European Union

An offshore wind energy boom in Europe

The European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) published its annual report and the results are encouraging as the offshore wind energy capacity grew by 54 percent in 2009 with 577 MW. The United Kingdom appears to be leading the sector as it installed more than half of the added capacity of the European Union. And this …

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Germany to cut its emissions by 40 percent

To Reuters, ” Germany will stick to a more ambitious goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020 even though the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen fell short of expectations, a government adviser said on Monday. “ Details of how the country will achieve such drastic cuts still remain to be defined. …

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Europe could slash emissions by 40 percent

A joint report by Friends of the Earth Europe (FOEE) and the Stockholm Environment Institute shows that Europe can cut its greenhouse gases emissions by 40 percent by 2020. This is not entirely new or surprising as the UK pledged for 34 percent cuts and as Europe could go as far as 30 percent. What …

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Green economy: 90,000 new green jobs in France

Here is my latest post for CleanTechies : According to a new report [Fr] from the ADEME ( the French Environment and Energy Management Agency ) 90,000 jobs have been created in the French green growth sectors between 2006 and 2008. These jobs have been created mostly in energy conservation and the development of renewable …

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Europe to go beyond its Kyoto Protocol goals

The European Union 15 first members already achieved their Kyoto Protocol goals and will even go beyond. Meanwhile, the 27 members already cut their emissions by 13.6 percent. These excellent results date of 2007. With the economic recession of the past months, the industrial activity have drastically decreased and thus the emissions and thus slashed …

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Does the European Union really leads on climate ?

Some six weeks ahead of Copenhagen, the Guardian published an article on how the European Union believes it is taking the lead on climate change mitigation. At first I was quite optimistic with the title. However there is nothing new: the EU is still willing to cut by 20 percent its emissions by 2020 and …

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Why heat pumps are a fantastic idea

As Eurobserv’ER published a market barometer for heat pumps I thought it might be the occasion to have a look at this most interesting and promising technology which already accounts for nearly 9 GW th of capacity in Europe. With over 100,000 systems installed every year throughout the European Union, heat pumps can both heat …

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EU to give 50 billion euros to energy research

The European Union will give over the next decade up to 50 billion Euros to research on low carbon energy. Solar energies will receive 16 billion euros, wind power 6 billion, nuclear 7 and energy from waste and biomass 9 billion. This is due to enable the 27 members to compete on cleantech with the …

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Why Merkel’s reelection may be good news for climate

As Angela Merkel was reelected German Chancellor and is due to begin a new coalition with the Liberals, nuclear power plants may not be phased out in 2020 as it was previously agreed. Meanwhile, and if Germany keeps it targets of renewables answering 33 percent of the electricity demand in 2020 this may mean that …

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IEA : Global CO2 emissions decreased

According to a study to be released in November by the International Energy Agency, global greenhouse gases emissions decreased by no less than 2.6 percent. This can be explained by several factors. Among these factors are the economic recession which decreased the emissions of the global industrial sector but also the various commitments of the …

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