by Luis de Sousa
Sat Apr 24th, 2010 at 09:06:23 AM EST
Our enlightened Commission is throwing 1 billion € (1 Giga€ = 1x109€) at Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS). Now there's even a website dedicated to this delirious policy.
€1 billion to six CO2 Capture and Storage Projects
In response to the economic crisis, the European Council and the European Parliament adopted the Commission proposal for a European Energy Programme for Recovery (EEPR) in July 2009. The EEPR funds projects in the field of gas and electricity infrastructure as well as offshore wind energy and CO2 capture and storage (CCS). 12 CCS projects applied for assistance under the EEPR. In December 2009, the European Commission granted financial assistance to six projects that could make substantial progress with project development in 2010. These projects will receive overall funding of €1 billion under the EEPR.
promoted by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Thu Apr 22nd, 2010 at 07:10:59 AM EST
by Luis de Sousa
Sat Apr 10th, 2010 at 02:26:43 AM EST
Last night I was preparing a slide show for a seminar on the
Transition Movement, where I'm supposed to present the current state of affairs on the Energy front. To get some macro data on the EU I went digging for the
SER-2 documentation and happened to notice something very interesting: there is a very distinctive hallmark to the Energy Mix of the PIIGS (the Atlantic - Portugal and Ireland - and Mediterranean - Italy, Greece and Spain - states that run persistent budget deficits).
Suprising? Perhaps not, but it explains a lot, and it also highlights that the present crisis is not solely about finance, possibly more about energy than anything else.
front-paged by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Fri Mar 26th, 2010 at 08:59:56 AM EST
AP Photo/Bernd Kammerer
|
Yesterday, as the first agreement between Germany and the remainder of Eurozone on helping Greece became known, and as the Socialists announced a proposal for a financial mechanism to deal with such cases, the rating agency Fitch downgraded Portugal's sovereign debt. A coincidence, certainly.
Today the local media is waking us with claims that Germany is acting concertedly to depress the €uro, fostering exports and local investor confidence. After all, when the trouble was with private banks there was no hesitation in putting on the table several times over the handful of thousand million euros Greece needs to refinance its budget.
Today it also emerged an article published by the Neuropeans magazine that puts it all into context with an interesting allegory: Let's transform the Greek tragedy into the first Eurozone epic!
frontpaged - Nomad
by Luis de Sousa
Mon Feb 15th, 2010 at 05:16:35 AM EST
 |
| Today I saw an Husky like this. |
by Luis de Sousa
Sat Jan 16th, 2010 at 09:29:09 AM EST
E. Michael Smith - known to you as Chiefio - was interviewed by John Coleman last Thursday evening on the KUSI TV channel. Part of a one hour long special on Global Warming, Coleman doesn't shy from using words as "fraud". To my knowledge this is the first time the MSM report Smith's findings; click on the image below to watch the segment at KUSI's website:
by Luis de Sousa
Tue Jan 5th, 2010 at 09:42:26 AM EST
The Arctic has been very active since the mid of December, with the Oscillation Index reaching outstanding negative values (i.e. abnormally low pressures over the quasi-triangle). The eternal wheel of meridional circulation is going fast this winter, as all that cold air moves southwards towards the Equator. This exceptional thermal deficit has been able to feed the three major onshore anticyclonic routes of the Northern Hemisphere simultaneously: the one through the centre of the North American continent, the Eastern European route and the Siberian route, towards China.
These anticyclonic activity has been affect quotidian life and unfortunately provoking some deaths. The effects on energy consumption are already becoming worrying.
by Luis de Sousa
Wed Dec 30th, 2009 at 05:42:21 AM EST
Climategate. The most important event this year for Climate Science and even to Science in general, it is revealing a dark side of the scientific community like never before the general public witnessed.
When the next first came out I personally did not believe this would make much difference, it was information acquired illicitly by intruders that would be denied as veritable in no time. It took almost a week for the official reactions from the CRU to came out, and stunningly, there was no denial, the e-mails, and most importantly the source code, were acknowledged as real. Not only that, even the idea of an intrusion seems now to be in doubt.
The process of digesting all the information released is still in its early stages, although much as already be brought to question. The implications are shaping to considerable proportions, even Wikipaedia is getting implicated. But I'll wait a few more weeks for a deeper reflection on the case.
Meanwhile, there's a Finish TV programme dedicated to the matter, that points clearly some of the problems identified so far, bare of the usual political intoxication in Climate matters.
by Luis de Sousa
Sun Nov 29th, 2009 at 07:08:03 AM EST
Next Monday the radio show Corner of the Mooniverse will broadcast a playlist of my authoring. The show will be transmitted by the AuralMoon radio - the net's progressive rock garden.
Broadcast times are:
| Monday, 30th of November | Friday, 4th of December |
| 12h00 EST | 21h00 EST |
| 17h00 GMT | 01h00 GMT |
| 18h00 CET | 02h00 CET |
Below is the playlist and the story of how I come to be a progophile.
by Luis de Sousa
Thu Nov 19th, 2009 at 03:19:13 AM EST
Depression. Ground flat interest rates. Oppressing unemployment. What a better time than now to invest on tangible assets? That was the mindset that lead me to consider investing in Solar photo-voltaics. Months ago I started studying the subject in order to become a micro-producer.
Coincidence or not, I stumbled upon a cousin of mine who had recently returned from a working commission in Angola to set up here a company that installs solar micro-generation systems. I embarked on a funny adventure that is far from over.
Front-paged by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Thu Nov 12th, 2009 at 08:06:13 AM EST
This morning I woke up, went shaving and then jumped for a quick shower as usual; at 7 o'clock I tunned the radio from Radio France to the local news radio in time for the first morning program. One of the opening news-bits seemed to have been edited by one of my colleagues at TheOilDrum.
Yes, world oil production has been stagnant since 2004; it won't go much beyond the present 83 Mb/d; we are the peak; the IEA's predictions are just dreams. It was all there, in my mother language in my preferred news radio. And more than that, the news source was a “mole” right at the heart of the IEA.
Update [2009-11-10 12:33:54 by Luis de Sousa]: : Kjell Aleklett (ASPO's chairman) has posted a note on this Guardian piece (hat tip Starvid). Highlights at the end of this weblog.
Promoted by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Mon Oct 5th, 2009 at 01:34:01 PM EST
Analysis below the fold.
by Luis de Sousa
Mon Sep 28th, 2009 at 05:08:22 AM EST
A new document by the Commission is out, this time on Transport. This seems to be a rather important text, where many of the concerns expressed at this forum throughout the years seem to be acknowledged.
This is the first stepping stone for a new Transport Policy Programme for the EU, it serves both as a first Strategy outline and a consultation kick-off. The next step will be a white paper on Transport Policy to be released next year.
The lack of time prevents me from performing any analysis on this document at the moment. Below are just a few highlights and an invitation to read the it in full.
Promoted by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Wed Aug 5th, 2009 at 04:50:51 AM EST
by Luis de Sousa
Fri Jul 24th, 2009 at 06:53:06 AM EST
This article is almost two months old and had been sitting in my not-that-short article queue for some time. I finished it last night and was pretty impressed. It is like the Anglo Disease for dummies, written by a Briton. John Lanchester starts by pointing some simple facts about the UK's financial industry and goes on to explain some real basic concepts of Finance, driving the not so savvy reader to understanding the present gridlock bankers let themselves be caught in.
In a macroscopic, apolitical stance, Lanchester clearly outlines the way out of the gridlock and the reasons why politicians are reluctant in following that path.
Below are some highlights of this unmissable writing.
Front-paged with an edit by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Wed Jul 8th, 2009 at 05:42:26 AM EST
The other day I got an e-mail from someone with The Economist asking me to participate in an on-line forum/discussion on that science fiction figure called Sustainable Development. Someone at this popular economics publication followed the series on the European Elections that was published here and at TheOilDrum.
This time, instead of graphs and analysis, I opted for something a bit different.
Promoted with slight edit by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Sun Jun 7th, 2009 at 04:06:36 AM EST
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
This series draws to an end by visiting a political bloc that represents another major philosophical current in Europe. The Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left (GUE-NGL) is the Scientific Socialist reference at the European Parliament. Although composed at its core by state-level Communist parties, it also congregates some less Scientific parties that haven't yielded to Liberalism. More than sharing a philosophy, GUE-NGL members share a common reluctance towards the Europen Construction process, at least in its current form.
Apologies to all fellow citizens that already voted. Time is in short supply these days and this last entry is going live a few days behind schedule.
Previous entries of this series:
Greens-EFA
ALDE
PES
EDD-ED
From the diaries by afew
by Luis de Sousa
Thu Jun 4th, 2009 at 02:52:59 AM EST
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
This round through the European political landscape now leaves the parties more used to power and starts dealing with those found more often in the opposition. The Greens - European Free Alliance (Greens-EFA) is the fifth largest political block at Parliament, with little over 5% of the seats. Greens-EFA is a coalition largely composed by state-level Green Parties plus a small number of Regionalist deputies. After an all-time high close to 10% in 1999 the party had what can be called a disappointing result in 2004. Embarking on a worldwide effort to promote its ideologies by the midst of the current term, it is quite possible that the Greens-EFA may reach a relevant stake at Parliament this time.
promoted by whataboutbob
by Luis de Sousa
Sun May 31st, 2009 at 03:25:09 AM EST
EUROPEAN ELECTIONS
This series on the Energy Policies put forward by the main parties running for the European Parliament moves on, leaving the heavyweights and bringing focus to smaller political groups. The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) is the main political group at the centre, pretty much in between EPP-ED and PES. It is the major Liberal reference in Europe, as in the member states where it is represented.
The latest in this excellent series, promoted by Sassafras
by Luis de Sousa
Wed May 20th, 2009 at 04:26:34 AM EST
In the second installment of this series, that pretends to round up the Energy policies put forward by the main political blocs running for the European Parliament, the analysis is on the Party of European Socialists - PES. The eternal runner up behind EPP-ED, never got more than one third of the seats at the euro-chamber. Nonetheless, through the alternating democratic process at state level, it has been having also a relevant role in shaping the European Union to what it is today.
