Manufacturing an EV is getting cheaper, but affluent consumers are buying bigger cars for the same money. If manufacturers are left to serve them first, they’ll leave until last the development of cheaper EVs, penetrating new markets, that would more rapidly accelerate the replacement of fossil fuel cars and therefore the transition. That leaves policy makers with a big problem with the “success” of EVs, explain Leonardo Paoli and Simon Bennett … [Read more...]
Offshore Wind: a new source of clean energy for Asia?
Offshore wind is seeing the same dramatic cost reductions as solar and onshore wind. Though still more expensive, it’s heading towards $60/MWh parity with them across Europe. The U.S., China and Taiwan are also experiencing impressive drops. It’s why global capacity nearly doubled in three years from 12GW in December 2015 to 23GW by the end of 2018. IEEFA’s briefing note “Offshore Wind Ready to Be Key Part of Energy Mix Globally – Top European … [Read more...]
The rapid liberalisation of China’s domestic gas market
China’s coal-to-gas ambitions are driving big changes to its internal gas markets, says a report “China’s Quest for Blue Skies: The Astonishing Transformation of the Domestic Gas Market” by the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate, authored by Sylvie Cornot-Gandolphe. To cope with a doubling of gas demand by 2030, market reforms are liberalising the downstream gas market. Nobody wants a repeat of the winter shortages of 2017-18. And air … [Read more...]
$7.87tn: the global green economy, by region, revenue, jobs, productivity
Economic data on the green economy in many countries can be difficult to come by. But it’s vitally important when convincing taxpayers that the investment is creating real turnover and real jobs. So Lucien Georgeson and Mark Maslin at UCL analysed massive databases to estimate global and country-by-country sales revenue and employment figures across 24 economic sub-sectors covering renewable energy, environmental protection, and low carbon goods … [Read more...]
Hydrogen Fuel Cell trucks can decarbonise heavy transport
Patrick Molloy at Rocky Mountain Institute runs through the pros and cons of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs). The big pluses are that hydrogen has an energy density of around 120 MJ/kg, almost three times more than diesel or gasoline. Half the energy generated by an internal combustion engine is wasted as heat, whereas electric drivetrains used by FCEVs only lose 10%. Nikola Motors, a U.S. maker of hydrogen trucks, claims its vehicles can get … [Read more...]
Non-energy firms lead investments in clean energy start-ups
Investments in innovative “blue sky” companies tell us where the bets are being placed on the energy sector’s future. Such investments leaped in 2016, mostly directed at clean energy technology. This analysis by Simon Bennett at the IEA usefully includes a long list of firms and their investments. Digital sensors, batteries, electric vehicles and smart algorithms are among the main recipients this year. Other fascinating categories include … [Read more...]
China’s quest for gas security is reshaping the global LNG market
In just two years, China has become the world’s top gas importer and should soon become the largest importer of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). But that growing import dependency, domestic winter supply concerns, and the trade war with the U.S. means the Chinese government is reinforcing its gas supply policy, says a report "China’s Quest for Gas Supply Security: The Global Implications" by the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate, authored by … [Read more...]
China’s Solar Paradox: why invest today when prices keep dropping?
Josh Gabbatiss at Carbon Brief reviews a paper published in Nature Energy, showing how grid parity is already achievable today, subsidy-free, across all China’s 344 biggest cities. Consequently, China is already reducing solar subsidies and realigning policy to de-emphasise scale and re-focus on quality. So far, so good. But China now joins those developed nations where cheaper solar has thrown up another problem: why spend now when it’ll be … [Read more...]
Peak coal on the horizon: a country-by-country review
Though the global coal fleet still increased by 17GW in the first half of 2019, net of retirements, the pipeline is definitely shrinking. Two thirds of proposed projects never even get started. Notably, in China existing coal plants have been running, on average, only 50% of the time since 2015, evidence of a large excess of capacity. But is it enough? The IPCC’s pathway to 1.5C requires unabated coal power generation to fall by 55-70% by 2030 … [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...]
Developing world urbanisation: a great opportunity for smartgrids, buildings efficiency
Rapid urbanisation in the developing world means millions of new buildings are going up. Now is the time to make sure they are energy efficient from the start, avoiding the major “rich world” headache of retrofitting. Given most of the developing world exists in hotter climates, cooling – unchecked - could account for as much as 40% of final electricity demand in some countries by 2050. To keep a cap on that, efficient buildings and air … [Read more...]
GDP – Gross Environmental Damage = actual wealth creation
We all know that GDP measures everything that’s been paid for, both the good and the bad. There have already been studies that try to account for the “bad” GDP that costs us in the long run and so adds less value than stated. Catherine Wolfram, at the Haas School of Business, takes a thoughtful look at Gross Environmental Damage which separates out the kind of GDP that we’re going to have to spend money cleaning up in the future. The GED concept … [Read more...]
EU to help China fulfil its global climate obligations, and in return…
Last month’s launch of the EU China Energy Cooperation Platform (ECECP) should serve as great encouragement for EU energy firms looking to participate in the developing Chinese energy system. Up until now it’s been possible but challenging as firms have not been competing on a level-playing field. But that is set to change as a whole raft of factors mean the time is ripe for meaningful cooperation between the world’s two leading energy … [Read more...]
EU gas market: what China’s tariffs on US LNG could mean for Europe
Natural gas provides for around 25% of all energy consumed in the EU and is an established, if controversial, feature of the EU’s Roadmap to 2050. Furthermore, the majority of EU gas is imported and increasingly so. Combining those two factors, price and security of supply are the main issues for EU member states. So the rise of the LNG market, diversifying supply and introducing competition, alongside traditional, piped gas should be a welcome … [Read more...]
China’s industry: Deep decarbonisation progress and challenges
Across the world, industry is regarded as a hard-to-decarbonise sector, and an emissions priority. In China it’s responsible for over 65% of its energy consumption and 70% of carbon emissions. Ji Chen and Shuyi Li of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) look at the highlights of China’s efforts, and reference them against the RMI’s Reinventing Fire: China analysis. Efficiency, electrification, CCUS, hydrogen and “recycle and reuse” all play an … [Read more...]
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