We need to understand carbon capture, storage and utilisation (CCUS) better. To do so, this article looks at 10 methods and estimates how much CO2 each will take out of the atmosphere by 2050, and the cost per tonne. In their list the authors, Ella Adlen and Cameron Hepburn at the University of Oxford, cover the industrial (e.g. CO2-EOR, synfuels) to the biological (e.g. forestry, soil carbon sequestration). They say there are six that can be … [Read more...]
An independent Global Energy Forecast to 2050 (part 4 of 5): Nuclear, biomass and CCS
Schalk Cloete is creating his own 5-part independent Global Energy Forecast to 2050, to compare with the next IEA World Energy Outlook, due in November. To make his predictions he has created simulations of cost-optimal technology mixes and made his own assumptions over the drivers that will affect them: policy, technological progress, demand growth and behavioural change are all included. If nuclear, biomass and CCS take off they will … [Read more...]
DNV-GL: energy’s shrinking share of growing global GDP shows how we can afford Transition
At the current rate of progress higher energy efficiency, more renewables, and carbon capture will not be enough to keep the global temperature rise to well below 2°C. So to point the way, DNV-GL has condensed its Energy Transition Outlook 2019 into 10 ways technology can meet the COP21 targets. This article gives figures on how much solar and wind we really need, battery production, annual investment in grids, and energy efficiency. It further … [Read more...]
Extract CO2 from our air, use it to create synthetic fuels
Carbon Capture needs to take off, but nobody knows how it’s going to happen. We need innovation, scrutinised, tested and funded. Jim Conca looks at a method of extracting CO2 directly from the air that’s being pioneered by Carbon Engineering in Canada, backed by private investors and government agencies. It grew out of academic work at the University of Calgary and Carnegie Mellon University. It’s “Direct Air Capture” system can remove a ton of … [Read more...]
Can other technologies replicate Solar PV price reductions?
Catherine Wolfram at the Haas School of Business reviews the new book “How Solar Energy Became Cheap” by Greg Nemet. It traces Solar PV’s history from Bell Labs in 1954 through to the present. The phenomenal price drops mean today’s cost/kWh is 1,000 times lower than in the 1970s. The analysis is split into four epochs when output was dominated by US, Japanese, then German and finally Chinese production. How much were improvements thanks to sheer … [Read more...]
An independent Global Energy Forecast to 2050, to compare with the IEA’s WEO 2019
Schalk Cloete is creating his own Global Energy Forecast to 2050. He wants to see how his own independent analysis will match up with the next IEA World Energy Outlook, due in November. And so do we. Rich with data, his major predictions include a global policy shift from technology-forcing to technology-neutrality shortly before 2030, driven by growing worldwide acceptance of the severity of climate change. The exhaustion of the 1.5°C and, … [Read more...]
Why coordinated Dutch-German climate action is critical for Europe
Both the Netherlands and Germany are about to propose major new national climate measures. If the proposals become law, they will enforce some of the most stringent national targets for GHG reductions in the world. It’s why, on 22 August, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will host a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her ‘climate cabinet’. Coordinated Dutch-German climate action can make these neighbouring countries role models for … [Read more...]
China’s coal needs Carbon Capture. Can U.S. knowledge help?
To limit global warming to 1.5°C, carbon capture and storage (CCS) plays a crucial role. We still live in a world where coal (mainly in developing countries) and gas (almost everywhere) continues to power growing economies. But the pipeline of new large-scale CCS facilities is nowhere close to what we need: around a hundred new units every year between 2020 and 2040, according to the Global CCS Institute. A report by the IFRI Centre for Energy … [Read more...]
A cheap Carbon Capture breakthrough? MOF molecular cages that trap CO2
Carbon Capture is the Transition’s great unknown. Big targets have been set but nobody knows how we’re going to meet them. It's clear we need utility-scale breakthroughs, and fast. And cheap. We take a look at one example of cutting edge research that could deliver both. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC Laboratory and Stanford University have taken the first images of CO2 molecules captured within a highly porous nanoparticle … [Read more...]
Time for tech-neutral incentives if renewables growth won’t stop climate change?
In 2018 energy use grew 2.9% and emissions 2%. That means renewables are not keeping up with energy’s growth: it will need a four-fold increase in wind and solar’s growth to do so, says Schalk Cloete. There’s more: to cut global CO2 emissions by the 3% per year we need to meet the Paris goals wind and solar growth rates must increase by over an order of magnitude. He reviews the evidence and concludes that current technology-forcing policies – … [Read more...]
IEEFA: IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario is not enough
The IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario (SDS) – if it’s followed - sees the world limiting the temperature rise to below 2°C. Even if we stick to the plan the SDS gives us only a 50% chance of success. Tim Buckley at IEEFA says those odds are not good enough. Worse, the SDS depends on carbon capture and storage (CCS) achieving commercialisation at scale by 2030. The author explains why he thinks that’s unrealistic, and calls for the IEA to … [Read more...]
Renewable hydrogen “already cost competitive”, says new research
Jocelyn Timperley at Carbon Brief has interviewed the lead author, and the critics, of this new report titled “Economics of converting renewable power to hydrogen”. The research says renewable hydrogen is already proving competitive for niche, high-intensity users in Germany and Texas. Future technological improvements, combined with expected changes to subsidies and CCS requirements, can make it so for large-scale industrial users in the next 10 … [Read more...]
The compelling case for carbon capture and storage
By 2040 60% of primary energy will still come from fossil fuels, says the IEA. That means Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) must be part of the technology mix to hold back climate change. Yet today there are only 18 CCS facilities in operation, with 25 in the pipeline. We’ll need at least 2,000 by 2040. Brad Page, CEO of the Global CCS Institute, lays out the reasons why we have no time to lose. The World Economic Forum’s meeting in Davos … [Read more...]
Investment risk: nuclear high, new load-following fossil fuel plants low
In the current policy environment many energy technologies can appear attractive with the right set of assumptions: discounted clean energy technologies (wind, solar and nuclear) where the discount rate is heavily influenced by risk (see graph) and, perhaps surprisingly, new load-following fossil fuel plants (especially natural gas) where continued wind/solar technology forcing actually provides substantial upside potential. CCS researcher Schalk … [Read more...]
Aligning the IEA Sustainable Development Scenario to Paris goals
As part of its World Energy Outlook 2018 report, on 13 November the International Energy Agency will publish its latest Sustainable Development Scenario that it claims shows governments and companies how to reach Paris’ climate change goals. To date, it’s fallen short – perhaps because it thinks the goals are too difficult to achieve, says Greg Muttitt of Oil Change International, which is calling on the agency to start showing how those goals … [Read more...]
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