France
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MIT report papers over past and future of high costs for nuclear power
For 50 years, nuclear advocates have been promising that future costs of reactors will come down. A new report this week from MIT calls on Congress to place a very big bet on that proposition. The report is only the latest in a series from MIT that grossly underestimates the likely cost of new nuclear reactors and overestimates the ability of the industry to operate on its own without heavy reliance on French-style government subsidies.
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Feed-in tariffs saved French ratepayers money they would have otherwise spent
The cost of French feed-in tariffs for renewable energy over and above the cost of conventional fuels was negative in 2008.
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Green deal or great disillusion?
While the United States is unlikely to pass a climate bill in the near future, there may be greater hope from one of the country’s closest allies: France.
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Paris hopes to expand car-sharing, limit car-burning
Paris already has one of the largest bike-sharing programs in the world; now it wants to add a car-sharing program, with all electric cars.
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New Conservative British government agrees on more feed-in tariffs
Cross-posted from Wind-Works. Less than two months after Britain’s Labor Party launched its highly regarded feed-in tariff program, the newly elected Conservative government has announced the program will be expanded. The announcement is included in the coalition government’s agreement published as the new government took office. Britain’s new government is a coalition of the Conservative […]
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James Hansen vs. cap-and-trade
NASA climate scientist James Hansen has a new book out about climate policy, with excerpts in this month’s issue of The Nation. And in my view, he’s got a pretty good policy idea: tax carbon, and use the revenue to give out rebates in equal, per capita shares to every U.S. citizen. It’s a twofer […]
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France rejects carbon pricing policy
One of the purported advantages of a carbon tax over cap-and-trade is that it would be simple, as simple as grandma and apple pie and just as hard to frak with. That view has taken a bit of a blow from the latest news out of France. The French Constitutional Council has rejected a tax […]
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City preps and countries posture ahead of Copenhagen talks
As Copenhagen prepares for December, a strange combination of Christmas lights, clean energy expos, evergreen wreaths, and security barriers have begun to crop up around the city. It’s an exciting time to be in Copenhagen reflecting on a year of intense pressure, activity, and engagement around the world. Over the past several months (and years), […]
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Conservative French Government again proposes higher solar PV tariffs
For the second time within twelve months the French Government of conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed raising the feed-in tariff for solar PV in the coming year. The new provisions are contained in the specific regulations proposed in response to Minister for Energy and the Environment Jean-Louis Borloo’s announcement last November. The proposed regulations […]