[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
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[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
The Plastic Road project in the Netherlands gives new life to plastic waste, while, at the same time, avoiding millions … More
Good news, on the environment, is scarce. For the first time, a group of English and American scientists succeeded in … More
[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
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[Please do no contact the news team of Inspir’Action! We’re not owners nor reseller of Brikawood. See contact details below.] … More
This is unprecedented in Africa! South Africa has just opened its first airport powered by solar energy. The George airport is an infrastructure with 3,000 solar panels on a surface of 200 m2.
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It is stored underneath our steps. Naturally generated and stored within the Earth itself, geothermal energy is an extremely precious resource. The department of Val de Marnes in the region of Ile de France in France has pioneered by capitalizing on it. Today, geothermal energy is providing heat at a cheaper rate to more than 150,000 homes in the area.
Source: www.punjtanenergy.com/
Non-polluting, renewable, reliable and equally sustainable, geothermal energy is proving to be amazingly advantageous. In Ile de France, drawn from the very bowels of Mother Earth, this clean energy is generating 1,373,000 MWh which is being utilized to heat up these homes. It has replaced fuel for heating, which would amount to 130,000 tons for the same task.
If Val de Marnes has gone ahead with this project it is because the Paris Basin which constitutes of the lowlands around Paris and is composed of sedimentary rocks prides itself in ideal geological conditions to support geothermal energy.
It is naturally present in the rocks and fluids underneath the crust of the Earth. Since in itself it is free and available immediately without the need to burn any fossil fuel for its extraction, it is furthermore inexpensive.
Unlike solar or wind energy, it is available 365 days a year…without exception
Even if it is found under our feet, the energy of the Earth is not necessarily exploitable everywhere. Other regions in France equally have the potential for the exploitation of geothermal energy but the geological structures are more complex for easy extraction.
For the region of Ile de France, it is synonymous to a gem- a wondrous asset waiting to be put to use. It is indeed the first renewable energy being taken advantage of in the region.
This energy has been subject to multiple experiments in terms of technical issues before it became an economically attractive heating mode, despite a highly competitive environment, thanks to technical improvements. Ile de France subsequently decided to diversify its resources in terms of energy to provide heat to houses and public buildings. It is extracted from 2,000m from within the Earth.
Today, the department has 36 operational plants with the majority located in Val de Marnes. It amounts to 40% of geothermal energy produced in the whole of France. Its network within the region is expanding like wildfire and it is expected that by 2025, more than 200,000 households will be able to rely on this type of energy.
Geothermal energy is already being utilized in over 20 countries with the United States being the leading producer. The largest cluster of geothermal power plants are located in The Geysers in California. Many American cities have a comprehensive network of pipes under roads and sidewalks with geothermal hot water flowing to melt the snow during winter.
Apart from heating homes and offices, geothermal water from deeper in the Earth are also used for growing plants in greenhouses, like in Auvergne, France. Iceland, for example, uses geothermal heat from underground reservoirs to generate electricity which is not only used to heat buildings but to ensure a cooling system as well.
While the Hornsea One project to equip the UK’s largest ever created wind farm is still in progress, the country of Her Majesty approved the second phase. At the end of the day, some 600 wind turbines will be located off Britain’s coast. The British government may proceed more calmly to the closure of its coal plants by 2025 to make way for clean energy.
Perched on a small hill in Baden-Württemberg, this Aktivhaus (active house), designed by architect Werner Sobek, produces two times more energy than it consumes. The “triple zero” house is the pride of Stuttgart, Germany. Read more
She is a Princess. But far from staying in a Castle, the Chief Executive Officer of AbzeSolar is helping women and youngsters in her country. Let’s meet Her Royal Highness Princess Abzeita Djigma of Burkina Faso who founded the MAMA-LIGHT® initiative. Read more
It will be a world’s first. The Energy Observer is an experimental catamaran that combines solar, wind and self-generated hydrogen intelligently. The challenge? Navigate for 5 years around the world as part of an expedition to the energy transition with the ambition to be the world’s first boat to be energy self-sufficient. Read more
The cut-throat competition for sustainability is fierce and Costa Rica reached a massive success of sustaining its energy with 100% renewable resources for two months. Read more
The Mongolian-Manchurian grassland ecoregion is home to one of the last surviving nomadic cultures. Although it stretches over 965.600 square kilometers between Russia and China, Mongolia has a population of 3 million inhabitants about a quarter only consisted of nomadic herders. Read more
It’s not the first time we talk about roads that actually act like large solar panels meant to distribute the generated energy to households, street lighting, traffic systems, and why not — electric vehicles driving over them. The first SolaRoad in the world — a 70-meter long bike path — that converts sunlight into electricity was built in Netherlands in 2014. But France enters the game with a much more ambitious plan of installing 600 miles (or 1,000 km) of solar roads in the next five years. We cannot wait to see it happen, and here’s why: one kilometer only of the roadway paved with Wattway panels will power the streetlights in a town of 5,000 inhabitants.
Wattway panels are comprised of photovoltaic cells, which are embedded in a multilayer substrate and collect solar energy via a thin film of polycrystalline silicon that enables the production of electricity. On the underside of the panels there is a connection to a lateral module containing the electrical safety components. But there are several other facts about the Wattway panels that bring them to the top of the innovation list, when compared to other photovoltaics. The panels can be used on any road at any place in the world, are able to bear all types and sizes of existing vehicles, and are just seven millimeters thick but extremely strong and solid. Very important, Wattway panels are installed directly on the pavement, without additional civil engineering work required, such as deconstruction of the road and rebuild.
“Can you imagine our future roads serving not only our transportation and communication needs, but also covering most of our daily energy demands?”
So, can you imagine our future roads serving not only our transportation and communication needs, but also covering most of our daily energy demands?
And doing so in an environmentally friendly way through a renewable energy source. France’s big project, when passes the trial stage and once completed, will be supplying electricity to five million people. But this is just the beginning of the roads of the future, which have the competence to evolve into smart roads, and transmit live traffic information.
France’s goal is to design high-impact transportation environments by applying the idea of solar roads to bigger scale projects than what they were initially conceived for — pedestrian walkways, sidewalks and cycling routes. Although admittedly there is still research and testing in progress, in terms of the long-term vision there definitely will be benefits and positive implications in the battle to stop climate change.
Developed under the auspices of the Dutch artist Ap Verheggen, SunGlacier DC01 is currently exhibited in a museum in The Hague. Its principle: condense the moisture in the air to turn it into drinking water. (Article from Lara Charmeil in We Demain, July 28, 2016) Read more
