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 !
After the quite depressing news from the International Energy Agency yesterday, here is something that might cheer you up. If proven true, this could literally change everything. According to Bloomberg :
” Solar power may be cheaper than electricity generated by fossil fuels and nuclear reactors within three to five years because of innovations, said Mark M. Little, the global research director for General Electric Co. “
(…) The cost of solar cells has fallen 21 percent so far this year, and the cost of solar power is now about the same as the rate utilities charge for conventional power in California, Italy and Turkey “
According to Reuters : ” The world added about 16 gigawatts of new solar photovoltaic (PV) power in 2010, double the growth seen a year earlier, the European Photovoltaic Industry Association told Reuters on Monday.”
Out of these 16 gigawatts, Europe is behind the vast majority of the growth with an impressive 13 gigawatts. Out of these, Germany account for seven GW and Italy three (and not six as I wrote there…)
Still to Reuters : ” Estimates for the other major European players included the Czech Republic (1.3 GW), France (0.5 GW), Spain (0.4), Belgium (0.25) and Greece (0.2). “ Continue »
Italy is currently in the news more because of Berlusconi’s taste for orgies but little is written on the expansion of solar photovoltaic there. However, there is much to write as it installed 6,000 MW of solar PV capacity in 2010 alone.
To Cleantechies : ” 7 GWs of PV power will yield well over 8 TWh of electricity per year, almost 2.5% of the nation’s electricity consumption, while still covering a microscopic share of the country’s land (most of which being roofs). “
Yes ! A country can install the equivalent of 2.5 percent via solar of its needed capacity in only a year. This means a lot for those who dream of a future powered only via renewable energy sources. Continue »
According to Enerzine [Fr] and other sources the Desertec Project is getting international support as several companies from Europe, America and Africa are joining the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii).
The US company First Solar was the first to join in and five more companies from Morocco, Tunisia, France, Spain and Italy followed suit. Desertec is due to bring 15 percent of Europe’s energy by 2050.
For a closer look at this most interesting project, please refer to my first post on this topic. Be sure that I will keep you updated on Desertec, so stay tuned !
There is something I totally overlooked while writing earlier this week my article on how Europe goes forward on energy. Indeed, last month Italy announced its intention to build nuclear reactors this decade.
Italian electricity is both heavily reliant on foreign fossil sources (70 percent) and on imports (ten percent comes from France’s own reactors). Building four nuclear reactors will decrease both.
A total of ten reactors might be built by the next 20 years to enable the country to get 25 percent of its electricity from this low carbon source. Continue »
If you think 2009 was a rotten year for all businesses, read on. To the Global Wind Energy Council 37.5 GW of wind energy capacity was installed in 2009 alone. This represents a 31 percent increase over 2008.
In Europe, capacity grew up by 10 GW and investors pumped 13 billion euros into the industry. Spain is the first with 2.5 GW, then comes Germany with 1.9 GW. The United Kingdom, Italy and France follow with around a gigawatt each.
China doubled its capacity with 12 GW plugged to the grids and the capacity in the United States also grew by ten gigawatts. I find all these figures impressive and look forward to see what will happen in 2010.
To the latest report of the European Environment Agency, climate change “poses a grave threat” to the snows of the Alps, and thus will decrease the amounts of water received by many rivers like the Danube, Rhine, Po and Rhone.
At the center of Europe the Alps – like the Himalayas are for Asia – are the water towers of the continent and play an important role for our environment, societies and economies.
Knowing how much the decreasing amounts of snow in the Alps would harm our agriculture, tourism industry and so on I hope our representatives will pledge to action in Copenhagen. Continue »
A few months before the Copenhagen meeting which will decide of the future of the Kyoto Protocol, the countries who met in Italy this week missed another opportunity to agree on climate change mitigation.
After Hokkaido in July 2008, this G8 meeting was another failure of our elected representatives to seriously act on the defining cause of our time. The Kindergarten squabble continues.
From rich nations to poorer ones, none of them decided to show some real leadership that would set an example for the others. Continue »
I was right when stating a month earlier that the Big Three could get a green bailout if they partnered with European car makers. It seems it was a good idea as Fiat just acquired 35% of Chrysler in exchange for small fuel efficient cars.
This will allow American consumers to soon have access to extra efficient models like the cute new Fiat 500 pictured left. Indeed Fiat is renowned for its gas sipping cars: as less as 4.2 litres for 100 kilometers (around 55 MPG)
Now, what’s next ? Will Volkswagen or PSA partner with Ford or GM ? In any case, be sure that I will keep you posted on any idea that will reduce oil consumption. Learn out more on this event.
Italy has been since the Chernobyl catastrophe a huge opponent of nuclear. However, the newly elected government is planning to get back to using this energy source.
This happens as the country depends on 60 percent on natural gas for its electricity, which is a huge problem as prices are soaring.
This happens as some companies plan to build coal-fired plants in the country. I hope these plans will be abandoned and replaced by the nuclear ones. Continue »
