I was writing in a comment that solar thermal could and even should provide electricity to the nations of the Middle East and how it would much better than nuclear. It seems I was quite right. Published by an environmental NGO and various official bodies specialized in solar energy, a study notes that concentrated solar …
A quarter of global electricity can be provided by solar thermal by 2050 Read More »
Last week Jean-Louis Borloo, the French energy and environment Minister, launched a plan that will quadruple the amount of electricity provided by solar photovoltaïc in order to reach 300 MW by 2011. This is great news as investing 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) in solar PV is the right move for France to enable local …
It seems the arms race is continuing as the People’s Republic of China is willing to get 35 percent of its electricity by renewable energy sources by 2020. This will represent 570 gigawatts of capacity. It is worth noting that the country’s electricity demand is due to double by then and will reach 1,600 GW …
I never write about renewable energy projects who will bring only a few megawatts to the grids. I prefer to focus on huge plants that will bring at least several hundreds megawatts which are more interesting in a global scope. This is the case of two projects I heard about this week. One will bring …
By reading the French daily Le Monde, I came across an interesting interview [Fr] of the Spanish Prime Minister, M. Zapatero. There he stated that one of the solutions to get his country out of economic trouble is green growth. Several other countries including the United States, China and South Korea already did so and …
One of the main causes of climate change is fuelwood collection for cooking as the New York Times noted that “soot from tens of thousands of villages in developing countries is responsible for 18 percent of the planet’s warming“. Furthermore, deforestation aggravates poverty in many ways as soils deprived from their forests loose their nutrients …
Even if I am an advocate of an increased use of renewable energy sources I am fully aware of their drawbacks. To me, they don’t constitute the panacea most people claim they are. After my posts on why renewables aren’t perfect solutions and the climate change mitigation paradox I would like to share with you …
News on solar photovoltaïc are numerous as many companies and labs are working in research and development to bring to market the best PV cells possible in terms of price and of efficiency. In the meantime, more and more large projects are being launched. Indeed, California announced a 1,300 MW project near Los Angeles and …
Thanks to Meryn I came across a most interesting piece of information. According to the Spiegel (the leading German magazine) wind turbines in Europe do nothing for emissions-reduction goals. Despite the billions spent every year in wind energy, solar and similar renewable energy sources, greenhouse gases emissions haven’t decreased. What looks like a strong contradiction …
Solar photovoltaïc (also known as PV or solar cells) is the subject of numerous researches around the world. Indeed, Earth receives so much energy from its star that the potential is simply tremendous. Accounting for less than a percent of our energy consumption, scientists around the world want to make solar an affordable energy source …
