industryterm:renewable energy

IRENA - Global Atlas for Solar & Wind

http://irena.org/GlobalAtlas/about.html

What is the Global Atlas for Solar & Wind?

The Global Atlas is the comprehensive information platform on the potential of renewable energy. It provides resource maps from leading technical institutes worldwide and tools for evaluating the technical potential of renewable energies. It can function as a catalyst for policy development and energy planning, and can support investors in entering renewable energy markets.
Why develop a Global Atlas of renewable energy potential?

What share of a country’s energy mix can be supplied by renewable energy? Where are the resources located? What is the most cost-effective combination of technologies? What volume of investment does this represent and is there a market large enough to create a supply chain?

#énergie #énergie-renouvelable

UAE Opens World’s Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant
The 100-megawatt, grid connected power plant, Shams 1, will generate clean energy to power 20,000 homes in the UAE.

Including Shams 1, Masdar’s renewable energy portfolio now accounts for almost 68 per cent of the Gulf’s renewable energy capacity and close to 10 per cent percent of the world’s installed CSP [concentrated solar power] capacity, the company said in a statement.

Gulf Business news

Sting operations reveal #Mafia involvement in renewable energy - The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/sting-operations-reveal-mafia-involvement-in-renewable-energy/2013/01/22/67388504-5f39-11e2-9dc9-bca76dd777b8_story.html?hpid=z2

Because it receives more sun and wind than any other part of Italy, Sicily became one of Europe’s most obvious hotbeds for renewable energies over the past decade. As the Italian government began offering billions of euros annually in subsidies for wind and solar development, the potential profitability of such projects also soared — a fact that did not go unnoticed by Sicily’s infamous crime families.

Roughly a third of the island’s 30 wind farms — along with several solar power plants — have been seized by authorities. Officials have frozen more than $2 billion in assets and arrested a dozen alleged crime bosses, corrupt local councilors and mafia-linked entrepreneurs. Italian prosecutors are now investigating suspected mafia involvement in renewable-energy projects from Sardinia to Apulia.

#énergies_renouvelables #blanchiment #corruption #Sicile #Italie

Fake plastic trees and a volcanic push to keep the globe cool
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/environment/climate-change/fake-plastic-trees-and-a-volcanic-push-to-keep-the-globe-cool-2012

#Geoengineering, with its #science_fiction overtones, is considered a risky last resort, because while it might be able to slow or deflect some warming, it wouldn’t deal with other effects of rising carbon dioxide levels, such as ocean acidification.
(...) Geoengineering can be divided into two types: reflecting more of the sun’s heat away from the Earth, and sucking more heat-trapping greenhouse gases out of the air.
The first type includes some wildly ambitious schemes, such as trying to ’’shade’’ part of Greenland from the sun’s heat with space-based mirrors, an idea with no credible backing among the world’s scientists.

#climat

Biofuels and Hunger, Two Sides of the Same Coin
http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/217-hunger/51711-biofuels-and-hunger-two-sides-of-the-same-coin.html

In the meantime, the social effects of the growing demand for biofuels are aggravating. For instance, a large percentage of Guatemala’s indigenous population is facing a new hunger crisis because of land grabbing, forced evictions and water diversion to create large-scale monoculture plantations of palm oil trees and sugar cane for biofuel.

In one such case in March last year, Guatemalan police and soldiers evicted more than 3000 indigenous people from their homes in Guatemala’s Polochic valley to make room for a large-scale plantation. Banned from their land, these 700 families are now facing severe malnutrition and high child mortality as a consequence of diarrhoea or fever.

Herman believes the problem will get even worse as in the years to come, as traditional players have become increasingly interested in biofuels as well. “Shell and BP invested heavily in Brazilian sugar cane last year,” he stressed. “They want to remain leaders in the fuel sector and they are lobbying in Brussels as well.”

#terres #agrocarburant #Europe #Guatemala #malnutrition

Leaked documents reveal UK fight to dilute EU green energy targets (The Guardian)
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/03/coalition-dilute-eu-green-energy-targets

The government has been trying to water down key environmental regulations in Brussels despite trumpeting its commitment to green issues at home, leaked documents show. The papers, seen by the Guardian, reveal British officials repeatedly trying to prevent the adoption of European Union rules on energy efficiency, curtailing the proposals and making them voluntary rather than mandatory in many cases. In addition, the UK has tried repeatedly to ensure that the EU does not adopt a new target for renewable energy generation. (...) Source: The Guardian

Leaked documents reveal UK fight to dilute EU green energy targets
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/03/coalition-dilute-eu-green-energy-targets

The government has been trying to water down key environmental regulations in Brussels despite trumpeting its commitment to green issues at home, leaked documents show.

#environnement #lobbying

#Apple commits to renewable power for US data centres | Environment | guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/18/apple-renewable-power-data-centres

Apple plans to power its main data centre entirely with renewable energy by the end of this year, taking steps to address longstanding environmental concerns about the rapid expansion of high-consuming computer server farms.

#énergie_renouvelable

A Power Grid of Their Own: German Village Becomes Model for Renewable Energy - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,820369,00.html

The tiny village of Feldheim, some 60 kilometers southwest of Berlin, was catapulted by chance to the forefront of the renewable energy movement. Now visitors from around the world are flocking to this otherwise unremarkable rural community to see if they can replicate its success.

#énergies_renouvelables

Are the ’big six’ energy companies blocking renewables in the UK? - news - The Ecologist
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/1261670/are_the_big_six_energy_companies_blocking_renewables_in_the_uk.html

Just six energy companies EDF, E.ON, Centrica, SSE, Scottish Power and npower control 99 per cent of our domestic energy market but show only minor interest in renewables

Huge profits announced by EDF and Centrica recently have sparked further debate about the behaviour of the so-called ’big six’ energy companies and their stranglehold of the energy market. At worst they may not only be overcharging customers but also holding back a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make the transition to renewable energy.

#énergie #Royaume-Uni

Energy summit unveils blueprint for change | Nature News Blog
http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/02/energy-summit-unveils-blueprint-for-change.html

des idées peut-être pour se désintoxiquer du #pétrole et des #énergies fossiles

Summit participants settled on five pathways for action: large-scale storage for renewable energy, enhanced geothermal power, advanced nuclear power, off-grid electricity access and smart urbanization (including transportation solutions).

#transport #électricité #green

World’s largest solar plant powers up - The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/worlds-largest-solar-plant-powers-up-6283799.html

Spanish venture is as big as 210 football pitches and has 600,000 mirrors. But there’s a dark side

http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article6283710.ece/ALTERNATES/w380/SU-30-Solar-plant-EPA.jpg
#énergie #solaire #espagne et aussi un peu de #desertec

Is the Monarchy a relevant enemy or a symbolic irrelevance? | libcom.org

I have often been criticised for spending too much time attacking the Monarchy. So I ask the question, Is the Monarchy a relevant enemy or a symbolic irrelevance? Feedback would be gratefully received.

(..)

1) The Royal family own all of the sea bed that is underneath British waters. Whilst these millions of acre’s may seem irrelevant. The Royals are charging extortionate ground rent for offshore wind farms, which is in turn leading to the need for massive subsidies for the renewable energy industry.
2) The Royal family are given £38.5 million a year. However, much like an MP and his or her expenses, with all the added extra’s, the real amount is well over £100 million each year.
3) When we had the Royal wedding earlier this year we received an extra bank holiday, which cost the economy £20 billion, which is slightly more than the government’s estimate of £500 million that the recent strikes cost.
4) Prince Charles has legal powers to prevent parliamentary legislation that directly or indirectly affects anything on his land. He has used these powers to overturn legislation on several occasions.
5) The Queen has a personal fortune of £500 million, which includes cash, jewellery, stamps, art etc.
6) They Royal family own over £10 billion worth of property.
7) The Queen owns 120,000 hectares of land. (not including the seabed).
8) Prince Charles owns 133,000 acres of land worth £700 million.
9) The Royal family do not need planning permission to build anything.
10) They have enough rooms in their castles and palaces to house all the homeless people in London.
11) We allegedly have a shortage of land to build affordable homes on, yet these bastards are the biggest land owners on earth.
12) The Queen is the head of the Church of England. Another organisation that controls and brainwashes elements of the working class.
13) The Royal family are part of a wide aristocracy and ruling class that sinks it poison into the house commons, lords, the judiciary, and the church.
14) Whilst supposedly politically neutral, what influence does the monarchy have on crack pot MP’s like Jacob Reece Mogg, or individuals high up in the armed forces? Didn’t the Queen mother have something to do with a plot against Harold Wilson?
15) The Queen has the ‘right’ to be consulted by governments. She has a veto that means she can refuse to dissolve parliament and sanction a general election. She has the Royal Prerogative, which confers governments to pass legislation or declare war without consulting parliament. She last granted this power to Margaret Thatcher during the Falklands war.

http://libcom.org/blog/monarchy-relevant-enemy-or-symbolic-irrelevance-05122011

A Visual Guide to Energy and Emissions in the Middle East | Carboun : Advocating Sustainability in the Middle East
http://www.carboun.com/energy/a-visual-guide-to-energy-and-carbon-emissions-in-the-arab-world-infographic

Intéressantes infographies sur la consommation et les politiques énergétiques au Moyen Orient.
http://www.carboun.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Energy-and-Emissions-in-the-Arab-World-Carboun-infographics.jpg
#énergie
#Moyen-Orient

Google quits plans to make cheap renewable energy | Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-google-idUSTRE7AM03220111123?type=GCA-GreenBusiness

#Google Inc has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable #energy cheaper than coal, the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page’s moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts.
(...)
Google began making investments and doing research into technology to drive down the price of renewable energy in 2007, with a particular focus on solar power technology.

#green

The Story of Broke (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G49q6uPcwY8

la suite de “story of stuff”
#ows #environnement #etat #etats-unis #taxes

#Google et sa consommation d’#électricité, ou le retour de la tasse de thé
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/google-guzzles-23b-kilowatthours-of-electricity-a-year--enough-to-power-2070

Stung by concerns that using Google is bad for the planet, the internet search giant has revealed exactly how much electricity the company uses and how much greenhouse gases it produces in an effort to show its business model is environmentally friendly.

Experts say it’s true: watching a video on Google’s YouTube site is indeed more energy-efficient than watching a DVD that had to be manufactured, packaged, shipped and purchased.

#énergie #cloud

(sans parler de l’effet rebond bien entendu)

German Solar Firms Eclipsed by Chinese Rivals - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,784653,00.html

Green energy used to be Germany’s great hope for its economic future. But now the German solar industry is in trouble amid huge losses, job cuts and the threat of bankruptcies. Chinese firms are gaining an ever greater share of the German market — and are benefiting from German subsidies for renewable energy.

ah la menace chinoise…
http://www.spiegel.de/images/image-257888-galleryV9-gsun.jpg
#énergie #solaire #allemagne #chine #cdp

Nicolas Sarkozy makes €1bn commitment to nuclear power | World news | The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/27/nicolas-sarkozy-france-nuclear-power

#france #nucléaire #démocratie

Want to save fuel? Go fly a kite - Environment - The Independent
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/want-to-save-fuel-go-fly-a-kite-2269178.html

The secret to the kite’s efficiency lies in its speed and #computer-controlled flight pattern.

The idea is for the kite to describe figures of eight, which increases airspeed, said Wrage, who has been working on the new technology for 10 years and who still enjoys flying kites on the beach for fun.

“If you double the airspeed you multiply the energy by four. That’s the secret of the system,” he added.

A new 320-square-metre kite, recently produced, “has a towing force of 32 tonnes which is more than what two engines on an A320 Airbus (aircraft) can produce. So we’re not talking toys,” he said.

http://news.cnet.com/i/ne/p/2006-2/124beluga550x413.jpg