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 !
To Cleantechies : ” Renewable energy investments in India increased by more than 52 percent in 2011, the fastest growth among major global economies, according to a new report.”
“More than $10.3 billion was invested in renewable energy projects in India last year, with about $4.6 billion targeting wind energy projects and another $4.2 billion going toward solar projects. “
This could be just the beginning as the New Scientist gives many reasons why renewable energy sources – and especially solar – are due to keep growing and growing. Continue »
Yes, you read that right : twelve (12!) billion trees have been planted within the UNEP Billion Tree Campaign. The landmark was reached in November in Kenya. (Was it an homage to Wangari Maathai ?) To the official website :
” China is the leading participating country, having planted a total of 2.8 billion trees under the campaign. India is currently in second place with 2.1 billion trees, followed by Ethiopia, Mexico and Turkey. “
I am starting to wonder how all these trees will impact climate change ? In any case, their effect can’t be negative. Now, let’s plant even more trees. The campaign is willing to reach 14 billion !
I don’t talk about food often here. However, with so many starving people around the world, I should talk more about agricultural advances as feeding nine billion people by 2050 will be the biggest challenge ever faced.
To Ecogeek : ” A new type of rice (from) the University of Agricultural Sciences in Bangalore, India has many advantages over typical rice varieties. It requires less water to grow, it’s higher in protein and it emits less methane over its life cycle. ”
” This rice, which is not genetically modified but a hybrid crop, uses 60 percent less water than conventional rice crops. It only needs to be watered once a week even in arid climates.”
I was mentioning last week a documentary called The Thorium Dream, produced by Motherboard.tv. Lasting less than half an hour it is an absolute must-watch to grab the potential of this technology.
I know we shouldn’t cringe to just one solution. But I now believe that nuclear risk and waste free is one day possible. Thorium is already being used in India, and I believe it will be used more and more.
While we are waiting for thorium to be ready for commercialization and its mass use, we should work massively on efficiency and renewables. Continue »
To new research carried out and recently released by Maplecroft, many booming megalopolis around the world are at extreme risk because of rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change.
Manila, Jakarta and Kolkata (formerly known as Calcutta) would be threatened the most. Others cities, including Mumbai (Bombay), Delhi, Chennai, Karachi, Lagos and Guangdong, would also be in danger.
This reminds me of a series of posts I had published here as early as 2008 on that very subject. This time, the research had been carried out by the OECD and the World Bank. Continue »
To the AFP : ” Brazil, South Africa, India and China said Saturday that November’s UN climate talks should aim to extend the Kyoto Protocol, the only binding global deal to cut greenhouse gases. “
” The four key emerging powers – seen as critical to the success of any future effort to combat climate change – said keeping Kyoto alive should be the “central priority” at the key UN summit in South Africa. “
” The bloc released the statement after two days of talks in southeast Brazil to prepare for the next UN climate conference scheduled to take place in Durban from November 28 to December 9. “ 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 »
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.
While browsing my tweets to prepare my selection of Twitter for June I found several articles pointing out to a quick climate fix : tackling black carbon (also known as soot) might prove to bring exceptional greenhouse gases emissions cuts.
The work was carried out jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and published in margin of the Bonn Climate Talks in June.
On top of slowing climate change, this would prove to have important health and agriculture benefits. Indeed up to 2.5 million lives could be saved each year. This is exactly a win-win-win situation. Continue »
At first I couldn’t possibly believe it, it had to be a sinister joke : there would be a million solar homes in Bangladesh… I was wondering : How could such a poor country such as Bangladesh could afford to have a million houses with solar panels ?
Indeed, the country has a GDP per capita of $638 (when the USA has $47,000) and a HDI of 0.543 (the world’s highest score is Norway, with 0.98). 40 percent of Bangladeshis live below the poverty line…
So, how did the inhabitants got so many solar houses ? Yale Environment 360 (often republished by Cleantechies) bring us the details behind this impressive success. Continue »
