L'Iran - La fin de la révolution islamique

Olivier Roy, spécialiste du Moyen Orient, présente avec beaucoup de finesse les enjeux politiques, culturels et diplomatiques de la révolution iranienne.
http://www.numilog.com/catalogue.asp?id_collec=22&id_edit=&libelle_collec=AUDIOEBOOKS&rubzone=STD

Baladeur MP3 RaGa 2 Go* FullSound?

La technologie FullSound innovante de Philips reproduit fidèlement les détails acoustiques des fichiers MP3 compressés pour les enrichir et les optimiser considérablement, afin que vous puissiez profiter d'un son CD sans la moindre altération. Basé sur un algorithme de post-traitement audio, FullSound associe la longue expérience de Philips en matière (La matière est la substance qui compose tout corps ayant une réalité tangible.
http://www.techno-science.net/?onglet=boutiquearticle&id=B003HC7YKW&nomarticle=Philips%20-%20Raga

20% d'énergies renouvelables en 2020, l'Europe tiendra t-elle le cap ?

Le mercredi 5 janvier dernier, l’European Renewable Energy Council (EREC) a communiqué son analyse concernant les plans d’actions nationaux établis par les États-membres pour répondre aux objectifs de l’Union européenne (UE) en matière d’énergies renouvelables (EnR). Il en ressort que les exigences de 20% de renouvelables dans la consommation énergétique en 2020 seront dépassées.
En effet, les différents plans d’action nationaux conduiraient à ce que 20,7% de l’énergie finale de l’UE soient d’origine renouvelable dans 10 ans. C’est sur l’électricité que comptent le plus les États européens : ils se sont engagés à ce que les EnR atteignent 34% des consommations électriques de l’UE !
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2401332675795898251

Wind power generated 47% of the renewable power, small hydro-electric 20%, geothermal 22%, solar 1%

Achieving a major clean-air goal ahead of state targets, the DWP generated 20 percent of its power in 2010 through wind, water, solar and geothermal systems, city officials announced Thursday.
"This is a big deal," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said at a City Hall news conference with environmental leaders. "When we set this goal in 2005, the DWP was the dirtiest utility in the nation. Today, it's the cleanest and we have been able to do it at a cost lower than any other utility in California."
In 2005, the Department of Water and Power generated roughly 5 percent of its energy from renewable sources. Last year, however, that surged to a high of 28 percent for a short time.
"When I set the goal in 2005, no one thought it could be done," Villaraigosa said. "The state had a goal of 20 percent by 2015. We were able to achieve that this year."
The key to achieving the goal, officials said, was the development of the Pine Tree Wind Farm in Mojave and the purchase of the Milford Wind Farm in Utah
http://www.dailynews.com/ci_17090759?source=most_emailed

Geothermal Numbers fall in Manitoba

Geothermal energy systems are still new to the province, but already Manitoba Hydro statistics show that installation numbers for the technology fell last year.
According to Manitoba Hydro, 551 residential geothermal systems were installed in 2009-2010. Compared to the 756 in 2008-2009 and 721 in 2007-2008, this is a sharp drop.
Despite the numbers, Manitoba Hydro representative, Glenn Schneider remains positive. "It's really a year and a half, two years ago now," Schneider said of the numbers. "We don't have the numbers for the year that just passed."
Schneider pointed out the fact that 2009-2010 saw a huge economic shift. "A year ago we were facing a huge economic crisis," he said. Schneider said because of the crisis, people were very cautious about investing their money, and the geothermal systems are still expensive.
http://www.portagedailygraphic.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2930124

How does solar power work

It is a known fact that the amount of energy that reaches earth everyday in the form of sunlight is enough to supply the entire planet with all the electricity it needs and more than just one time around at that. Now, to turn the energy contained in sunlight to usable electrical energy, a semiconductor is required which is capable of transforming the sun’ rays to electricity when sunlight hits it. Such a device is known as a solar panel or a photovoltaic cell. The oldest and the first photovoltaic cells were made of silicon, one of the most common elements that are found on our planet. The capability of silicon to convert light energy into electrical energy had made it an important discovery, but it is also quite expensive to use this element for capturing solar power.
http://www.biofuelswatch.com/how-does-solar-power-work/

Report examines environmental impact of new transmission line

The Minnesota Department of Commerce, Office of Energy Security (OES) has released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Fargo-to-St. Cloud 345-kilovolt transmission line and substation project.
The intent of the environmental review process is to inform the public, the applicants and decision-makers about potential impacts and possible mitigations for a proposed project.
The FEIS for the transmission project, which passes through part of Douglas County, evaluated impacts for a number of route alternatives, including one along Interstate Highway 94.
It addresses the unique issues that could arise when placing a high voltage transmission line along a major trunk highway. It also presents a comparative analysis of human and environmental impacts amongst route alternatives.
http://www.echopress.com/event/article/id/81407/group/News/

Climate science drives us apart, alternative energy brings us together

I find it slightly annoying that Charlotteans both want their city to be a green-energy hub but, at the same time, will ramble on about how climate change is a myth. Apparently, however, this isn’t a Charlotte-only problem.
Check out this snippet from a post by Forbes magazine’s Michael Shellenberger. It’s an excellent history of how we got to where we are today. Read it!
It may be hard to remember now but it wasn’t that long ago that much of the American political establishment came to believe that the science of climate would transcend ideological and national boundaries and result in common national and global action. The idea was that climate scientists would tell us what the safe level of atmospheric emissions was, and that nations would take shared steps to reducing their emissions over the next 50 years.
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/theclog/2011/01/12/climate-science-drives-us-apart-alternative-energy-brings-us-together/

The Lost Years for Alternative Energy? by Daveed Gartenstein-Ross

Oil and gasoline prices, low since 2008, are projected to rise again, rapidly returning our oil addiction to the national spotlight. Analysts say that oil prices are heading toward $100 a barrel, and former Shell Oil chief Carl Larry warns that we could see $5 a gallon gas by 2012. Inevitably, the price increases will inspire calls to reduce our dependence on oil, and Congress will consider some legislation to do just that. But as we try to make progress on oil alternatives, we need to bear in mind the lessons of low gas prices. Otherwise, we are doomed to repeat the same debilitating cycle of energy politics we've been trapped in for years.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/01/the-lost-years-for-alternative-energy/69422/#

Minceur high tech

Pour remodeler sa plastique, tonifier sa silhouette, déloger de la cellulite ou affiner des rondeurs mal placées, faire un régime ou une activité sportive ne suffit pas. Aujourd’hui, de nouvelles techniques minceur ont été mises au point. Maigrir sans effort devient possible. Zoom sur ces appareils dernier cri qui travaillent pour nous !
http://www.lavieeco.com/news/societe/Minceur-high-tech-18576.html

L'alterscience, une autre forme d'opposition à la science

L’étude des opposants à la théorie de la relativité [1] de 1905 à 2005 m’a amené à élargir le sujet au cours d’un séminaire donné à l’EHESS de 2008 à 2010, intitulé « Une approche historique de l’alterscience ». Sous ce terme, nous englobons diverses attitudes de remise en cause des résultats de la science (par exemple, des ingénieurs formulant des théories physiques ou cosmologiques alternatives), ou d’utilisation d’arguments scientifiques à des fins idéologiques, religieuses ou personnelles. Dans un cas comme dans l’autre, des scientifiques (nous entendrons par ce terme des chercheurs, autrefois appelés savants, ou des personnes formées à la science, c’est-à-dire à esprit scientifique dominant) sont amenés à concevoir une science différente, une autre science, et à mobiliser leurs connaissances scientifiques et leur capacité de raisonnement en faveur de leurs théories alternatives ou de leur idéologie. Sans mettre tout sur un même plan, on peut trouver des invariants chez des acteurs aux positions et aux postures très diverses : ingénieurs remettant en cause la relativité et la physique quantique (ceux que les Anglo-saxons appellent cranks) ; prix Nobel théorisant une « physique aryenne » dans des revues [2] et avec des arguments qu’ils veulent scientifiques (Lenard et Stark voulaient reconstruire une physique qui ait effectivement les caractéristiques qu’ils décrivaient) ; scientifiques créationnistes qui prétendent reconstruire une autre astrophysique.
http://www.pseudo-sciences.org/spip.php?article1503

Energies renouvelables : les Etats-Unis se lancent dans la compétition mondiale

Sous l’impulsion de deux départements et six agences fédérales, le "Renewable Energy and Efficiency export" a vu le jour en ce mois de décembre 2010. Avec cette structure dédiée à la promotion des exportations dans le domaine des énergies renouvelables, les Etats-Unis marquent leur engagement en la matière. Cette création s’inscrit dans le cadre d’une démarche stratégique initiée en mars 2010 qui fixe pour objectif le doublement des exportations à l’horizon 2015. Constituant la plus forte croissance d'un marché évalué à quelque 6 000 milliards de dollars, les énergies renouvelable constituent aujourd’hui le nouveau cheval de bataille d’une Amérique bien décidée à combler son retard sur la concurrence européenne, scandinave et asiatique.
http://www.francebtp.com/environnement/e-docs/00/00/BB/45/document_articles.php?titre=energies-renouvelables---les-etats-unis-se-lancent-dans-la-competition-mondiale

2010: renewables continue their unstoppable growth

The last year of the decade will go down as a year of ups and downs for renewable energy. On the plus side, the International Energy Agency (IEA) expressed more support for renewables than ever before, calling in June for three times more to be invested in renewable energy to ensure global warming is limited to a 2ºC rise. The IEA proposes a combination of short-term fiscal incentives and improving access to credit and reducing borrowing costs through loan guarantees, credits, etc. for clean energy and energy efficiency investments, while in the medium term, it demands clear and reliable support systems for investors and solutions to other non-economic barriers such as bureaucratic restrictions or other barriers to electricity grid access.
http://www.renewableenergymagazine.com/paginas/Contenidosecciones.asp?ID=14&Cod=7044&Nombre=News

Foreign Affairs: How to Really Win the Clean-Energy Race

In a new article for Foreign Affairs, “Globalizing the Energy Revolution: How to Really Win the Clean-Energy Race” (subscript. req’d), Michael Levi and colleagues at the Council on Foreign Relations argue that the world is “woefully underspending on clean-energy innovation” and needs to pursue a new international strategy:
“Clean energy is almost always more expensive than energy from fossil fuels, and often by a big margin… Yet the world is woefully underspending on clean-energy innovation… the IEA estimated that the world would need to spend an average of $51-$100 billion each year to support the research, development, and demonstration of clean-energy technologies. Current public spending is a mere $10 billion annually… The shortfall is staggering.”
http://leadenergy.org/2010/12/foreign-affairs-how-to-really-win-the-clean-energy-race/

Year in Review: Energy is top environmental issue in 2010

Energy issues dominated the environment reporting here this year as Michigan struggled with the ecological costs of power generation and the proper regulation of the means of power generation.The year began with news that CMS Energy had received a permit from the state to build a hotly contested 830 megawatt coal plant at its Karn/Weadock facility in Essexville, but it soon became clear that the planned facility faced obstacles beyond state regulation.
In a report to investors in March, CMS warned that federal environmental laws and regulations related to greenhouse gas emissions and coal ash disposal would become more stringent and that the company will be required to make significant new investments in upgrades to pollution control equipment
http://michiganmessenger.com/45225/year-in-review-energy-is-top-environmental-issue-in-2010#

Canadians concerned about impact of energy use

A majority of Canadians believe the energy sector is one of the most important parts of Canada's economy, and the federal government should lead the way in "cleaning" it up by finding alternatives to oil, says a newly released internal report.
The study, produced for Natural Resources Canada by Decima Research, found that 88 per cent of Canadians were either "very concerned" (47 per cent) or somewhat concerned (41 per cent) about the environmental impact of energy use and that 87 per cent were "very concerned" (46 per cent) or "somewhat concerned" (41 per cent) about the impact of energy production.
"There is not an expectation that Canada should transition overnight, but rather start the process of moving toward more environmentally friendly (but still reasonably cost-effective and reliable) sources in the medium term, and then further up the environmental continuum in a longer-term future," wrote Doug Anderson, senior vice-president for Decima Research, in the report. Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Canadians+concerned+about+impact+energy/4031370/story.html#ixzz19nFOeBro

Obama parie sur le lithium

2,4 milliards de dollars, telle est la somme que Barack Obama a alloué au marché des voitures électriques afin de créer une alternative au pétrole en matière de mobilité. Une manoeuvre osée, mais critiquée tant par les conservateurs que par les écologistes.
Avec l'objectif ambitieux de voir les Etats-Unis devenir leaders en matière d'utilisation de voitures électriques, le plan d'Obama vise à soutenir les technologies vertes et à réduire la dépendance américaine aux énergies fossiles. Les 2,4 milliards de dollars de subvention ont été partagés entre 48 producteurs du secteur de la mobilité hybride. Il s'agit du plus grand investissement étatique jamais réalisé en faveur des énergies alternatives. Même les consommateurs bénéficieront de conditions avantageuses avec une ristourne de 7'500 dollars à l'achat d'une voiture hybride.
http://www.bluewin.ch/fr/index.php/1721,358704/Obama_parie_sur_le_lithium/fr/news/infosenvironnement/