The REPowerEU policy has done well so far in its aim of ending Europeâs dependency on Russian fossil fuels by 2027. The target of 15% reduction in gas use, compared to the average consumption between April 2017 and March 2022, was exceeded in both 2023 and 2024. The Commission has again set the same 15% target for the coming year. However, by doing so the very many EU countries that have succeeded so well in exceeding that target are effectively … [Read more...]
The EUâs inaugural Hydrogen subsidy auction. What have we learned?
At the end of April, the winners were announced of the first pilot auction to allocate subsidies for EU hydrogen production via the European Hydrogen Bank. The winning bids were between âŹ0.37 and âŹ0.48 per kg, much lower than the âŹ4 â âŹ6 per kg estimated âgreen premiumâ cost gap between renewable hydrogen and fossil hydrogen in Europe. The low bids mean companies applied for fewer subsidies than needed to bridge that âgreen premiumâ gap because … [Read more...]
District Heating: trials face local permitting blocks. Itâs because thereâs too little national and EU guidance
The EU-funded WEDISTRICT project establishes sites to demonstrate innovative 100% fossil free heating and cooling solutions for new and existing district heating and cooling systems. But some of the sites have run into permitting problems with local authorities and stakeholders. In Poland, the project had to be withdrawn. In Spain, it had to relocate to a site in the University of CĂłrdoba. As Khatia Shamanauri and Fintan Burke at ESCI explain, … [Read more...]
After the EU elections: what should be Europeâs energy and climate priorities for 2024-29?
After Juneâs European Parliament elections the new Commission will be tasked with setting the agenda for EU energy and climate policy. What should its priorities be? Maciej Jakubik at Forum Energii summarises their paper that sets out six. Energy security, improving access to data and therefore planning, energy market reforms and grid development, protecting and supporting vulnerable citizens, establishing an Energy Transformation Fund, global … [Read more...]
Low Emission Hydrogen: creating markets to get buyers to make firm commitments
Low emission hydrogen is expected to play an important role in global decarbonisation, though costs today are very high and must come down. Economies of scale will help, but production is yet to pick up pace as there are inadequate âdemand signalsâ which result in financial risks for project developers. Kapil Narula and Luciano Caratori of Climate Champions Team, Laurent Antoni at IPHE, and Nigel Topping (former UN Climate Change High-Level … [Read more...]
Investors beware: per ⏠of revenue, truckmakers are more carbon intensive than oil, steel, cars (but not coal!)
Truckmakers are a more carbon intensive investment, per ⏠of revenue, than oil, steel and cars. The only major sector that's worse is coal mining, says a new study by T&E. For investors that are counting the emissions of their investments, this will become clear when truckmakers are forced to report their Scope 3 emissions next year. Truckmakers therefore risk losing access to these investors. Until now, truckmakers have got away with it … [Read more...]
European support for U.S. gas pipelines can cut inflation, strengthen the energy transition and thwart Putin
Inflation isnât just politically destabilising. Itâs also the enemy of the energy transition, explains Joseph Webster at the Atlantic Councilâs Global Energy Center. President Putin understands this, which is why he uses Russia's oil and gas production to stoke global inflation. Hence, to thwart his aims, nations should increase short-term energy production from all sources, including hydrocarbons. Lower energy prices lower inflation and interest … [Read more...]
Analysis of Clean Technology Manufacturing around the world: solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
For every nation, clean technology manufacturing can bring economic security, employment, and resilience to clean energy transitions, says the IEA. The sector is now so significant that itâs also impacting overall GDP performance: in 2023, clean technology manufacturing alone accounted for around 4% of global GDP growth and nearly 10% of global investment growth. Here, the IEA summarises its first-of-its-kind âEnergy Technology Perspectives … [Read more...]
When can Bioenergy be truly green? 5 key questions for every project
Is bioenergy green? It depends, says Jessica Allen at the University of Newcastle. She lays out five key questions that should be asked about every bioenergy project. What is its source? Native forest residues, dedicated fast-growing biomass species, agricultural residues and âwasteâ biomass: all have pros and cons that must first be carefully measured. How many emissions are embodied in the collection and transport of the biomass to the plant? … [Read more...]
The benefits of Vertical-Axis Wind Turbines: omnidirectional, close-packed, easier to maintain + more
Most wind turbines are âhorizontal axis,â pointing into the direction of the wind. âVertical axisâ turbines can capture wind energy from any direction, but current designs are less efficient and so get little attention and investment. Andrea Montanari at ECECP looks at innovative companies around the world that are trying to leverage the other advantages they have over the dominant horizontal versions. They are more stable (lower centre of … [Read more...]
Europeâs EV charging infrastructure roll-out is ahead of targets. Itâs EV sales that are lagging behind
A T&E analysis reveals the speed of EV charging infrastructure deployment across the EU is a success story. This contrasts with stories of people being hesitant to switch to EVs because they fear there arenât enough charge points. It also exposes the failures to meet EV sales goals: whatever the cause, it canât be because the charging rollout is too slow. Across the EU, the number of chargers increased threefold in the last three years (and … [Read more...]
EU Elections 2024: the Green Deal is being sidelined. What can be done?
In the run-up to the EU elections this June, Andrea Renda at CEPS, writing for IDDRI, says the Green Deal is being ousted from the public debate. Protests against important elements of the Green Deal â including environmental regulations, wind and solar farm installations, a ban on combustion engines â are being used by populists to scare mainstream politicians away from openly championing Europeâs green and clean energy ambitions. Proponents of … [Read more...]
V2G: modelling how EV batteries can provide storage to the grid
V2G (vehicle-to-grid) technology allows parked EVs to store and/or inject electricity into the grid when needed. The main benefit is to avoid the expense and disruption of building dedicated large-scale grid batteries when EVs and charging infrastructure are already ramping up. Though most EVs and charge points are not V2G-ready, now is the time to plan ahead, measure the true potential and identify the challenges. Ibtihal Abdelmotteleb, Matteo … [Read more...]
Green Steelmakersâ global future: importing the Iron from where Renewables are cheap, the Ore abundant
Governments in Europe have allocated around âŹ5bn to 10 commercial-scale hydrogen-ready DRI (direct reduced iron) facilities for steelmaking, but even with these generous subsidies steelmakers are struggling to reach final investment decisions, citing high costs for domestic hydrogen as a barrier. And when you consider that over âŹ400bn is needed to transition the entire European sector to hydrogen-based steelmaking, a totally new way of thinking … [Read more...]
âMagnetisation switchingâ can replace transistors, cutting energy demand from computing by an order of magnitude
Globally, energy demand from computing is growing so fast the search is on to find fundamental ways to make it more efficient. âMagnetisation switchingâ has long been seen as a more efficient way than using transistors to create the 1s and 0s in memory chips and processors. But existing solutions operate only at very low temperatures. Also, they are controlled by magnetic fields which are harder to manage than switches controlled electrically. … [Read more...]
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