Most scenarios to meet the Paris Agreementās targets require negative emissions technologies. However, carbon dioxide removal is not part of the EUās climate policy yet. Its integration presents a serious challenge to the EUās low-carbon policy paradigm and experience, write Oliver Geden of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, Vivian Scott of the University of Edinburgh and James Palmer of the University of Bristol. … [Read more...]
Poland’s love affair with coal: can the EU do anything about it?
The Polish governmentās strong commitment to coal goes against EU policy direction and against market conditions, write Anna Mikulska of the Baker Instituteās Center for Energy Studies and Eryk Kosinski of Adam Mickiewicz University. But coal has a special place in the nationās collective heart. To wean Poland off coal will require EU support to coal-dependent regions and for alternative energy sources, the authors argue. … [Read more...]
Green Gold: a documentary filmmaker unearths the shocking story behind biofuels
On 22 November, the impressive documentary āGreen Goldā by veteran filmmaker Sergio Ghizzardi premieres at the Aventura cinema in Brussels. Over a period of nearly ten years Ghizzardi travelled to all corners of the globe, interviewing politicians, farmers, oil industry representatives, biofuel producers and NGOs to understand āa political projectā that began in Brussels and kicked up a worldwide storm that is still getting bigger every day. … [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...]
Biofuel breakthroughs bring ānegative emissionsā a step closer
Recent breakthroughs in biofuel research have brought the prospect of ānegative emissionsā 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...]
Interview bio-energy expert AndrĆ© Faaij: āSo much nonsense has been told – high time for the real storyā
āAn enormous amount of nonsenseā has been told about bio-energy, says AndrĆ© Faaij, scientific director of Energy Academy Europe and professor Energy Systems Analysis at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. According to Faaij, it is high time for the real ā scientifically validated ā story. āThe bio-based economy is indispensable for our climate policy and can mean huge progress for agriculture and nature in developing countriesā. … [Read more...]
A new energy bible: Samuele Furfari explains why technology is king
If youāre in the energy business, here is a new manual for you that lays out the essentials of what energy is and how it shapes geopolitics today. Professor and long-time European Commission official Samuele Furfari has condensed his 39 years of experience in the energy sector into a two-volume tome of more than 1,250 pages that goes right from the fundamentals of physics through Britainās rule of the Middle East to modern day realities such as … [Read more...]
Biopower (part 3): what does the future hold?
The future of bioenergy is uncertain.Ā The many constraints it faces suggest it could see very little growth.Ā But the huge challenge of solving climate change makes some think it could be the savior of the planet in the long run. This is part 3 of a three-part series that first appeared on the Energy Transition blog, atĀ energytransition.org. … [Read more...]
Biopower (part 2): Climate science for bioenergy is lost in the woods
Producing electricity from biomass is one of the most controversial and least understood forms of renewable energy.Ā In this three part series, we first explored myths and facts about biopower. In this second installment weāll try to make sense of a seemingly simple question ā is biopower good for cutting our carbon emissions?Ā It is anything but simple.Ā This series first appeared on the Energy Transition blog, at energytransition.org. … [Read more...]
Myths and facts about biopower (part 1 of 3)
While wind and solar are widely popular, and nuclear and energy storage hotly debated, much less is said about the role bioenergy could play in the transition to a low-carbon society. In a three-part article, Bentham Paulos argues that bioenergy has an important role to play in the green future and exposes some of the myths around it. This article originally appeared in the Energy Transition blog. … [Read more...]
Costs of electricity generation compared: beware of simple metrics
With the rapid growth of renewables, comparing costs of different forms of power generation has become important for policymakers, investors and analysts. In these comparisons, the metric of LCOE (levelized cost of energy) is often used, but the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) warns that this metric does not cover all the complexities involved. The EIA has written a short primer on comparing power generation costs. … [Read more...]
Bioenergy increases emissions in Europe
The way the EU Emission Trading (ETS) has been set up, means that replacement of coal or gas with biomass will lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions, writes Rauli Partanen, freelance author and analyst. And in combination with the renewable energy targets all EU member states have, this is exactly what our policies encourage us to do. … [Read more...]
Can UK power market reform replace the capacity market?
The UK has just completed another auction for a large amount of backup power capacity. The countryās capacity market scheme will cost ratepayers many billions of pounds. Independent consultant Gerard Wynn wonders if they are really necessary. … [Read more...]
EU energy package: What it means for coal, renewables and efficiency
The literature on EU energy regulations got longer by about a thousand pages [on 30 November], as the European Commission put forward its vision for achieving a āclean energy transitionā, writes Sophie Yeo for Carbon Brief. TheĀ vast collection of documentsĀ ā including revisions to directives, impact assessments, enquiries and new regulations ā will determine the future of energy in the EU up to 2030. It touches upon subjects including coal … [Read more...]
Energy crops have been a major flop with farmers ā hereās why
In only a few years, biomass has become a major UK power source, supplying 3% of the total electricity supply. However, despite government incentives, UK farmers are largely unwilling to grow the feedstock for the biomass plants. Most of it has to be imported. Charles Warren, Senior Lecturer Geography and Sustainable Development at the University of St. Andrews, tried to find out why ā and came to some very instructive conclusions. Courtesy The … [Read more...]
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