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Dispatch from Québec, Land of Hydropower / Justin Gundlach, Climate Law blog, 27/03/2017Three weeks ago, at the invitation of the Canadian Consulate and Hydro Québec, I traveled to see two enormous hydropower facilities. One of them, La Grande 2-A, is part of the La Grande Complex of dams, turbines, and electricity substations located in the James Bay region (see map at right). Getting there required a two-hour northward flight from Montreal (the road trip would take about 15 hours)... lireDu bon usage des modèles mathématiques en économie / Alain Grandjean, Chroniques de l'anthropocène, 27/03/2017L’économie (en tant que discipline intellectuelle) recourt aux mathématiques et à la modélisation comme de nombreuses sciences. C’est assez légitime : l’économie manipule des quantités (des prix, des revenus, des volumes de production et de consommation, des montants de dettes et de créances, etc.) et il est logique de vouloir appréhender la complexité des systèmes économiques en la représentant de manière simplifiée par des modèles... lire Four Reasons Why Chile Is the Biggest Solar Market in Latin America / Lucas Davis, Energy Institute at Haas blog, 27/03/2017With the U.S. Federal government pulling back sharply from efforts to address global warming, I’ve found myself looking outside the United States for good news on climate.  One of the most compelling recent trends comes from Chile, the little-engine-that-could when it comes to solar power. Despite having only 3% of the population of Latin America, Chile has almost three-quarters of the installed solar generating capacity... lirePeak Oil? Sooner Than You Think / Fereidoon Sionshansi, Energy Collective, 24/03/2017The London-based investment advisory firm Redburn thinks that global demand for oil could peak around 2026, writes Fereidoon Sionshansi, President of Menlo Energy Economics and publisher of the newsletter EEnergy Informer. The implications for oil majors are ominous.For some time, there has been speculation about when global oil demand may peak – not because we will run out of oil or prices will spike making oil unaffordable, notions that are now considered passé – but because we won’t be needing as much of the stuff as we thought we would. And once the peak is finally reached – whenever that is – demand will begin to drop thereafter, perhaps precipitously... lireThe world’s energy is getting cleaner (and cheaper)—but not quickly enough / David Victor, Planet Policy, 25/03/2017What would a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement mean for the emissions that cause climate warming? A growing array of evidence suggests that twists and turns at the federal level won’t automatically change how U.S. firms behave. The Trump administration may roll back U.S. regulations on clean power and on methane leaks from oil and gas operations, for example, but many states already have their rules in place, and the courts will likely halt some of Trump’s most ambitious rollbacks... lireHow Corruption Fuels Climate Change / Lili Fuhr and Simon Taylor, Project Syndicate, 23/03/2017Anti-corruption campaigners achieved a number of crucial victories in 2016, not least by ensuring accountability for one of Big Oil’s most crooked deals: the acquisition of Nigerian offshore oil block OPL 245 in 2011 by Royal Dutch Shell and Eni, Italy’s largest corporation. Last December, Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission indicted some of the Nigerians involved, and Italian prosecutors then concluded their own investigation, bringing the executives and the companies responsible for the deal closer to standing trial... lire