Archive for Energy
Why passive houses need to become widespread
Posted by: on December 30, 2008 in Tags: Efficiency, Energy, housing
Even if I learned more than two years ago about the theory on passive housing for my Master’s Thesis at the Audencia Nantes Management School, the reality is little known to me.
Even if I knew such houses don’t need any heater it seemed too vague a notion. But an interesting article from the New York Times brought me a most interesting insight of such constructions.
The result is staggering and a lot of energy could be saved if such houses were to become widespread as they use 20 less energy than traditional ones. 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 »
EDF buys half of Constellation nuclear activities
Posted by: on December 18, 2008 in 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 »
A brilliant solution for abandoned coal mines
Posted by: on December 11, 2008 in Tags: Coal, Energy, renewables
What if old coal mines could provide us with clean and renewable energy ? No, I am not giving credence to clean coal, I am writing about a great idea a Dutch village had.
Heerlen inhabitants thought about repurposing their old coal mine - flooded with hot water - and thought about tapping all this heat with geothermal energy.
Now, what if in the future all currents coal mines, once abandoned because of high CO2 prices, were to provide geothermal energy ? That would be awesome. Continue reading »
Help in finding new solar technologies
Posted by: on December 10, 2008 in Tags: Energy, renewables, Sciences, solar
If you let your computer idle while you are away or asleep, you might consider to allow Harvard and IBM to use it to do calculations for the Clean Energy Project.
Due to find new ways to create more efficient solar photovoltaïc panels and later of batteries, this project already has over a million people donating some of their computer time.
This could shorten an estimated calculation time of 22 years to only two. So, if you want to join this most interesting project, read on. Continue reading »
An idea of green bailout for The Big Three
Posted by: on December 9, 2008 in Tags: Efficiency, Energy, thoughts, transport
The three large US automakers are facing huge problems. Meanwhile, many people think their cars would be able to sell better if US cars had better mileage.
While driving I had an idea that very topic: increasing the mileage to enable it to reach 50 MPG by 2010 would be great. This would be much better than 35 MPG in 2020 as some think.
Seems like science fiction ? Not so, as the car I drive - A Citroën C2 - already gets 4.5 liters for 100 kilometers (more than 50 miles per gallon). Continue reading »
UNEP highlights central role of solar
Posted by: on December 8, 2008 in Tags: Climate change, Energy, solar
I have been for five years a huge fan of solar energies - both photovoltaïc and thermal - and I am still hoping that one day I will have the privilege to work in this booming industry.
Today, the UNEP and three CEOs of this industry issued a joint statement at the current Poznan Conference stressing how solar is one of the key solutions to all our energy and climate issues.
This is a strong call for all governments around the world to enable this energy sources to play a much larger role than nowadays. Continue reading »
Vivace, another renewable energy source
Posted by: on December 4, 2008 in Tags: Energy, oceans, renewables
After my writing of two articles on renewable energy sources from the oceans in October, here comes VIVACE or vortex-induced vibrations for aquatic clean energy.
According to an interesting article by The Telegraph, this prototype could enable us to harness some energy from our rivers and waterbeds around the world.
The potential is huge as to the scientists behind this, by harnessing only 0.1 % of the energy from oceans, we could power 15 billion people. Continue reading »
Limiting the methane emissions of cows
Posted by: on November 25, 2008 in Tags: Agriculture, Climate change, Energy
You perhaps remember the article on backpacks for cows’ farts I published this summer. It seems there is another way to limit methane emissions produced by bovines.
Collecting their manure - and thus the methane - could decrease global warming and provide energy as this greenhouse gas is quite similar to natural gas.
This seems to be a very good solution even if it would concern firstly large dairy farms where the amount of gas is enough to pay the installation. Continue reading »
Reforming the EU energy sector is necessary
Posted by: on November 24, 2008 in Tags: Climate change, Energy, EuropeAccording to the European Environment Agency the generation of electricity and heat in the 27 country members account for 80 percent of of European Union’s greenhouse gases emissions.
This occurs as the sector progressively steps back from both coal and oil to embrace natural gas and renewable energy sources. It also increased its efficiency.
But a trend continuation of these changes won’t be enough to avoid massive climate change. Faster and bigger changes have to take place. Continue reading »
