Le Ffrench

Starting in 2027, smartphones sold in the European Union will be required to have user-replaceable batteries designed for greater durability and more charging cycles. Manufacturers must also provide spare parts and repair manuals for at least 10 years after a model is released. This is real pressure against planned obsolescence. It should mean phones that actually last longer, cheaper fixes, and a lot less electronic waste piling up. About time.

Paris, 1983

Non, rien, quand on se garait sous la Tour Eiffel.

France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces. Parking lots over a certain size have three to five years to cover at least half their surface area with solar canopies or face fines. The projected output: up to 11 gigawatts of capacity, the equivalent of 10 nuclear reactors. The panels shade the cars. They can charge EVs directly underneath them. They generate electricity for the grid. The parking lot goes from dead infrastructure to power plant without using a single additional acre of land. France plans to increase solar tenfold and double wind capacity by 2033. The US has approximately 800 million parking spaces. Eight hundred million. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight. Why aren't we doing this?

France passed a law requiring solar panels on every parking lot with more than 80 spaces. Parking lots over a certain size have three to five years to cover at least half their surface area with solar canopies or face fines. The projected output: up to 11 gigawatts of capacity, the equivalent of 10 nuclear reactors. The panels shade the cars. They can charge EVs directly underneath them. They generate electricity for the grid. The parking lot goes from dead infrastructure to power plant without using a single additional acre of land. France plans to increase solar tenfold and double wind capacity by 2033. The US has approximately 800 million parking spaces. Eight hundred million. Most of them are uncovered asphalt sitting in direct sunlight. Why aren't we doing this?