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 »
With current outdoors temperatures below the freezing point in large parts of Europe, it is easy to think that climate change is either a hoax or that it will be most welcome as it would get us rid of those patches of ice on the roads.
This won’t be the case as the Independent reports : “The bitterly cold weather sweeping Britain and (…) Europe has been linked by scientists with the ice-free seas of the Arctic, where global warming is exerting its greatest influence.”
This is another example of climate change’s influence on weather extremes, and thus another reason to tackle the problem before it really gets out of our control. Continue »
Here are some great news for climate and quite bad news for America and Europe : China unveiled last week massive wind energy plans. The People’s Republic is willing to seriously expand the renewable energy industry.
Indeed from the current 40 GW of capacity, it is planning to reach ” 200 GW, 400 GW and 1,000 GW by 2020, 2030 and 2050, respectively, making wind one of the five major sources of electricity across the country.. “ as Reuters notes.
Then this low carbon energy source would account for 17 percent of the energy demand. The cleantech arms race is on and China is determined to win.
I have recently noted that cleantech is booming globally, but what does it mean for Africa ? In today’s post I will try to give a few answers to this crucial question as still 600 million Africans have no access to electricity.
To a study titled Mega Trends in Africa: A bright vision for the growing continent ” Investment in renewable power in Africa is set to grow from a total of US$3.6-billion in 2010 to $57-billion by 2020. “
I have found several other articles on cleantech in Africa in the past few weeks. Let’s review the main ones. Continue »
These are great news, just in time for the current climate talks taking place in Durban as to a new report from Bloomberg, global investments in renewables are surpassing for the first time ever the amounts invested in fossil fuels.
With economies of scale and scope, both solar energy and wind power are getting cheaper and cheaper, making them already seriously compete with much dirtier energy sources.
As a result, last year over $187 billion (141 billion euros) were invested in renewables and only $157 billion (118 billion euros) in fossil fuels. This is only the beginning. Continue »
We already saw that solar PV is due to compete in terms of costs with fossil fuels by around 2017 as this energy source is gaining momentum so fast that the Holy Grail – grid parity – might soon be within reach. These are sure great news…
But there is more as to Bloomberg New Energy Finance : ” The cost of electricity from onshore wind turbines will drop 12% in the next five years thanks to a mix of lower-cost equipment and gains in output efficiency. “
” The best wind farms in the world already produce power as economically as coal, gas and nuclear generators; the average wind farm will be fully competitive by 2016 “
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.”
To the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century and their latest Global Status Report : ” In 2010, renewable energy supplied an estimated 16% of global final energy consumption and delivered close to 20% of global electricity.”
” Renewable capacity now comprises about a quarter of total global power-generating capacity. (…) Global solar PV production and markets more than doubled in comparison with 2009. Germany installed more PV in 2010 than the entire world”
To learn out more about these interesting findings, please check out the full report here (PDF) and their Renewables Interactive Map. You may as well as read EcoGeek and Sustainable Business.
As the world’s first energy consumer and greenhouse gases emitter, the People’s Republic of China is under closed scrutiny from energy analysts. Last week, not one or two but three different news caught my attention on this country.
The climate situation there is dreadful as according to CNN massive floods forced 1.6 million people to evacuate their homes. It is indeed high time for all of us to act as forcefully as China is. It indeed seems the local government got it right.
Massive plans on energy efficiency, renewables and nuclear are planned in order to curb the increasing reliance of the country on coal and oil, two major pollution sources. Continue »
To CleanTechnica : ” A new national 10-year plan from Brazil shows that the country will triple its use of renewable energy by 2020 and that a lot of that energy will be wind energy. ”
” Going from 9 GW of wind, biomass and small hydropower in 2010, the country intends to hit 27 GW by 2020. It wants to have 16% of its electricity supply coming from renewables in 10 years. “
South Korea is also moving forward : “The South Korean government and businesses aim to bolster their share in the world’s renewable energy market to 18 percent by 2030, (…)” Bloomberg News reported. “
