Rooftop solar could supply the complete electricity needs of 5-35% of U.S. manufacturing sectors, explains Matthew Eckelman at Northeastern University who summarises his co-authored paper “Technical feasibility of powering U.S. manufacturing with rooftop solar PV”. At present, only 0.1% of industrial electricity demand in the U.S. is supplied by on-site sources of renewable energy. But large, unobstructed industrial rooftops and the declining … [Read more...]
“Book and Claim”: how end consumers can pay distant producers for low carbon products
In long logistical chains (found in steel, concrete, aviation, shipping and others) end consumers that want to pay a premium to cut their emissions (for example to comply with corporate decarbonisation promises) often have no way to pay the first link in that chain to go low-carbon. “Book and Claim” creates a market to do that. Consumers buy certificates, and producers get the money to fulfil the commitment. And a working system will bring to … [Read more...]
Germany to ramp up the decarbonisation of Buildings Heating from Jan 1st 2024. How?
Decarbonising heating is a major challenge for any country. Germany’s Building Energy Act (GEG) means that from 2024 every newly installed heating system, in new or existing buildings, must operate with a minimum of 65% renewable energy. Concerns over the costs to customers (installing new and expensive systems, or paying a penalty for fossil heating) has led to intense debates, hence the new law includes a range of subsidies, bonuses, discounted … [Read more...]
Can the U.S. export its Nuclear plants to Europe, starting with Poland?
The exclusion of Russia from Europe’s energy future opens a door for the U.S. to export its nuclear plants, explain Matt Bowen and Sagatom Saha at the Center on Global Energy Policy. That’s why, in April, the U.S. announced financing of up to $4bn to deploy U.S. small modular reactors (SMRs) in Poland. A successful deployment there could lead to the same in Romania, Slovakia, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Ukraine, all of which have coal plants … [Read more...]
Farming Algae for Carbon Capture: new research cuts “fouling.” Scale-up in 3 years?
Natural marine algae already account for 50% of global CO2 removal. Farming it at scale in artificial tanks or tubes would take up a fraction of the land footprint of terrestrial plants. And algae can grow up to 50 times more quickly than land-based plants. It could be a game-changer that brings carbon capture costs down and make it a commercial reality. Here, David Chandler at MIT explains how new research there can make farming algae much more … [Read more...]
Lookahead to 2024 27-nation EU Parliamentary elections: will ambitious climate policies win or lose votes?
In June next year Europeans from 27 nations will elect a new EU Parliament that will shape the bloc’s energy and climate policy in the years leading to the 2030 climate target deadline. It’s not clear whether rising prices, energy security and heatwaves will steer votes towards parties pushing for more rapid decarbonisation, or whether the cost and disruption of transition will do the exact opposite. At the last election in 2019 climate concerns … [Read more...]
How will China respond to the EU’s “40% made at home” clean energy tech ambition
The EU’s Net Zero Industry Act wants to drive home-grown production of eight “strategic” net-zero technologies, including solar, wind, batteries and CCS. The target is 40% made at home, though the policy is yet to be worked out. You Xiaoying writing for China Dialogue talks to experts in China and the EU for their predictions. Most say that Chinese firms are not very worried. Firstly, they can – and are already making moves to – set up production … [Read more...]
Decarbonising Shipping: “book and claim” pilot uses clean fuel tokens that move from cargo through to fuel producers
Switching to clean alternative fuels is the key component of the decarbonisation of shipping. But it faces the classic “chicken and egg” problem of who moves first: the fuel producers, the refuelling ports or their customers the ship and cargo owners. Aparajit Pandey and Oscar Hernandez at RMI explain how a “book and claim” system can be the answer. It’s already proven itself in electricity markets and the aviation sector. Digital tokens are … [Read more...]
Europe: preventing a “carbon wall” between the West and the ten Central and Eastern EU nations
Diana-Paula Gherasim at the IFRI Centre for Energy & Climate summarises her 36-page data-rich report on the progress and challenges for the ten Central and Eastern EU (CEECs) countries in decarbonisation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has focussed all minds on energy security and the best solutions: less fossils, efficiency gains and clean energy made in the EU. Gherasim says that vitally important progress is being made in avoiding a … [Read more...]
Electric Utilities: ESG investors should invest in, not avoid, the high-carbon emitters
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings point climate-conscious investors away from companies that are not decarbonising fast enough (or at all!). But surely they should be doing the exact opposite when it comes to climate-critical sectors like electric utilities, explain Tricia Holland, Ryan Foelske, Ella Warshauer, Jon Rea, Sarah LaMonaca and Uday Varadarajan at RMI. Of course, that presents a new challenge. The investor first needs … [Read more...]
Li-ion Grid Batteries aren’t always the best replacement for Gas Peakers
Gas peakers need to be replaced with something cleaner. Like grid batteries. But the question is “when”, says Maximilian Auffhammer at the Energy Institute at Haas. Summarising his co-authored paper, he explains that a review of 19 gas peakers in the U.S., replaced with Li-ion grid-scale batteries, reveals only 5 make economic and climate sense (i.e. a positive net present value after including monetised climate and human health impacts). … [Read more...]
IPCC AR6 report reveals a bigger impact at lower temperatures than previously predicted: health, crops, species loss +more
Published in March, the IPPC’s AR6 Synthesis Report on Climate Change updates its predictions of the effects of temperature rises. It starkly concludes that those temperature rises will have a bigger impact at lower temperatures than previously predicted. Charlotte Edmond, writing for the World Economic Forum, picks out five charts from the report to illustrate the point: the range of likely temperature rises; global map of change in temperature, … [Read more...]
Buildings “Energy Performance Certificates”: piloting new tools to ramp up renovations
In Europe, any building put up for sale or rent must have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). But as climate ambitions rise, so too must the those of the EPC. That's the purpose of the TIMEPAC consortium, funded by the EU’s Horizon programme, is working to extend its effectiveness and range of tools, explains Patricia Contreras Tejada writing for the European Science Communication Institute (ESCI). She quotes experts who point out that a low … [Read more...]
Germany: does the LNG infrastructure build-up deliver energy security or go too far?
A report out this month from the German government says it wants a significant “safety buffer” of new LNG import capacity, to ensure that the country - and neighbouring landlocked states - will receive sufficient supply of natural gas in the coming years. It says an overcapacity is needed in case of failures due to accidents, sabotage or other external factors not under German or EU control. Events have shown that unilateral dependencies in … [Read more...]
Direct capture of CO2 from seawater: new research cuts costs, ready for pilot in 2025
Direct capture of CO2 from the air is already established in pilot phase in sites around the world, but costs are very high. So it is puzzling that capturing CO2 direct from the sea is yet to be tested properly. After all, the concentration of CO2 in seawater is more than 100 times greater than in the air, pointing at a process that should be much more efficient. David Chandler at MIT looks at research there that has uncovered cheaper and more … [Read more...]