What is the best technology to balance the variable output of wind and solar? When there is little wind and sun the plant must produce power to compensate. When thereâs too much wind and sun it must utilise that excess power. In other words, given the high capital cost of the new balancing technology it must do both profitably enough to cover the time sitting idle. A paper co-authored by Schalk Cloete looks at Gas Switching Reforming (GSR). The … [Read more...]
Archives for February 2020
The cost of climate inaction: putting a $ price on 4.5°C warming
Oriana Tannenbaum and Rushad Nanavatty at Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) have gathered data that puts a price on not making the necessary investments in tackling climate change. For the U.S., a 4.5°C warming scenario (by 2050) will cost $5.2tn. At a more drastic 6°C the cost is $17tn. These projections are hard to do when treating the climate as an âinfrastructure assetâ, though proven methodologies do exist for tradition assets, and the authors … [Read more...]
The EU can support Central and East Europeâs transition
Six Central and East European nations, heavily dependent on coal, have been very cautious about the pace of the EUâs transition. For them - Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - the political and economic disruption looks far harder to bear. E3G has just released a report that suggests this picture can change. The reportâs authors â Felix Heilmann, Rebekka Popp and Ada Ămon â explain that coal is becoming less profitable, … [Read more...]
Biofuels âlight-to-powerâ slump: because photosynthesis is no match for Solar PV
The success of energy crops depends on many things. But the first link in the chain is a weak one: natural photosynthesis, the conversion of light into energy by plants. The problem is the efficiency of photosynthesis is no match for that of a modern solar PV cell. And while solar technology keeps improving, mother nature â not a signatory to the Paris Agreement â has no plans to do so. Any progress must come from biotechnology which is slow … [Read more...]
No Energiewende without Wärmewende: making Germanyâs Heating emissions climate neutral (…nearly)
In Germany, space and water heating in buildings accounts for almost a third of total final energy consumption. Because over 90% of its 22m buildings are fuelled by oil and gas, that makes the sector emissions very intensive. The governmentâs ambition is to have a "nearly climate neutral building stock" by 2050. But although those emissions have fallen by 44% since 1990, progress has largely stagnated since 2011. Freja Eriksen at Clean Energy … [Read more...]