Europe needs its own battery recycling industry, and the EU’s European Battery Alliance should make it happen, says RaphaĂ«l Danino-Perraud writing for the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate. For economic, strategic and environmental reasons, today’s overwhelming dependence on outsourcing – in this case to Asia - for battery manufacture and recycling needs to change. To start with, Asia provides over 90% of global car battery output, half coming … [Read more...]
China’s 2019 electricity generation reviewed as its next 5-year plan is drafted
Simon Göss breaks down the totals and additions for electricity generation in China. In 2019 the total reached 7,325 TWh (more than twice Europe’s) after adding 330 TWh (more than half Germany’s total). Of that 330 TWh, 120 TWh came from thermal (90%+ coal). But the numbers were dominated by renewables (hydro, wind, solar) which added almost 160 TWh. Though that’s the third year of declining renewables additions, wind and solar curtailment is … [Read more...]
Coronavirus: economic stimulus plans open a door for clean energy
We’re facing an unexpected global economic slump thanks to the coronavirus sweeping across the world. In response, governments everywhere are tabling stimulus packages to get us through what is a temporary but severe drop in economic activity. That stimulus could be used, as it usually is, to get us back on the same path. But it should be used to steer us further and faster onto the new path of clean energy, says Fatih Birol, Executive Director … [Read more...]
UK’s COP26 Presidency will be the first big test of its post-Brexit diplomatic skills
November’s COP26 will arguably be the most important since the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. By then, all signatory nations are required to submit their new and improved nationally determined contributions (NDCs) that set a credible pathway towards reducing their emissions. So far only the Marshall Islands, Suriname, and Norway have done so. Lucien Chabason and Lola Vallejo at IDDRI ask whether the UK teams behind their new COP26 President, … [Read more...]
Nuclear in 2020: a global look ahead at policy, financing, politics, by country
Dan Yurman presents his worldwide review of nuclear’s prospects. 19 nations are covered. He explains while some countries are planning to scale down nuclear, like South Korea and France, some are increasing investment, like China. Others remain stuck over policy, pricing, financing and politics (e.g. Japan, the U.S.). Exporters of plants, led by Russia, are making moves – not always easily - in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. R&D … [Read more...]
Predicting global air conditioning demand, by nation
Predicting future energy demand is difficult, more so when you must account for the choices made by individual households spread all across the globe. Air conditioning is a case in point. To tackle this, Lucas Davis led a team at the Haas School of Business to quantify each nation’s need for air conditioning, and rank them (219 countries and 1,692 cities). To get a nation’s “total CDD exposure” they, in essence, worked out their average cooling … [Read more...]
The coalition for an EU-ETS carbon price floor is reaching critical mass
The EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) is bound to play a major role for ratcheting up climate policies in both the EU and its member states. After a prolonged period of low prices that questioned the ETS’s viability, the recent price run upwards in the wake of a major reform has sparked confidence that from now on “everything goes in the right direction”. But this confidence is misguided and ignores major risks for the scheme, argue Michael … [Read more...]
Better grid integration beats coal plant ramping to reduce wind, solar curtailment
Wind and solar curtailment is worst where these renewables are poorly integrated into the grid. The further their energy can reach the more regions they can service, thus minimising curtailment. If they don’t reach far, local coal plants must ramp down - but only if they’ve been retrofitted to be able to do so. It’s a problem faced by many countries: spend money on the retrofits or the integration? Writing for the Regulatory Assistance Project … [Read more...]
EVs should be getting cheaper. Instead they’re getting bigger
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...]
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