What the common point between famous buildings around the world such as the White House in the United States, the Vatican, the Taj Mahal in India, the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates and the Eiffel Tower in France ? You give up ? They are all at least partly powered by solar. This …
Here is my first 2014 article for Cleantechies, focusing on the slow growth of renewable energy in France. If wind power capacity is reaching 8,000 MW and solar PV is reaching 4,500 MW, progress has been slowing down considerably. Here is the introduction to the article : ” According to recent data from the French Ministry …
Renewable energies increased slowly in 2013 in France Read More »
While browsing Cleantechnica I found the answer of a key question I have been having ever since writing my Master’s thesis. French houses are leaky ” thermal collanders “ as 20 million accommodations have to be weatherized. Potential savings could be the equivalent of 200 TWh of electricity per annum, knowing that the total electricity …
This Thursday I attended two events in Paris related to energy and environmental issues as well as on social corporate responsibility. The first event was a round-table on nuclear in France and the Energiewende in Germany. It was organized by the Green European Foundation, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung and the Fondation de l’Écologie Politique. The second one …
For my second post on Cleantechies in less than a week, I bring good news from my home country, France, as it is stepping away from polluting, nefarious and dangerous fossil fuels : shale oil and gas retrieved via fracking. ” I reported previously here on Cleantechies that in 2011 France was the first country …
It had been a long while since my last post on Cleantechies, as I didn’t post during summer. But I am back with a post on a topic close to my heart as my Master’s thesis was on it. The French residential sector could benefit immensely from energy efficiency efforts and it seems the current …
France unveils new efforts to renovate buildings Read More »
With shale oil and other extreme oil sources, many think peak oil is dead, or at least is not threatening our economies. But this couldn’t be more wrong. The historic average oil prices are of $25. Current prices are above $110 a barrel. Five years ago, they were less than half of that. As the …
A couple of weeks ago I went to Boulogne sur Mer and visited the marvellous Côte d’Opale. I had two great summer days between Boulogne and Calais and strongly recommend this little trip if you are looking for enchanting places. A thing that struck me there is the quantity of wind there is almost all …
Tapping into local renewables : the Côte d’Opale Read More »
The previous nights were the occasion to see the Perseid meteor shower. It was also the Nuits des Etoiles in France, where hundreds of events are organized to allow people to watch stars and (re)discover the sky and stars above our heads. As you perhaps know, I am quite an astronomy fan and I believe …
My time out for the past two weeks in southern France was the occasion for me to think a bit about energy and environmental issues as I was experiencing stuff I have been writing about on this blog. Exemplifying with day-to-day and real-life examples is a fantastic opportunity to see how stuff just works. From …
