a major disappointment.
Poor countries are the least satisfied with the results of the talks as developed nations are stepping back concerning the financial aides they first were willing to give.
Environmental NGOs like the WWF aren’t satisfied either and everybody is looking forward to knowing what the new US President will do on this very topic. Continue reading »
Less cars in towns with car sharing systems
On December 15, 2008 | Tags: Sustainable development, transport
Let’s face it, if you live in a large urban area with a decent public transportation system, you don’t really need that much to own a car. Indeed, renting one when you need one would satisfy you.
This is why car sharing systems are beginning to appear all around the world and are due to have a bright future as they propose to get rid of a personal car and all the related hassle.
One of the best examples of this is Car2go, launched in October in the German city of Ulm by the local carmaker Daimler. Continue reading »
