Whereas DNV GL in its recent Energy Transition Outlook forecasts an energy demand peak in the 2030s, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) will have none of this: it projects a 28% increase in world energy use by 2040. Consequently, it sees a much slower transition to a low-carbon energy system. … [Read more...]
Shell executive describes inevitable transition to carbon-free energy
"Shell wants to be a voice and a leader in the energy transition", said Harry Brekelmans, the projects and technology director for Royal Dutch Shell, a founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI). But the company must "not abandon the process that made us a leader", namely production and distribution of oil and gas. Brekelmans met with groups of MIT students and faculty members for a public discussion about energy issues with MITEI … [Read more...]
Chasing electrification: progress is too slow
Shell scenarios show that the rate of electrification of the energy system needs to triple over the coming years to achieve the Paris goals. This is a much more challenging task than most people realize, writes David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor for Shell. … [Read more...]
Why the electric car hype is overblown
Electric cars offer no clear fuel cost savings relative to efficient internal combustion engine (ICE) options, writes independent researcher Schalk Cloete. CO2 and tailpipe emission benefits are also insignificant relative to efficient ICEs. As a result, notes Cloete, ICE vehicles will remain highly competitive with battery electric vehicles (BEVs). … [Read more...]
UK offshore wind boom concentrates power in the hands of a few very large developers
The price of offshore wind continues to fall dramatically. The UK government’s latest round of contracts for renewable generation have just been announced, and they show the costs of subsidies have halved in just two years, writes Bridget Woodman of the University of Exeter. This is good news, but there are downsides, Woodman notes. The scale of the projects concentrates power in the hands of a few very large developers. Courtesy The … [Read more...]
Nuclear power, weapons and national security
The nuclear power industry, under pressure economically, is arguing that it deserves government support because it is essential for “national security”, notes Jim Green, editor of the Nuclear Monitor newsletter. Green explains why he finds this argument disingenuous and unconvincing. … [Read more...]
Trading biomass like oil: Lithuania shows how it can be done
European biomass markets are fragmented and intransparent, writes Jakub Kucera, economic analyst at RSJ, a Prague-based investment company. With one exception: Lithuania has a well-functioning biomass spot market, Baltpool. Could this become a model for other European countries? The Lithuanians would like to expand. … [Read more...]
New Energy Challenge 2017: Startups focus on interface between energy and automation
Energy start-ups seem to be focusing on solar power, storage, material sciences, and on the interface between automation and energy, such as big data, mobile internet and e-commerce applications. That’s the picture that emerges from the successful submissions of startups to the New Energy Challenge 2017, which is preparing for a grand finale on 28 September in Amsterdam. Geert van de Wouw, Managing Director of Shell Technology Ventures, one of … [Read more...]
A dangerous energy policy: Ukraine, despite war, is making itself dependent on Russian oil
When it comes to Ukrainian dependence on Russian energy, the spotlight is usually on natural gas. Here Ukraine has made unprecedented progress, writes Wojciech Konończuk, analyst at the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw. But what few observers notice, Konończuk adds, is that as a result of corruption and neglect Ukraine has let its domestic oil refining industry decay and has become critically dependent on Russian diesel and LPG … [Read more...]
For Total, the Age of Oil is not over yet
The decision of the Maersk group to sell its oil and gas division is partly due to specific circumstances, but it is also a vote of no confidence in the future of the oil industry now that peak oil demand and US shale oil imply systematically lower profitability, writes geophysicist Jilles van den Beukel. But Total clearly feels there is still a future for low-cost conventional oil, particularly in politically stable countries like Denmark and … [Read more...]
Biofuel breakthroughs bring ‘negative emissions’ a step closer
Recent breakthroughs in biofuel research have brought the prospect of ‘negative emissions’ a step closer, writes Andrew Hopkins, Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Australian National University. With the help of pyrolysis, biomass in the form of algae can be converted into char, which can be used as soil additive, returning carbon to the soil. Courtesy The Conversation. … [Read more...]
DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook: for the first time in history, energy demand will peak
Global energy demand will plateau from 2030, oil demand will flatten from 2020 to 2028 and go to a significant decline thereafter, the shift to renewable energy will be quicker and more massive than most people realize, yet the energy transition will not be difficult to finance. These are some of the momentous conclusions of a set of major new reports from independent energy consultancy DNV GL, under the name Energy Transition Outlook (ETO). They … [Read more...]
The growing potential of green hydrogen
The idea of a hydrogen-based economy has been around since the oil crises of the 1970s, but it has not materialised up to this point. Yet according to Jan Cihlar of Ecofys, a Navigant company, hydrogen could still become a key enabler of the low carbon transition, if it is produced with renewable electricity. The potential of further cost reductions make this a possibility in some applications in transport and industry. … [Read more...]
Why solar keeps being underestimated
There are competing ideas on the best technologies to rapidly decarbonise the energy system. Some scenarios emphasise the role of carbon capture and storage to render coal- and gas-fired power plants more climate-friendly. Others point to nuclear energy and a third group is more optimistic on renewable sources. But it’s plausible that even these more optimistic outlooks have greatly underestimated the potential of solar power, writes Dr Felix … [Read more...]
IEA underreports contribution solar and wind by a factor of three compared to fossil fuels
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) statistics underreport the role of wind and solar in the world’s energy mix by a factor of three, writes Erik Sauar. This gives policymakers, investors and the public the false impression that wind and solar are insignificant. According to Sauar, the counting method must be changed to reflect how close the world really is to a transition to renewables. Article courtesy Energi og Klima. [See note at the end … [Read more...]
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