June 1, 2020 by Josh Gabbatiss

Since the 1970s, fuel-economy improvements in U.S. “light-duty” vehicles, with a contribution from rising gasoline prices, have saved 17bn tonnes of CO2, according to a new study reviewed by Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. That makes rising fuel efficiency’s impact on emissions reductions second only to that of coal-to-gas. New cars, vans and light trucks get about twice as many miles to the gallon as 1975 models. The amount of gasoline therefore … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Transport and energy Tagged With: cars, CO2, emissions, fuel, gasoline, policies, transport, Trump

September 9, 2019 by Josh Gabbatiss

Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief reviews a paper published in Nature Energy, showing how grid parity is already achievable today, subsidy-free, across all China’s 344 biggest cities. Consequently, China is already reducing solar subsidies and realigning policy to de-emphasise scale and re-focus on quality. So far, so good. But China now joins those developed nations where cheaper solar has thrown up another problem: why spend now when it’ll be … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: China, grid parity, investment, policies, solar, subsidies

July 18, 2019 by Josh Gabbatiss

Existing studies estimate all Europe’s potential total maximum annual generation from wind is between 16 and 21 petawatt hours (PWh), already over five times Europe’s existing electricity total from all sources (3.6PWh). A new study doubles that figure to 34.3PWh. The study claims to improve on the accuracy of two factors used in making these predictions, explains Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. Firstly, it uses what it believes are realistic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Energy, Renewables Tagged With: electricity, Europe, innovation, onshore wind, renewables, Vestas, wind