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 !
Could Hawaii be entirely powered by geothermal, just like Iceland ? To Industry Intelligence : ” Hawaii Island has geothermal potential of 500 to 700 MW, enough to easily exceed its energy demand of 90 to 185 MW “
You think this would be a senseless move ? Think again, to the report carried out by the local Geothermal Working Group, this would save over a billion dollar in oil annually ! Currently, geothermal accounts for 25 to 30 percent of the capacity.
Now what if even cars were powered by geothermal too ? Examples like this clearly show we got to stop our ridiculous addiction to oil and embrace renewables. All the time, everywhere…
Here is why cleantech will be a buzzword all throughout 2012 : the United Nations declared this year will be the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. As Catherine Banet notes on her blog :
” (the) aim is twofold: increase awareness and find solutions on access to energy (with the objective of universal access by 2030) that is, in addition, affordable, clean and safe. ” Here are the main objectives for 2030 :
Ensuring universal access to modern energy services ; Doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency ; Doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. (via Cleantechies).
Remember the Desertec project and how I was convinced ? Their goal is to build solar, wind and other renewable energies facilities to power North Africa, the Middle East and part of Europe.
Well, I am not the only one as their first plant will start construction next year. With a capacity of 500 MW it will cost 2.8 billion USD, or 2 billion euros. The first phase will bring 150 MW and will take two to four years to build.
500 megawatts don’t seem much really compared to the hundreds of gigawatts that are planned and needed, but you have to start somewhere. (via Ecogeek)
According to Reuters : ” China will invest 2 trillion yuan (about $313 billion or 230 billion euros) to promote a green, low-carbon economy in the next five years, a senior economic planning official was quoted on Sunday as saying. ”
The article goes on : ” (…) The green economy plan includes setting up 100 bases for demonstrating resource utilisation and launching low-carbon pilot programmes in five provinces and eight cities “
I guess all this money will help China become the first economic power even quicker thanks to cleantech. Meanwhile both the United States and the European Union are doing a track-stand on these issues…
To Bloomberg : ” Japan approved a bill today to subsidize electricity from renewable sources, joining European nations in shifting away from nuclear power after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in March.”
” (…) The bill allows for incentives that guarantee above-market rates for wind, solar and geothermal energy. The so-called feed- in tariff created a race to install solar panels when implemented in Germany and Spain.”
” (…) Solar panels had capacity to produce about 3.68 gigawatts of power at the end of last year in Japan, and the government is targeting 28 gigawatts by 2020.”
It’s a well known fact, the production of electricity via traditional coal and natural gas burning plants and in a lesser way nuclear reactors is vastly inefficient. But this might change soon thanks to scientific research. To Ecogeek :
” Researchers (…) are developing a new gas turbine to increase the efficiency of conventional electrical power plants with a generation system that could increase the thermal-to-electric conversion efficiency by 40 to 50 percent.“
Imagine a world where these turbines would be the implemented everywhere : emissions would drop very quickly. For more, read the official press release from Sandia National Laboratories.
If you think business is bad in every sectors, think again. To Reuters : ” Brazil, China and India are expected to fuel global investments in clean energy in 2011 that are expected to reach $240 billion. (175 billion euros)
The U.N.’s environmental unit (UNEP) said investment in renewable energy hit $180-$200 billion (130-145 billion euros) in 2010 up from $162 billion in 2009 (115 billion euros), driven by the three countries.
The increased investments are because sustainable energy is gaining momentum as governments seek cheaper sources — such as solar, wind and ethanol — to cushion against rising oil prices.” Continue »
One of the most striking facts I learned from reading Crossing the Energy Divide is that decentralizing electric utilities would enable saving up to five trillion dollars. Here is a quote from the book (page 94) :
” WADE found that the world’s energy industries have a choice of spending 10.8 trillion in new central power plants in the next few years, or spending 5.8 trillion for decentralized generation to replace them. “
Out of these huge sums, Robert and Edward Ayres believe the United States alone would save 1,000 billion dollars. I wonder how much the European Union would save…
To the New York Times green blog : ” China’s ravenous appetite for energy puts the country at risk of reaching a point of “peak coal,” when demand for coal will outstrip domestic production capacity, a growing number of experts believe.”
” China now consumes approximately 47 percent of coal produced globally but by most estimates has just 14 percent of global coal reserves. Meanwhile, demand has risen by about 10 percent per year for the last decade “
China is already the world’s first energy consumer and greenhouse gases emitter. Reading these figures you wonder where it will stop. Continue »
I have been committed since January 2007 to bring you each month a selection of the latest headlines and best researches on sustainable development, climate change and the world energy sector.
However, I don’t blog as much as I would like to and generally write around 25 posts per month. But many more news are worth reading. This is why I use Twitter to share more news that are worth your time.
I believe it offers a good complement to this website. So if you are on Twitter and like this selection, don’t hesitate to start following me. Continue »
