Rising food and fuel costs are pushing several EU countries to freeze or lower 2022-2023 low-carbon blending mandates for transportation fuels. That will likely mean a rise in emissions, but only in the short term, says Cornelius Claeys at Stratas Advisors. However, the same policymakers understand that ending imports of fossil fuels from a belligerent Russia is an opportunity to raise low-carbon targets for the medium and long term. So, right … [Read more...]
Netherlands and China co-operate on Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage for heating and cooling
Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) accesses the stable temperature of groundwater to warm buildings in winter and cool them in summer. The solution uses much less power than conventional heating and cooling systems. As Daisy Chi at ECECP explains, ATES first took off in China in the 1960s but ran into problems with the required circulation of the groundwater. However, the technology has been developed and optimised in the Netherlands: of the … [Read more...]
Renewable Ammonia’s role in reducing dependence on Gas
Today, IRENA and the Ammonia Energy Association (AEA) released its “Innovation Outlook Renewable Ammonia” which updates in detail the current state and prospects for green ammonia as an energy carrier. Here, Dolf Gielen, Francisco Boshell and Gabriel Castellanos at IRENA and Kevin Rouwenhorst and Trevor Brown at the AEA summarise the findings. Worldwide ammonia production, though fossil-based, is already at-scale as a feedstock for fertiliser. So … [Read more...]
Latest U.S. modelling shows Battery Storage can support an 80% Renewables grid by 2050
NREL’s latest Storage Futures Study concludes that battery storage should be able to support an 80% renewables grid mix in the U.S. by 2050. Madeline Geocaris at NREL explains how they modelled hundreds of future scenarios to accurately represent the value of diurnal (<12 hours) battery energy storage. The high-storage scenarios made different cost and performance assumptions for storage, wind, solar PV, and natural gas. 15 storage … [Read more...]
Will China’s gigantic wind and solar “bases” mean targets met four years early?
China will have doubled its 2020 installed wind and solar capacity by 2025, exceeding 1,100GW, according to government plans. That’s four years sooner than required to meet their target of peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060. Writing for Carbon Brief, Lauri Myllyvirta and Xing Zhang at CREA explain that the main driver is the creation of “clean energy bases”: large-scale concentrations of wind and solar power on deserts … [Read more...]
If most truck journeys are less than 300 miles the E-Truck revolution can happen now
What proportion of trucks today could go electric? That’s the question Emily Porter at RMI has asked for California and New York. The answer is 65% of medium-duty trucks and 49% of heavy-duty trucks. Those are very encouragingly high numbers. RMI’s definition of “electrifiable” is if they travel fewer than 300 miles between trips to their home bases. The study gathered real data on how freight trucks are driven today. Clearly, a large number of … [Read more...]
Record Renewables additions for 2021 and 2022 despite supply bottlenecks prove Solar & Wind’s resilience
Despite – or perhaps because of – global market and political turmoil, renewable power is set to break another record in 2022. That’s after 2021 also saw record new capacity from solar, wind and other renewables worldwide. It’s mainly driven by solar PV in China and Europe as governments around the world take advantage of renewables’ energy security and climate benefits, according to the IEA’s latest Renewable Energy Market Update. 295GW of new … [Read more...]
China’s impressive growth in Renewables and Transmission now needs Market innovation
***REGISTER NOW for CHINA: Carbon Neutral by 2060 - INNOVATION*** - China has the world’s largest power plant fleet for both coal and renewables. Together they make up most of the total power capacity of over 2,200 GW... STOP PRESS: China's Transition is the biggest single opportunity for managing climate change and also for those businesses who are ready with the innovations that will ensure the best possible outomes in an incredibly … [Read more...]
How a street can share a Ground Source Heat Pump
Ground and air source heat pumps are expected to play a major role in cutting the use of gas for heating. But one major problem with them is that they need a lot of space. For those living in dense housing it’s just not practical. District heat networks are the usual alternative, but the dense urban areas they serve need to be near a large source of waste heat like power stations or other industrial units. David Barns at the University of Leeds … [Read more...]
U.S. Solar breaks new records. What’s needed to keep the momentum?
The latest available data reveals it’s been a record breaking 2021 for U.S. solar. John Rogers at UCS runs through the highlights. Solar passed the 100GW milestone, with 23.6GW newly installed, up 19% on 2020 and 77% up on 2019. Solar was the biggest source of new electric generating capacity for the third year in a row. Residential, non-residential and utility-scale all performed well. Across the nation, solar accounted for 3.9% of total … [Read more...]
Seven ways for the U.S. and Europe to enhance energy security and advance climate goals
Ending reliance on Russian fossil exports will need the U.S. and Europe to work together, explain Joseph Majkut, Nikos Tsafos and Ben Cahill at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The U.S. is the world’s largest oil and gas producer and is able to increase output. At the same time, it must meet global emissions targets. The way to do it is to increase fossil exports temporarily whilst improving its carbon reduction measures (e.g. … [Read more...]
New research ranks the 12 best ways to cut car use in cities
Behaviour change is as an important part of our transition journey as the clean energy revolution. Kimberly Nicholas at Lund University summarises research that has gathered together nearly 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from across Europe that analyse ways of reducing car use. One main challenge is to quantify the benefits so policy-makers and citizens can make evidence-based decisions on how to re-imagine city mobility. Nicholas … [Read more...]
What’s best for Hydrogen transport: ammonia, liquid hydrogen, LOHC or pipelines?
The ability to transport hydrogen in bulk will mean clean energy can be taken where it’s needed, as easily as fossil fuels are today. But there is a cost involved in converting the hydrogen into something easy to transport (and un-converting it at the destination). Herib Blanco at IRENA summarises the findings of their paper that looks at those costs: a better understanding will enable us to choose the right pathways today fit for the next 30 … [Read more...]
Solar + Storage Hybrid plants are poised for explosive growth in the U.S.
At the beginning of 2021 the U.S. had 73 solar and 16 wind hybrid projects, amounting to 2.5GW of generation and 0.45GW of storage. By the end of 2021, over a third of the 675GW of solar in the grid connection queue were hybrids, and 19GW were wind hybrids. Only one in four typically get approved, built and connected. But that still points at a twenty-five-fold increase in hybrid generation. It’s why Joachim Seel, Ben Paulos and Will Gorman at … [Read more...]
Pathway for 100% Renewables in 24 U.S. states by 2035
We should not be surprised to see a growing number of 100% renewables roadmaps, with target dates in the 2030s, from nations as the transition gains pace. This study, “On the Road to 100 Percent Renewables” led by The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), details how the 24 states that make up the members of the U.S. Climate Alliance (USCA) can meet all of their electricity needs with renewable energy by 2035. Paula Garcia at UCS summarises the … [Read more...]
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