Energy Post has had another strong year in terms of number of debates hosted, readership growth and event attendance. Our readership has grown by 17.16% year on year. We hosted 14 panel discussions (including 3 for ECECP with an average of 20 panellists from all corners of the globe). Together we've reached hundreds of thousands with our event packages. Our thanks to all our authors. Now, with all those parties cancelled due to Covid you have … [Read more...]
COP26 and the Glasgow Pact: a summary of achievements, and shortfalls
Experts from around the world summarise their reaction to the outcomes of this yearâs UN climate summit, COP26, including the Glasgow Climate Pact agreed by all 197 countries attending the talks. Each expert covers their area of interest: overall targets, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel finance, nature conservation, transportation, cities and buildings, energy sector transitions, science and innovation, and gender equality. The overall … [Read more...]
Coal phase-out by 21 nations only accounts for 3.2% of global power. What about the others?
The 21 nations committed to coal phase-out only account for 3.2% of global electricity generation. Three - Belgium, Austria and Sweden â have already done so. The rest hope to by different dates, ranging to 2040. Asia is where the main problem is, and their transition challenges are well known: growing economies, and energy security. Carlos FernĂĄndez Alvarez at the IEA spells out their recommendations, and references case studies in Canada, the … [Read more...]
IEA WEO 2021 message to COP26: 40% of clean energy goals will cut costs
The IEAâs latest World Energy Outlook was published on Wednesday. This yearâs WEO-2021 is released earlier than usual to inform COP26 and, for the first time, is available for free to ensure the widest possible audience. Simon Evans at Carbon Brief offers his summary of the 386-page report, quoting relevant numbers and charts. He first points to the new scenario, Net-Zero Emissions by 2050 (NZE), as the IEAâs recognition that this is what … [Read more...]
New cooling system for inverters brings electric Heavy-Duty Trucks closer
39% of greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector comes from heavy-duty trucks. Commercial batteries struggle to deliver enough power to make electrification feasible for heavy-duty applications. Rebecca Martineau at NREL explains how a working prototype, developed with the heavy machinery manufacturer John Deere, is now getting a 378% increase in power density. The key to the innovations rests on a state-of-the-art thermal management … [Read more...]
Ice for storage for intermittent renewables, then for cooling
Cooling accounts for around a fifth of total energy consumption in buildings. All those air conditioners and electric fans make up a tenth of all global electricity consumption. Demand will keep rising as developing nations get wealthier. Andrea Willige, writing for the World Economic Forum, looks at ice as a seemingly simple solution. Ice can be used as an energy store like a battery, to balance the grid. Create it when energy is cheap (at … [Read more...]
Nanochemistry breakthrough could lift energy density of batteries by factor six
Finding new ways for batteries to increase the charge they can store will lift their energy density. Researchers at Stanford University have developed an alkali metal-chlorine battery that stores six times the charge of todayâs commercially available lithium-ion batteries. Until this breakthrough, a high-performance rechargeable sodium-chlorine or lithium-chlorine battery has been impractical because chlorine is too reactive to convert back to an … [Read more...]
Nuclear Fusion: U.S. and China race to build worldâs first commercial plant
Both the U.S. and China are investing in nuclear fusion, and expecting results. Fusionâs unresolved engineering challenges (getting more power out than you have to put in) must be overcome first. If achieved, it offers the prospect of an almost inexhaustible source of energy. As Dan Yurman explains, this month the U.S. passed a bill that includes $2.8bn for fusion energy-related projects and research. The U.S. Fusion Industry Association said … [Read more...]
Can Aluminium-air batteries outperform Li-ion for EVs?
Aluminium-air (Al-air) batteries for cars are an innovative technology that automakers and policy-makers should take a close look at, say Helena Uhde and Veronika SpurnĂĄ at ECECP. Although a battery, they behave more like an engine: the fuel is the aluminium which reacts with the air via an electrolyte to produce electric power. Al-air has big advantages over a lithium-ion battery, the favoured choice for EVs. It has a travel range similar to … [Read more...]
Wind, Solar: continuing cost declines will help meet rising renewables targets
The ECâs âFit for 55â proposals include the raising of the EUâs 2030 target for total energy produced from renewable sources to 40%. Much of the rest of the world will likely raise its targets at some point too. Continuing to cut the cost of renewable energy generation will be essential to make that happen, and take pressure off all the other associated costs of supporting its integration into the energy system. Michael Taylor at IRENA summarises … [Read more...]
‘Fit for 55’ should prioritise decarbonisation of laggards: buildings, transport, industry, agriculture
Todayâs long-awaited "Fit for 55" legislative package from the European Commission will trigger intense and difficult negotiations that will last two years, says Nicolas Berghmans at IDDRI. Its scope is wide and inevitably interconnected. The twelve legislative proposals include adjustments to existing measures (renewable energy, energy efficiency, carbon market/EU ETS, energy taxation, climate effort sharing between Member States/ESR, land use … [Read more...]
Cement: replacing limestone with volcanic rock could slash energy use, and emissions by two-thirds
Cement production accounts for 8% of global emissions, and it will rise as nations get richer and build more. Itâs mainly because of the energy needed for the high heat process, and the carbon released from the limestone used. Itâs one of the leading hard-to-abate sectors, and coming up with an alternative process and cement recipe is firmly on the industryâs agenda. Josie Garthwaite at Stanford University summarises a study that aims to replace … [Read more...]
Convolutional neural networks: facial recognition AI applied to analysis and design of Advanced Nuclear Reactors
Scientists are looking for new ways to predict how materials survive high temperatures, pressures and corrosion levels, and design new materials that can do so. Temperatures can reach 800 Celsius in parts of solar energy plants and advanced nuclear reactors. Dave Bukey at the Argonne National Laboratory looks at research that uses convolutional neural networks â a type of AI â to uncover patterns in huge data sets. The method is over 2,000 faster … [Read more...]
What patents tell us: which countries, what sectors, are the clean energy innovators?
Todayâs solutions cannot give us a successful transition on their own. Thatâs why the innovations coming down the pipeline are so important. One way to measure what, and who, is innovating is to look at the number of patents being filed for low carbon energy (LCE), explains Sean Fleming writing for the World Economic Forum. He summarises the latest report from the European Patent Office and the IEA, âPatents and the energy transition: Global … [Read more...]
Clean Hydrogen from water electrolysis: research into catalysts to meet global targets
The full potential of the new hydrogen economy will depend on producing enough clean hydrogen from water electrolysis which uses precious metals. But, as Glennda Chui at SLAC (Stanford University & DoE) explains, there arenât enough precious metals in the world to get to the scale we need. And their cost is so high the clean hydrogen they generate could never compete with hydrogen derived from fossil fuels. Over 95% of hydrogen produced today … [Read more...]
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