Welcome ! As a young French Marketing professional with a Master's in International Management I have been selecting since January 2007 the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change, cleantech and the world energy sector. Sounds great ? Don't hesitate to subscribe now !
Incandescent light bulbs are a relic of the past, a vastly inefficient past. Modern alternatives like CFLs and LEDs consume five to ten times less energy. For these reasons, the European Union or Australia have already phased them out.
More countries will be doing the same, namingly the United States and China. The latter will start banning 100-watt bulbs in October 2012. Last year over a billion of these bulbs were sold in the People’s Republic.
To Grist : ” The ban will save China 48 billion kilowatt hours of power per year. Which, if I’m doing my math right, is the equivalent of almost 100 nuclear reactors or large coal-fired power plants. “
I have been committed since January 2007 to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector.
However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. But many more news are worth reading. This is why I use Twitter to share dozens of news that are worth your time.
I believe it offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me. Continue »
As the Wall Street Journal notes : ” Australia’s controversial plan to introduce a tax on carbon emissions cleared a major political hurdle Wednesday, securing the expected approval of the country’s lower legislative house.”
” The package to introduce a price on carbon pollution and encourage investment in clean and renewable energy narrowly passed at 74-72. The law is now assured easy passage through the Australian parliament.“
The Prime Minister Julia Gillard will thus hold her promises to tax greenhouse gases emissions in 2012 as she was stating in July. Continue »
Coal is the environmental enemy #1. It releases huge amounts of CO2 into our atmosphere and pollutes our soil and water. So when Grist writes on how 12 communities around the world stopped the expansion of coal I had to share.
This happens as ” According to 2010 projections by the EIA, coal consumption in the non-OECD world will increase by 23 quadrillion BTUs between 2007 and 2020. That’s roughly the equivalent of (…) a thousand coal-fired generators. “
The 12 examples taken from the article are from Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Australia, Colombia and the Philippines. Continue »
Here is a post I should have published last year as I read Uranium, by Tom Zoellner. Here is my review. It offers a detailed history of the discovery and the use of the 92nd element in the periodic table of the chemical elements.
Will the 21st century be Uranium’s century like the 20th was oil’s and the 19th coal’s ? It is way to early to tell. The century is only ten years old and as oil and coal still account large parts of the world energy mix.
(Nota : I wrote that review last year and pretty didn’t change anything about it. I am fully aware a huge nuclear accident took place in Fukushima in-between… ) Continue »
According to Fast Company : ” Many major cities have seen a decline in driving over the past few years. The reasons for this are varied, but if it’s a continuing trend, it’s going to mean drastic changes for the way we shape our cities. “
” (…) There’s just one caveat: The study only looked at car usage patterns in Europe, North America, and Australia. In rapidly developing countries like India and China, car use is likely to grow for the foreseeable future. “
So perhaps peak car will occur in peak oil in Western countries. But it is most unlikely that on a global level it will be the case… Indeed, there might be billions of cars on the roads in 2050, when there are 600 million today.
To Clean Technica : ” Samsung has developed a new computer that is solar-powered! The Samsung NC215S netbook it will be the first computer of its kind. The power will come from a solar panel embedded in the lid. “ Still to Clean Technica :
” a team of researchers at Australia’s RMIT have demonstrated a new, “nano-scaled” piezoelectric film’s capacity for turning mechanical pressure into electricity — bringing the dream of perpetually-charged laptop batteries one giant leap closer to reality. “
I look forward to seeing these innovations in my next laptop or iPhone. It seems I am always recharging them… With both technologies combined, we would have virtually endless batteries. Continue »
According to the BBC quoting Julia Gillard, the Australian Prime Minister : “As a nation, we need to put a price on carbon and create a clean energy future… Australians want to do the right thing by the environment.”
As they note : ” The Australian government has unveiled plans to impose a tax on carbon emissions for the worst polluters. Prime Minister Julia Gillard said carbon dioxide emissions would be taxed at A$23 ($25; £15, 17€) per tonne from 2012. “
These are good news as ” Australia is one of the world’s worst emitters of greenhouse gases per head of population. The country relies on coal for 80% of its electricity generation.” Continue »
Here we go again… New climate talks, same disappointment. Preliminary talks took place in Bonn, Germany, to discuss the future of the Kyoto Protocol, which will end next year. To the Guardian, the negotiations aren’t progressing :
Even if they are making progress on ” technical issues “, countries are ” still nowhere near agreement in the three key areas of finance, greenhouse gas emission cuts and the future of the Kyoto protocol. “
Most if not all countries see the current financial and economic crises as excuses for delaying action when they are contrarily to what they think reasons to push the cleantech and energy revolution forward ! Continue »
2010 saw horrific climate events with floods in Pakistan, wild fires in Russia and the Xynthia storm in France. It was also the hottest year ever recorded. Will 2011 be the same ?
It seems it could be the case as Australia is already facing floods of “biblical proportions” as 1.8 million square kilometers (more than France and Germany combined) have been affected.
Extreme weather events are now occurring more and more often and on all continents. It will get worse. But if we keep stalling greenhouse gases emissions reductions, it will get much much worse.
