Ben Cahill at the Center for Strategic and International Studies takes a deep dive into U.S. and EU progress on regulating methane emissions. Itâs vitally important because methane has more than 80 times the warming potential of CO2 in its first 20 years in the atmosphere. In his assessment, Cahill explains why the U.S. is likely to move much faster than the EU. Unlike the U.S., the EU is a big importer of gas so needs its rules complied with by … [Read more...]
4 CEOs explain their innovations: EV charging, aviation fuel, hydrogen fuel cells, nuclear waste-to-energy
To meet our global climate targets, new solutions, technologies and pathways will be needed. Existing technologies, on their own, canât be scaled up fast enough to do it. Robin Pomeroy and Kate Whiting at the World Economic Forum pick out highlights from their podcast that hears from four CEOs of innovative companies, covering EV charging, aviation, hydrogen fuel cells, and new nuclear. Todayâs millions of EV charging points needs to rise to 450m … [Read more...]
Wind Turbines: how dependent is the EU on China?
Joseph Webster at the Atlantic Councilâs Global Energy Center takes stock of the European wind sectorâs dependence on China. Nobody wants geopolitics and a worsening relationship with Beijing to disrupt positive cooperation in the urgent energy transition. The news is mostly good: the dependence is low because the international trade in turbines is constrained by weight-to-value ratios, transportation costs, and local content requirements. In … [Read more...]
Li-ion Grid Batteries arenât always the best replacement for Gas Peakers
Gas peakers need to be replaced with something cleaner. Like grid batteries. But the question is âwhenâ, says Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas. Summarising his co-authored paper, he explains that a review of 19 gas peakers in the U.S., replaced with Li-ion grid-scale batteries, reveals only 5 make economic and climate sense (i.e. a positive net present value after including monetised climate and human health impacts). … [Read more...]
Geothermal Heat Pumps: can new U.S. âIRAâ support make it go mainstream?
Bidenâs Inflation Reduction Act in the U.S. is meant to drive forward the best clean energy solutions. To help make sure geothermal heat pumps play their fullest role, RMI has done a study of its benefits as well as published guides on how developers can take advantage of the various new laws and support mechanisms. Lauren Reeg, Mike Henchen, Chris Potter and Chris Stone at RMI start with a summary of the technology and its applications, before … [Read more...]
Credit Rating Agencies: a guide to pricing in long-term climate risks
Nobody wants share, stock and bond prices to fall off a cliff unexpectedly. But while Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) continue to evaluate based on short-term policy changes and market forces without specifically accounting for climate risks, thatâs what could happen. IEEFA have published their guides to how CRAs can adapt â without throwing out â their existing models to integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) credit risks. Hazel … [Read more...]
Turning Ethanol productionâs CO2 by-product into E-Fuels using Wind power
With vast open spaces, Midwest states in the U.S. produce millions of gallons of ethanol from corn as well as thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity from wind farms every year. Research led by NREL is working on using wind power to drive electrolysers that turn the ethanolâs CO2 by-product into e-fuels, explains Erik Ringle at NREL. A typical 50 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant releases 14 tons of CO2, a natural by-product of … [Read more...]
Germany closes its last 3 nuclear reactors. Understanding the reasons why
Germany has a long history of being resistant to all things nuclear. No new commercial reactors have been built since 1989. By 2023, nuclear made up only 6% of its power mix. To meet its decarbonisation goals, the government is confident of its target to reach an 80% renewables share in electricity demand by 2030 without nuclear. Hence the shut-down of its last three reactors over the weekend. Yet nuclear supporters say that leaving the last six … [Read more...]
Renewables âcost of capitalâ in Europe lower than oil, gas, coal. What the U.S. and China can learn
The ultimate price of anything is highly dependent on the cost of capital needed to put it in place. That cost reflects the risks financial markets perceive. And policy certainty reduces risk. Gireesh Shrimali, Christian Wilson and Xiaoyan Zhou at Oxford University, writing for WEF, summarise their global study which shows the cost of capital for different energy technologies, and therefore which ones will trend upwards and dominate. They cover … [Read more...]
IPCC AR6 report reveals a bigger impact at lower temperatures than previously predicted: health, crops, species loss +more
Published in March, the IPPCâs AR6 Synthesis Report on Climate Change updates its predictions of the effects of temperature rises. It starkly concludes that those temperature rises will have a bigger impact at lower temperatures than previously predicted. Charlotte Edmond, writing for the World Economic Forum, picks out five charts from the report to illustrate the point: the range of likely temperature rises; global map of change in temperature, … [Read more...]
IEAâs global âCO2 Emissions in 2022â report: by sector, fuel, region, heating +more
The IEA has published âCO2 Emissions in 2022â, giving estimates of CO2 emissions from all energy sources and industrial processes globally. Emissions from energy combustion increased by 423 Mt, while emissions from industrial processes decreased by 102 Mt. Emissions from various sources (sector, fuel, region, heating, etc.) are broken down, with reasons for why the change happened. The report is part of the IEAâs first global stocktake of the … [Read more...]
Adding ordinary baking soda to concrete production can cut 15% of its CO2 emissions
Concrete production makes up 8% of global CO2 emissions. Half comes from the fossil energy used to make it (which, hopefully, can transition to clean power), and the other half comes from the CO2 that escapes during the chemical transformation. David Chandler at MIT describes research there that shows how simply adding sodium bicarbonate (yes, the baking soda you put in your cookies) during the early stages of production can remove, by … [Read more...]
IPCCâs latest AR6 synthesis report lacks urgency and realism. Its own numbers say so
Kevin Anderson at the University of Manchester explains his deep disappointment in the recently released and influential IPCC AR6 synthesis report. Even the mainstream media criticised the lack of urgency in the language. Andersonâs objections go further. He says the reportâs own figures show net-zero must be reached by 2040, not the âearly 2050sâ as stated. Anderson goes on to criticise the modelling used as the standard, saying it is formulated … [Read more...]
EU: no CO2-emitting car sales from 2035. But beware of the small exemption for e-fuels
At the end of March, EU countries gave final approval to end sales of new CO2-emitting cars in 2035. It came after Germany argued for and won an exemption for cars running on e-fuels. William Todts at T&E celebrates the landmark decision, but warns that this lifeline for e-fuels will be used by its supporters and the oil lobby to obstruct the rapid transition to EVs. He quotes T&E research that shows e-fuels are far less efficient than … [Read more...]
Strategic home + workplace EV charging: thereâs no need for extra power plants, storage, advanced demand management
High EV usage introduces new power consumption problems. At first look, extra storage and plants will be needed to cope with charging peaks. Either that, or sophisticated advanced demand management connected to every charging point, to smooth out demand. David Chandler at MIT describes research there that shows how, done right, none of that may be necessary. The study, tested on real life data in New York and Dallas, reveals that two things can … [Read more...]
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