A hydrogen ramp-up is going to be expensive and asset-heavy. So, a whole-system analysis is needed to ensure its deployment is done cost-effectively today and meets long term goals. This is what all nations committing to hydrogen are struggling with. Kelley Travers at MIT describes their modelling, in collaboration with Shell, that looks at the optimisation of hydrogen deployment in grids where variable renewables (VREs) like wind and solar are … [Read more...]
Ice for storage for intermittent renewables, then for cooling
Cooling accounts for around a fifth of total energy consumption in buildings. All those air conditioners and electric fans make up a tenth of all global electricity consumption. Demand will keep rising as developing nations get wealthier. Andrea Willige, writing for the World Economic Forum, looks at ice as a seemingly simple solution. Ice can be used as an energy store like a battery, to balance the grid. Create it when energy is cheap (at … [Read more...]
Energy-efficient and affordable housing will increase public support for the Green Deal
Energy poverty â the inability to afford basic household energy needs â affects up to one-third of U.S and European households. The energy transition can be part of the solution, says Clare Taylor. Targeted energy-efficient retrofits and newbuilds for low-income households will cut bills and improve living conditions. This will not only cut emissions, but get the beneficiaries behind wider climate change policies like the Green Deals in Europe … [Read more...]
Only Carbon Removal can make Germanyâs new climate goal a reality
Germany canât hit its emissions targets without significant carbon dioxide removal (CRD), explain Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at cr.hub. Clean energy and energy efficiency wonât do it alone. Policymakers have grasped that hard-to-abate sectors (industry, agriculture, buildings, transport) will struggle to deliver the reductions needed. Meanwhile, the climate disasters (floods, wildfires, etc.) that have cost lives this year are piling on … [Read more...]
EU âFit for 55â: how it impacts the EU ETS to accelerate emissions reductions
Christoph Kellermann, Lun Zhou and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool explain how the EUâs new âFit for 55â proposals, released in July, will impact the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), hailed as one of the most effective ways of reducing emissions. The authors cover the changes to the existing ETS, the planned new ETS for road transport and buildings, the controversial Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), and the new CO2 standards for … [Read more...]
Central and Eastern Europeâs buildings renovation plans fall far short of 55% emissions cuts
There are big decarbonisation gains to be had in a renovation wave in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) precisely because their building stock is very energy-inefficient, explains Christophe Jost at CEE Bankwatch. But Bankwatch's report on eight national plans - Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia â reveals weaknesses in scale, funding, strategy and policy. Many are planning to comply with only the former 40% … [Read more...]
‘Fit for 55’ should prioritise decarbonisation of laggards: buildings, transport, industry, agriculture
Todayâs long-awaited "Fit for 55" legislative package from the European Commission will trigger intense and difficult negotiations that will last two years, says Nicolas Berghmans at IDDRI. Its scope is wide and inevitably interconnected. The twelve legislative proposals include adjustments to existing measures (renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon market/EU ETS, energy taxation, climate effort sharing between Member States/ESR, land use … [Read more...]
UK: exposing the gap between ambitious climate laws and actual policies
Like many nations, the UK has big gaps between what is actually needed to reach net zero by 2050, what targets and ambitions have actually passed into law, and what policies are actually in place to comply with those laws. The UKâs climate watchdog, the Climate Change Committee (CCC), has issued two reports that measure the UKâs performance and makes recommendations, summarised here by Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief. The first report focuses on … [Read more...]
New rules for EU green bonds to raise âŹ350bn/yr, but no decision on nuclear and gas
The EU needs âŹ350bn/year from private investors to fill the Green Dealâs funding gap. The rules for the new green bonds that companies can issue to raise money are supposed to set a âgold standardâ, ensure thereâs no greenwashing, and make Europe the best place to invest your money sustainably. Benjamin Wehrmann at CLEW summarises the new strategy that was presented on 6th July, and has gathered reactions. Particular attention is paid to … [Read more...]
Buildings Retrofits: inaccurate efficiency ratings are going to waste budget
Buildings renovations are going to be expensive, and complicated to roll out. Accurately predicting how much energy a building actually wastes will make that process easier and cheaper. EPC ratings are used to categorise the energy efficiency of homes. But Freya Wise at The Open University quotes research in Europe, along with her own investigations in the UK, to show that a lot of older buildings waste less energy than the standard estimates are … [Read more...]
U.S. DoE: National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Energy-Efficient Buildings
Buildings account for more than 70% of U.S. electricity use and one-third of economy-wide CO2 emissions. Andrew Satchwell at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory presents the U.S. Department of Energyâs comprehensive plan, âA National Roadmap for Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildingsâ, that could deliver up to $200bn in savings to the U.S. power system and cut CO2 emissions by 80m tons per year by 2030 (6% of total power sector emissions). … [Read more...]
Does new German target mean Coal gone by 2029, Renewables 65% by 2030?
The stiffer emissions targets introduced this month to Germanyâs Climate Protection Law - CO2 emissions from the energy industry must fall to 108 Mt by 2030 instead of 175 â point to an even earlier coal phase-out date of 2029, with renewables generating 65% of electricity by 2030. The existing plan had meant coal must be gone by 2038. Michael ClauĂner, Carlos Perez-Linkenheil and Simon Göss at Energy Brainpool explain why, using their modelling … [Read more...]
Bidenâs Leaders Summit: turning climate commitments into solutions
President Biden's Leaders Summit on Climate last month helped focus minds on making firm commitments to reducing global emissions. As we all know, targets are one thing, credible and realistic solutions are another. To understand the challenge better, Dolf Gielen, Ricardo Gorini and Gayathri Prakash at IRENA break down into themes those areas that need much more effort and, if dealt with successfully, can get us to net zero by 2050: structural … [Read more...]
Why expensive Buildings Renovations? By the time theyâre done the grid will be emissions-free
The big budgets being talked about for the transition require us to decide how much to spend, and on what. Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas explains why he thinks a lot of the money being earmarked for buildings renovations would be better spent elsewhere. By the time the renovation wave has successfully âreached the shorelineâ in the next few decades buildings will be powered overwhelmingly by clean grids (thatâs the plan, … [Read more...]
European Commission should intensify political action in 2021 to align Renovation Wave with EU Climate Targets, BPIE says.
In its new analysis, BPIE (Buildings Performance Institute Europe) urges the European Commission to intensify political coordination and coherence in the implementation phase of the Renovation Wave strategy, to ensure full decarbonisation of the EU building stock in line with EU climate goals. … [Read more...]
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