Europe | Energy-Saving News

After Copenhagen, The Carbon Tariff Trade Wars Begin

Posted on 05. Jan, 2010 by Ross.

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In the aftermath of the global economic collapse, the industrialised world looked back at the lessons of the 1930s and realised that the fastest way out of recession was to avoid protectionist trade wars and to keep international markets as open as possible, in order to try to keep trade flowing as freely as possible [...]

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Copenhagen Results In Higher Energy Prices

Posted on 22. Dec, 2009 by Ross.

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Whilst power companies in the USA’s Ostrich Block are relaxing in the aftermath of a weak Copenhagen deal, their European counterparts are warning consumers that higher energy prices lay ahead as a result of the feeble international agreement on climate change and its direct effect upon the carbon market, and are calling for the market [...]

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Copenhagen Conundrum 5: Funding The Fight In Developing Countries

Posted on 16. Dec, 2009 by Ross.

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The developing world holds developed countries responsible for the impending effects of climate change, given that industrial revolutions in the Western world and the subsequent economic activity is responsible for most of the world’s atmospheric carbon dioxide. The historic emissions from the USA alone amount to 30% of the world’s atmospheric carbon.
This had led to [...]

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What Is The Carbon Footprint Of The Large Hadron Collider?

Posted on 30. Nov, 2009 by Ross.

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The Large Hadron Collider is the highest profile science experiment on the planet, promising scientists insights into the creation of the universe and the nature of matter. It is a circular tunnel 27km (17 miles) in circumference running under the surface of France and Switzerland through which particle beams circle at almost the speed of [...]

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Copenhagen Is A Business Opportunity: Barroso

Posted on 05. Nov, 2009 by Ross.

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Low-carbon marketplaces which will emerge in the aftermath of the Copenhagen conference this December will present a wealth of business opportunities.
That’s the verdict of European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso, given in a speech to the BusinessEurope Conference on Climate Change in Brussels.
Copenhagen is important because it represents a business opportunity. By moving towards a [...]

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Copenhagen: There Is No Plan B

Posted on 19. Oct, 2009 by Ross.

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At a time when the US is stalling for more time in order to bring it’s own (rather unambitious) climate change cap-and-trade legislation to the negotiating table, UK prime minister Gordon Brown has delivered the European view.
The Copenhagen climate change talks are still the last chance: we have 50 days to set the course of [...]

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Brighter Future For Interoperable Smart Meters And Energy Efficient Appliances

Posted on 25. Sep, 2009 by Ross.

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Hopes are growing that smart meters might start to live up to their billing as agents of increased energy efficiency, rather than smart meters just benefiting energy companies looking to lay off staff and charge people more quickly.
This week three leading smart meter manufacturers, Iskraemeco, Itron and Landis+Gyr, have agreed interoperability standards across markets in [...]

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Organic Algae Batteries A Match For Lithium

Posted on 14. Sep, 2009 by Ross.

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Thought that algae-based biofuels were all that algae was good for? (As if that wasn’t enough!)
Thought that Bolivia was to become the cleantech equivalent of Saudi Arabia, with their vast lithium reserves?
Well, a team of Swedish researchers at Uppsala University has harnessed a particularly despised species of algae to produce a lightweight organic battery which, [...]

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Efficient Light Bulbs Replace Banned Incandescents In Europe

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by Ross.

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Europe is dimming the light more than two centuries of incandescent lighting, as an European Union (EU)-wide ban on 100W and frosted incandescent bulbs kicks in.
As part of the EU strategy on climate change, old-fashioned and inefficient incandescent bulbs are being phased out and replaced by much more efficient fluorescent or halogen lighting, which are [...]

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Desertec: The Project, The Problems & The Pipe Dream

Posted on 27. Aug, 2009 by Ross.

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Since July 13th 2009, a scheme to build a gigantic array of solar thermal power stations all over the Sahara to provide electrical power to Europe and North Africa has been garnering the attention of the media, especially in solar-mad Germany.
Although little more than a website and a memorandum of understanding at present, the Desertec [...]

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France To Charge Consumers For Saving Energy

Posted on 23. Jul, 2009 by Ross.

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The French energy regulator has defied comprehension - as well as the European environmental agenda - by demanding that a tiny electricity management company must compensate power companies for the energy which it saves consumers.
Voltalis has brought a home energy management system to market which monitors and directly controls the electricity usage in the house, [...]