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...]
Bioenergy carbon capture: Climate snake oil or 1.5C panacea?
Most models for meeting 1.5℃ or 2℃ climate change targets suggest we will be using bioenergy carbon capture and sequestration (BECCS) to mop up the world’s total annual CO2 emissions by around 2070 (for 2℃). This means moving from today’s three BECCS power plants to 16,000 by 2060. But, explains Paul Behrens of Leiden University, large-scale BECCS is a “monumentally tricky idea,” and, while aiming to fix climate disruption, it makes many things … [Read more...]
Why we can’t reverse climate change with negative emissions technologies
The United Nation’s panel on climate change said that technologies to remove CO2 will be necessary to limit global temperature rise to only 1.5oC. But these techniques are largely unproven, and the technical, economic and environmental barriers of negative emissions technologies (NETs) are very real, states Howard J. Herzog, Senior Research Engineer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leading expert in CO2 capture and storage. … [Read more...]
DNV GL’s Energy Transition Outlook shows massive shift of investment from oil and gas into power lines
The global energy transition will lead to a massive expansion of power lines at all voltage levels as well as a steep growth in the number of transformers and substations in the electricity system. This is one of the major new findings of the second edition of the Energy Transition Outlook, the annual flagship publication of global technical consultancy DNV GL. As a result, grid costs will triple, yet this cost explosion is offset by cost … [Read more...]
Decarbonising heavy industry can’t be done without large-scale CCS effort
The decarbonisation will require a profound transformation, writes David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell. Shell’s Sky climate scenario shows it can't be done without large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS). A new initiative should boost progress on CCS. … [Read more...]
The plethora of better alternatives to wind and solar power and electric cars
Technology neutrality can activate more than ten times greater sustainable development potential than current technology-forcing policies, writes independent researcher Schalk Cloete. In the second part of a series which follows an article about the dangers of technology-forcing of wind and solar power and battery electric vehicles, Cloete reviews eight alternative sustainable development solutions that he believes have greater climate mitigation … [Read more...]
EU policy must wake up to carbon dioxide removal
Most scenarios to meet the Paris Agreement’s targets require negative emissions technologies. However, carbon dioxide removal is not part of the EU’s climate policy yet. Its integration presents a serious challenge to the EU’s 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...]
The dangers of green technology-forcing
Current technology-forcing policies imply that wind and solar power, combined with battery electric vehicles, represent our only viable energy future, observes independent researcher Schalk Cloete. Given the fundamental limitations of these technologies, this is a very dangerous notion, he argues. A shift to technology-neutral policies is needed, especially in developing nations. … [Read more...]
How Shell’s new Sky scenario achieves net zero emissions
In Shell's recently published Sky climate scenario, the energy system reaches net zero emissions by 2070 using several technologies that are at an early stage. David Hone, Chief Climate Change Advisor at Shell, explains how this would work and why Shell regards this scenario as plausible. Courtesy David Hone’s Shell Climate Change blog … [Read more...]
Poland’s love affair with coal: can the EU do anything about it?
The Polish government’s strong commitment to coal goes against EU policy direction and against market conditions, write Anna Mikulska of the Baker Institute’s Center for Energy Studies and Eryk Kosinski of Adam Mickiewicz University. But coal has a special place in the nation’s 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...]
Shell’s new SKY scenario shows how to meet the goals of the Paris agreement
Shell has launched a new scenario that illustrates a "technically possible but challenging pathway" for society to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate change. The Sky outlook sees a rapid energy transition taking place over 50 years reaching net-zero emissions in the energy system by 2070. Courtesy David Hone’s Shell Climate Change blog. … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 7
- Next Page »
Recent Comments