Eiffel Tower | Sustainable development and much more

Crazy air pollution levels in Paris

On Thursday, March 20, 2014 / Environment / Leave a comment

Air pollution in Paris the Eiffel tower Last week and earlier this one, the French capital was hit by important levels of air pollution. The situation was so out of hand on Monday that the city of Paris decided to ban half the cars off the roads as TreeHugger reported.

According to the local ADEME, France is a severe offender regarding air pollution and its particulates PM 10 levels. Public transportation and bike sharing were free over the weekend to ease the pollution.

Let’s hope the Paris municipality and / or the French government will tackle the issue as France shouldn’t have air pollution levels similar to Beijing.

Five famous buildings with solar

On Tuesday, February 25, 2014 / Cleantech / Leave a comment

What the common point between famous buildings around the world such as the White House in the United States, the Vatican, the Taj Mahal in India, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates and the Eiffel Tower in France ?

You give up ? They are all at least partly powered by solar. This was pointed out by Solar Mosaic. So if you thought that solar photovoltaic or thermal panels would ruin old buildings and landmarks, think again.

Solar will answer an increasing share of our needs and thus will become ubiquitous this century as previous studies have shown. Solar panels thus do belong everywhere, from India’s slums to the palaces of the world.

France unveils measures to decrease energy use

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 / Energy / Leave a comment

Eiffel tower without its lights Here is another post I wrote for Cleantechies, this time on energy conservation :
” Even after the election of François Hollande as President of France, an energy conservation measure of the previous government will be implemented.”

” The Sarkozy government wanted to require shops and offices to turn off their unnecessary lights at nights. This will be effective as of July 1, 2013. All nonresidential buildings will be required to shut off their lights (…) by 1 a.m.”

While this measure is tiny compared to what has to be done on energy conservation, let’s hope the current government will go forward in this direction. As usual, please enjoy and share !

Great astrophotographies – April 2010

On Thursday, April 29, 2010 / Astronomy / 1 Comment

This is time for me to present my selection of the best pictures of the NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). As always, this month was packed with beautiful images. It was difficult to select just ten. To the NASA, today’s picture :

“Venus and Mercury were imaged next to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. A careful inspection of the image will further reveal that the bright object nearly below Venus is iconic Eiffel Tower.”

I am absolutely still amazed at how many splendors can be seen at night. I just hope we may find a way to make our nights darker so more people can see them. Read more →