How do we accelerate innovation across all technologies? Simon Bennett at the IEA breaks down the task into “small unit” and “large unit” challenges. The first is easier and moves faster. Thanks to their small size and unit cost, heat pumps, EVs and solar panels benefit from mass production, mass deployment (100,000 to 100m units/year globally) and large customer markets with fierce competition. They can also easily leverage other fast-evolving … [Read more...]
Hydrogen’s future: reducing costs, finding markets
Although 100Mt/year of hydrogen is produced globally and at scale, it’s overwhelmingly for the chemical industry. So there’s a long way to go for it to play a role in the energy transition. It’s not even clear whether hydrogen will be best used directly as a power source or through further conversion into other powerfuels. That's why Dolf Gielen and Emanuele Taibi at IRENA are scoping out the challenges of reducing production costs and finding … [Read more...]
UK rail: where are the electric-diesel hybrids, hydrogen, battery trains?
Cars and planes get much more attention than trains when it comes to emissions. That makes sense when, in the UK, transport accounts for 26% of all carbon emissions but only 1% of this comes from trains. Also, trains are already relatively emission-low: they release 0.046kg of CO₂/km/passenger while a diesel car is more than double that. Marcus Mayers and David Bamford at Manchester Metropolitan University explain that the crucial difference is … [Read more...]
Hydrogen electrolysis: cheap, abundant Cobalt Phosphide can replace Platinum
Platinum and iridium are the preferred catalysts for producing hydrogen through electrolysis at scale. But they are expensive and rare, offering serious bottlenecks in hydrogen’s plans to replace gas worldwide. Now researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have shown for the first time that cobalt phosphide can do the same job in the harsh environment of a commercial device: high … [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...]
Shipping: commercially viable zero emission deep sea vessels by 2030
Last year the International Maritime Organization, recognising the slow progress the sector had made, set ambitious targets to reduce shipping emissions by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. Companies started lining up to face the challenge. But the shipping sector is very energy intensive. Bunker fuel costs can account for 24 - 41% of total shipping costs, so any clean fuel transition must be competitively priced. The fact that alternatives … [Read more...]
An independent Global Energy Forecast to 2050 (part 2 of 5): wind and solar
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. Many of his assumptions are different from the big institutions, not least that technology-neutrality will be widely adopted as the best policy, as carbon budgets are exhausted around 2030. There are other big differences too. He starts with wind and solar, two technologies that the IEA and … [Read more...]
U.S. nuclear plants to produce carbon-free hydrogen
Nuclear is under severe price pressure from renewables now, as well as gas.But rather than throw the decades of investment and knowledge away, the U.S. Department of Energy is launching three first-of-a-kind projects designed to improve the long-term economic competitiveness of the nuclear power industry. Three commercial electric utilities and Idaho National Laboratory have been chosen to adapt plants to make hydrogen by electrolysis, 100% … [Read more...]
“Hard-to-abate” sectors need Hydrogen. But only 4% is “green”
40% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from “hard-to-abate” industry sectors like industrial processing and transport. Electrification won’t be enough. They also need hydrogen, argue Patrick Molloy and Leeann Baronett at Rocky Mountain Institute. Hydrogen production is already well established and growing. But it’s mainly for the chemical industry, which never meant it to be “green”: sure enough, only 4% of current hydrogen production is … [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 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...]
The Clean Hydrogen revolution: how, by whom, when?
Hydrogen rivals oil and gas for storage and hard-to-decarbonise sectors (industry, heavy and long distance transport). But it isn’t all carbon free. “Grey” hydrogen – the cheapest at €1.50/kilo - is made from gas. “Blue” hydrogen depends on the fortunes of carbon capture technology. “Green” hydrogen is CO2 free, but needs further cost reductions in the green electricity used in the electrolysis process. Noé van Hulst, at the Netherland’s Ministry … [Read more...]
50% Hydrogen for Europe: a manifesto
Electricity has well known limitations, mainly for bulk and long-range transport, industrial processes requiring high temperature heat, and the chemicals industry. To entirely replace fossil fuels we need hydrogen, say Frank Wouters and Prof. Dr. Ad van Wijk. It has an energy density comparable to hydrocarbons. There's more: Europe’s electric grid can’t cope with 100% electrification, yet hydrogen would use the existing gas pipe networks. The … [Read more...]
Hydrogen round-up: “fuel cells will replace diesel engines within 10 years”
As the focus moves from decarbonising the electricity sector to embrace transportation and heating, slowly but surely, hydrogen is starting to play a more important role. The gas has a number of advantages over electricity, including its flexibility and the fact that it can provide energy storage for long periods of time, unlike electricity. It can use the existing gas network if it is used for heating, and it is more appropriate than electricity … [Read more...]
New “Gas for Climate” scenarios: can green gas and hydrogen save gas pipelines?
Gas has a key role to play in decarbonising the energy sector. Until a comprehensive clean energy network can accommodate variable renewables using storage, baseload power will be needed. Natural gas is a lower carbon option than coal, so there is a strong case for it to be the first-choice bridging fuel towards a net-zero energy economy. However, exactly how much gas, what type of gas and how existing infrastructure can store energy in the form … [Read more...]
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