Carbon dioxide emissions stemming from fossil fuel use in the European Union rose by around 1.8% in 2017 as compared to 2016, according to the most recent estimates from Eurostat. Despite fossil fuel derived carbon dioxide emissions as a whole rising in the European Union during 2017, the split across countries was by no means
The German luxury auto manufacturer BMW has denied allegations from the environmental group DUH that engine management software cut power to a system filtering nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions during real-world road testing of a 3-Series diesel car — thus allowing for NOx emissions some 7 times higher than the legal limit. The German environmental group’s
The United States is now the only country in the world not committed to the carbon reduction goals announced in Paris at the COP21 climate change summit in 2015. But that doesn’t mean all Americans have abandoned the fight. At the COP23 climate conference in Bonn, Germany, last week, more than 100 people from the
Germany’s Federal Network Agency has announced a cross-border auction for ground-mounted photovoltaic installations in cooperation with Denmark. As reported by Energy Business Review, this auction will mark the first time Denmark jointly participates in a German auction. Rainer Baake, State Secretary in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, said: “With this first cross-border auction
According to World Nuclear News, the Swedish utility Vattenfall is suing Germany at the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes concerning the closure of the Brunsbüttel and Krümmel nuclear power plants. As announced by Vattenfall on October 10: “The hearing on Vattenfall’s claim against the Federal Republic of Germany at the International Centre for
This August Germany’s Federal Network Agency has arranged the fifth solar auction, allocating 130 MW of green electricity to 25 bids. The Federal Network Agency offered 125 MW for its fifth solar auction yet it was oversubscribed by 62 bids for a total of 311 MW tendered, reported PV Magazine. Of the bidding action, 25 projects
Renewable energy use broke a big record in Europe last weekend. It’s a pretty big deal when a small country like Sri Lanka, Iceland, or Tokelau generates all the power it needs from renewables. When Europe’s #1 economy—Germany, with the fourth largest gross domestic product in the world ($3.7 trillion, exceeded only by the US,
Via CleanTechnica: We’ve got several notable updates regarding our first cleantech conference — CLEANTECH REVOLUTION TOUR → BERLIN — to share with you. First of all, we now have: → a Facebook event page (share with friends!) → an event webpage (which we’ll continuously update) → an eventbrite page for registering (again, register, and share with friends!) … and a confirmed
Among various solar energy technologies, one is referred to as concentrated solar power, or concentrating solar power. The acronym CSP applies to either. Worldwide CSP systems generate solar power by using mirrors or lenses to concentrate a large area of sunlight, or solar thermal energy, onto a small area. The concentrated heat is used to eventually spin a
Originally published on SolarLove.org Unhappy with any of the available methods of solar storage, a German inventor and engineer has put his favorite pastime of tinkering to good use. While others are attempting to build a better battery, Wolfram Walter is instead building a better way to use the batteries he already has. It’s not
Prices for German solar power storage systems have reportedly fallen 25% since the spring. The data come from the German Solar Industry Association (BSW-Solar). Also according to BSW-Solar, approximately 15,000 German households now use battery storage combined with solar power, and that number has been growing faster and faster as the costs have come down. As an example
Coming up on New Year’s Eve, earthlings tend to celebrate milestones of the year passed, as well as look expectantly toward the future. Here, Planetsave brings you some of the best space coverage of 2014 in various media. The overall winner has to be the six-minute ultra-high definition timelapse video, with custom soundtrack, compiled by
As you may know from earlier coverage, the powerful G20 meeting this weekend in Brisbane didn’t go exactly the way its Australian planners intended when they drew up the agenda. However, it seems to have worked out as well as could be expected for the environment after all, considering the other glitches. The world leaders in
The G20 meeting of the world’s most influential political and economic leaders in Brisbane, Australia, began slightly off-track today, according to Reuters. President Obama put out a few words about climate change at the start, announcing a much-needed US pledge of $3 billion to get the world two-thirds of the way toward a $10 billion
(BREAKING–Reposted from our sister site, CleanTechnica) We’ve thought for a while that the US had more leadership to contribute to the world climate process, so today’s news (still on the gossip vine at present) that President Obama has a $3 billion pledge in his pocket for the Global Climate Fund is not a total surprise.
This year, we have seen the largest-ever outpouring of reporting and planning for inevitable climate change in the Anthropocene. One of the latest studies, REthinking Energy, draws on worldwide research and financial analysis to form some conclusions about changing our mix of energy, one of the major drivers of the phenomenon, as earth’s population continues to
Originally published on Eat Drink Better. By Jill Ettinger Long-time vegans would say it’s about time. And the wait is almost over for a store that only sells vegan food. That’s right. A vegan supermarket is coming to the U.S. But not until 2016. Called (ahem) “Veganz”, the German-based market opened in 2011 and is
Agora Energiewende this week released the results of a cost analysis of four different CO2-free power scenarios in Europe. Says Patrick Graichen, executive director of Agora: Wind and solar systems will dominate the power system in increasingly more countries. The battle for the cheapest CO2-free power mix is decided. In the future wind and solar
Move over, Copenhagen. Hamburg is following you into the 21st century by deemphasizing the role of the car. Almost half of Germany’s second-largest city already consists of green areas, parks, gardens, squares, cemeteries, and sports facilities (see map). Hamburg plans to link two large green areas in the north and south with bicycle routes and pedestrian
Originally published on Solar Love. Generally speaking, I don’t think solar-powered cars are very practical. They are fun and do highlight how far we’ve come. They may help to advance certain electric car technologies and designs. However, except for certain niche situations (like a hospital car for rural Zimbabwe), they have serious limitations. For one,
Originally published on Solar Love. We’re in the midst of a massive cleantech revolution. Solar power is beginning to disrupt the hell out of the power industry. Electric vehicles are on the verge of putting gasmobiles to sleep. Wind power is already one of the cheapest options for new electricity generation in the world — if not the cheapest. The movement
We’re trying to get more solar energy stories going here on Planetsave. To catch readers up, I’m doing a short series on the top 50 solar energy stories of 2013 so far. Learning from the Top 33 EV Stories article I recently published, I’m splitting this one into 5 posts. Otherwise, the page would take forever to load.
We’re trying to get more solar energy stories going here on Planetsave. To catch readers up, I’m doing a short series on the top 50 solar energy stories of 2013 so far. Learning from the Top 33 EV Stories article I recently published, I’m splitting this one into 5 posts. Otherwise, the page would take forever to load.
We’re trying to get more solar energy stories going here on Planetsave. To catch readers up, I’m doing a short series on the top 50 solar energy stories of 2013 so far. Learning from the Top 33 EV Stories article I recently published, I’m splitting this one into 5 posts. Otherwise, the page would take
Oops – it looks the Biebs fell prey to a pet impulse purchase. His very young Capuchin monkey has been placed in a German animal shelter, after authorities confiscated it for not having the proper paperwork. Owning primates is probably a bad idea anyway. They are very social creatures and need to interact with each
The barren, perfectly circular patches of dirt — often outlined by a thin ring of tall grass — seem to be somehow “alive”; they have been known to last years, and then simply vanish. The mysterious ‘fairy circles’, as they are popularly known, dot a 2000 kilometer stretch of desert that ranges from Angola to South Africa.
Germany’s largest research institution — one of the world’s most prestigious — has withdrawn from a multi-million dollar Canadian-funded “tar sands” research project, citing the tar sands’ significant environmental concerns as posing a ”risk to our reputation”. “It’s a clear signal that Canada’s energy and climate policy is not accepted by the international community, especially
A well-made documentary on the renewable energy revolution in Germany, “Leben Mit Der Energiewende“, is now available to watch for free online. The film is currently showing in some German cinemas, but is also available to everyone to watch for free online via a Creative Commons license. I recommend watching it, but it is in
Global wind energy increased by nearly 20% in 2012, helping to boost maximum worldwide capacity to 282 gigawatts (GW), according to the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC). Leading countries helping to increase global wind capacity included the United States and China, who were neck and neck in annual installations. Each country installed around 13 GW
Almost anyplace on Earth, driving electric vehicles is greener than driving gasoline-powered vehicles. But as is well known, and as cynical people of the world always like to point out, some electricity is greener than others. In particular, you don’t want to be driving your electric car powered with coal electricity. Basically, you want
Howard Steven Friedman is a statistician and health economist for the United Nations and an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He also has a new book out called The Measure of a Nation: How to Regain America’s Competitive Edge and Boost Our Global Standing, which is sure to provoke
The global solar power industry has experienced remarkable growth since the 2009 recession. The growth rate each year between 2007 to 2011 was around 70%. At the end of 2011, the total GW of solar panels installed worldwide was 62, divided between residential roofs, commercial buildings, and utility plants. With increasing pressure for the
Ernst & Young released late August their quarterly global Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Indices report which showed that China is set to continue it domination of the global renewable energy market, as US elections and political support in Europe prevent other countries from keeping up. The Ernst & Young report “provide scores in 40 countries for national
Germany is the solar energy world leader. If you’re not familiar with this or with the solar industry, that may sound surprising, given that Germany isn’t exactly the sunniest country on Earth. However, it’s got tremendously intelligent solar energy policies, and has for years, and this has not only put solar panels on millions
Yep, times have changed. Aggressive renewable energy (especially solar) policies have made rooftop solar power more competitive than fossil fuels or nuclear energy in Germany. And that has the fossil fuel and nuclear industry pulling all the strings they can to try to kill this democratized electricity revolution in Deutschland. [repostus hash=515137636ca1caa273dbc6674e6767bf title=German%20Solar%3A%20Mission%20Too%20Well%20Accomplished%2C%20from%20Perspective%20of%20Fossil%2FNuclear%20Lobby%20(Reader%20Comment) host=Clean%20Technica
Germany is leading the world in installed solar power, and it’s actually planning a lot more for the years to come. Here’s more from sister site CleanTechnica on Germany’s solar power goals — to hit 52 GW of installed solar PV by 2020 — and its progress so far. [repostus hash=aee3fa1eaf761a3ca64b845e71dd3d86 title=Germany%20Right%20on%20Schedule%20with%20PV%20Capacity%20Growth host=Clean%20Technica short=182VN]
Using solar energy has numerous advantages, and that’s why many countries have decided to use more renewable energy rather than rely on other forms of energy that are running out. Not only is solar energy much cheaper but it’s not as harmful to the environment since it doesn’t produce pollution like other forms of
Some top green news from around from the past day or so: Global Warming Heartland associate taught ‘biased’ climate course at Ottawa university An associate of the Heartland Institute, the thinktank devoted to discrediting climate change, taught a course at a top Canadian university that contained more than 140 false, biased and misleading claims about
I loooove time-lapse videos like these, but this is a super fun one. It really highlights some beautiful areas and aspects of Berlin, a city a really love. One of the things it highlights is Berlin’s great public transport and bicycling network. But it’s got much more than that and I couldn’t do it
The wide open sky is both an image and a phrase often used to represent freedom, happiness, and a whole host of other positive things. Unfortunately for most of us, we spend the majority of our time under a ceiling instead of under the sky. (Of course, during inclement weather, I’d call that more
Some top activism news from the past week or so: 1. Masked Activists in Germany Sop Transport of Nuclear Waste As the title indicates, some activists in Germany are fed up with the creating and unsafe transport and storage of nuclear waste (well, no one even knows where to ‘permanently’ store the nuclear waste). So,
Greenpeace launched their third Rainbow Warrior vessel at a ceremony in Berne-Motzen, Germany, last week. The Rainbow Warrior III carries state of the art communications equipment, two boats and has room to carry a helicopter, all allowing the vessel to be first on the oceanic protest lines.
As reported in the June 30 on-line edition of Le Monde, the French Parliament has voted to ban hydraulic fracturing — the natural gas extracting technique known popularly as ‘fracking’. The law had passed the National Assembly nine days earlier and then moved on to the Senate, where the measure passed by a small majority of 176 (yes) to 151 (no). This makes France the first nation to ban the controversial extraction technique.
The intensification of Indian monsoons has, according to new research, the ability to spin the Earth’s tectonic plates.
It has been six years since the devastating Earthquake that rocked Indonesia on Boxing Day of 2004, but in that time scientists have not been idle. The German-Indonesian Tsunami Early Warning System for the Indian Ocean, tidily known as GITEWS, has been completed and will end on the 31 of March before being handed over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzrSl0ztsQ Foie gras is a “luxury food” or delicacy. However, if you watched the video above, I imagine you’d rather not pay anything for it. Completely horrifying. It is nice to see Kate Winslet joining the Pope, world-renowned chef Wolfgang Puck, PETA, and others trying to bring an end to the consumption and commercial sale
The Aristotle Onassis Public Benefit Foundation announced on Friday that Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) was awarded its inaugural “Prize for the Protection of the Environment.” Along with the honor of winning this prize, the organization will receive €250,000 ($351,675) to continue its work in this region. FoEME has been putting in considerable work and
What’s the best way to advertise a bike shop? Stick a ton of bikes all over the building. I’m sure others have done it, but the images of this bike shop in Altlandsberg, Germany are something to see. Apparently, 120 bikes are hanging from this building. I would call this bike shop advertising GONE WILD!
