Tandis que les États-Unis et le Canada s’enlisent par-dessus la tête dans les énergies fossiles, aux Pays-Bas on travaille fort pour sortir la tête de ce trou nauséabond. Vous êtes sans doute au courant : les trains Néerlandais fonctionnent à l’énergie éolienne (à 100 %) depuis le 1er janvier. Une bonne nouvelle, non évangélique! Pas un miracle : simplement de l’intelligence, du savoir-faire et du courage humains.
Le Canada pourrait imiter ce coup de maître, par exemple en créant des parcs éoliens dans les Prairies où le vent est roi et maître.
À cause de la déforestation des terres dans les Prairies (pour la monoculture et l’élevage bovin), le sol ne peut plus absorber l'eau, ce qui entraîne des inondations. Sous l'effet du vent, le sol devient très fin et s'érode. L'érosion fait disparaître une partie des éléments nutritifs essentiels à la croissance des plantes. De plus, ce milieu ayant un faible niveau de précipitations, le réchauffement climatique ne fait qu'aggraver les problèmes. La sécheresse est devenue une véritable catastrophe dont les agriculteurs et la population subissent les répercussions, entre autres, de grandes pertes de revenus.
Des parcs éoliens transformeraient un mal en bien. Mais, notre gouvernement pétro-rétro est loin d’être dans le vent; alors nous allons rater le train.
En tout cas, bravo à NS et Eneco!
Le directeur général de la NS (Société nationale des chemins de fer), Roger van Boxtel, s’est prêté à un clip promotionnel humoristique : attaché à une pale de moulin à vent, il vante les dernières réalisations de sa compagnie en matière d'énergie renouvelable. Le clip est en néerlandais; pour des sous-titres cliquez sur paramètres.
Dutch Trains Are World’s First to Run on 100 % Wind Power
By Lorraine Chow
The Netherlands, aka Windmill Country, is now operating 100 percent of its electric trains with wind energy.
As of Jan. 1, 600,000 daily train passengers have been traveling completely carbon neutral, according to an announcement from the Netherlands' principal passenger railway operator.
Dutch electric trains are running on 1.2 billion kilowatt-hours of wind energy supplied by sustainable energy supplier, Eneco. As Brightvibes noted, a "decreasing and relatively small number" of Dutch trains are still running on diesel.
NS and Eneco first announced their plan of a wind-powered railway in 2015 in order to drastically slash train ride emissions. Their original goal was to transition the trains to 100 percent renewable energy by 2018, but that target was moved up after reaching 75 percent in 2016. Impressively, this means their initial goal was met one whole year ahead of schedule.
According to Eneco, the power used by the carriers comes from newly built wind farms in the Netherlands, Scandinavia and Belgium. By tapping into both domestic and foreign sources of wind power, it "[ensures] that there is always sufficient green power available on the grid for rail companies, even if the wind is not blowing," the company explained.
As Eneco's account manager Michel Kerkhof pointed out, the "key objective is to avoid procuring energy from the limited existing number of sustainable energy projects in the Netherlands, thus promoting renewable growth both domestically and Europe-wide."
In this video, NS CEO Roger van Boxtel is humorously strapped to a windmill blade as he touts his company's latest renewable energy achievement. The clip is in Dutch so set the captions to "translate" if you do not speak the language.
http://www.ecowatch.com/dutch-trains-wind-energy-2187547588.html
Trump Watch
Here’s What You Need to Know on Six of Trump’s Cabinet Nominations
By Jo Miles
We all expected that Trump's cabinet would mean trouble for many of the things we care about, from clean energy and healthy communities to our very democracy itself. But his chosen nominees are worse than we could have imagined. These individuals, responsible for the policies and decisions that affect the lives and well-being of all Americans, have a combined net worth of more than $13 billion so far – that's five times the net worth of President Obama's cabinet and more wealth than a third of American households. As you might expect, their ties to corporations run deep and those ties are reflected in their positions and past actions. Here's what you should know about what Trump's nominees mean for our food, water, environment and democracy – and how you can oppose their confirmations:
http://www.ecowatch.com/pruitt-tillerson-zinke-perry-2182272584.html
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