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 !
I came across two news today that could revolutionize solar panels by drastically increasing their efficiency. Given the current potential of this energy source with today’s technology, tomorrow will be bright for solar !
To the MIT Technology Review :” Replacing flat panels with three dimensional structures (see left) can significantly change the economics of solar power generation, say engineers. “
The second news that came to me was from the University of Texas where a scientist found a way to increase the efficiency of solar cells to 66 percent, compared to around 20 % today. (via Grist)
The French magazine Science & Vie [Fr] published this month a lengthy series of articles on thorium-based nuclear, and how it could solve the various issues encountered with uranium-based energy generation.
Much more safer, without the need to be enriched, Thorium is also four times more abundant than Uranium. Molten salt reactors could also recycle the waste of current reactors.
In today’s post we will have a look at the various other advantages of this still not commercially developped technology. Continue »
To ABC News : ” It’s time to clean up Irene. The hurricane’s destructive path through 10 East Coast states left an estimated $7 billion to $13 billion of damage in its wake — without even accounting for economic losses.”
Estimates could climb to $20 billion (14 billion euros) if economic lost were taken into account… And this was by all standards a small hurricane. It wasn’t even one, but just a tropical storm when it reached most of the United States.
Climate change is making these phenomena worse. (cf. below) What are we waiting for slashing our emissions and thus, the risk of increased hurricanes and floods ? Continue »
One of my latest stride toward sustainability has been eating organic fruits. Indeed, after slashing my energy and water use and traveling as much as I could by train, I guess it was the natural next step.
So when Grist publishes an article on how organic food is ” not really better for you or the planet ” I am really wondering : Am I doing something bad ? Scientific American – which published the original article – brings us data.
This question is interesting, as organic food and beverages made $26.7 billion last year alone in the United States. Continue »
According to Climate Progress : ” In 2004, Princeton Profs Socolow and Pacala published a paper in Science, “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies.”
” (…) I spoke to Socolow today at length, and he stands behind every word of that — including the carefully-worded title. Indeed, if Socolow were king, he told me, he’d start deploying some 8 wedges immediately.“
When the paper was first published, we needed only seven of these wedges. Conclusion : the more we will wait, the more it will cost us to mitigate climate change. Let’s demand action NOW ! Continue »
Religions generally got a little problem with science… But the threat of climate change is becoming so serious that even the Pope (left) is warning about it, and calls for immediate action. To Climate Progress :
” We call on all people and nations to recognise the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. ”
” (…) We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems “ Continue »
Too many lights in our cities at night is really bad for our economy as we waste electricity and thus money. It is also a bad idea for nocturnal animals, plants and amateur astronomers who need to go further and further to have a darker sky.
Now, to a new American study, too many lights is also a bad thing for air quality. As the BBC notes : ” Their research indicates that the glare thrown up into the sky interferes with chemical reactions.”
I am not sure this is the definite argument to push forward slashing the amount of lights but this is still something to point to if the ordinary fails to convince…
To the UNEP : ” For millennia, medical practitioners have harnessed substances from nature for treatments and cures: aspirin from the willow and, more recently, Taxol – the groundbreaking anti-cancer drug – from the bark of the Pacific yew.
Some of the biggest breakthroughs may be yet to come. But this can happen only if nature’s cornucopia is conserved, so that current and future generations of researchers can make new discoveries that benefit patients everywhere.”
Given the astonishing breakthroughs we are witnessing today I wonder what could happen tomorrow if we preserve our common treasure. I hope we will find out !
We have heard that before : ” Wind power is far too unreliable ” or ” Nuclear power isn’t a safe solution “. Yet the reality is most of the times far from these myths. Popular Mechanics published a long article debunking energy myths.
I wrote about some of them such as clean coal that won’t clean up our air or biofuels that won’t cure our addiction to oil or don’t even represent an alternative to oil. Some others, like algae are quite new topics here.
After debunking all these myths, this long article ends with a true fact that I have been hammering here since the beginning of this blog : ” Energy saved, it turns out, is the cheapest new source. “
I wrote about it before : deforestation in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest – aka the lungs of Earth – decreased by no less than 46 percent and is at record low levels in the past two decades.
These are surely good news as deforestation is a predominant part in Brazilian greenhouse gases emissions. TreeHugger explains how this was achieved, partly thanks to satellites.
As a science fiction fan I like it when space technology helps solving Earth matters. This isn’t the first time it happens. Continue »
