The Biden administration has reintroduced Trump’s tariffs on e-bikes from China. That’s 25% tariffs on imported e-bikes and bike components made in China. An additional 25% tariff on Chinese-made battery packs used by e-bikes comes into effect in 2026. Nearly 100% of bicycles sold in the U.S. are manufactured abroad, with the vast majority coming from China. It’s all part of the U.S. policy to counteract unfair subsidies in China and develop … [Read more...]
EU ETS: what happens when rising Carbon Prices start to hurt low income groups?
The main purpose of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) is to put a price on emissions and generate revenues from companies buying allowances for creating those emissions. Right now energy, manufacturing and aviation are covered. From 2027, maritime transport will be added to the existing EU ETS, while buildings and road transport will be regulated in the upcoming ETS2. From then, nearly 80% of total EU emissions will be under the ETS and … [Read more...]
Analysis of Clean Technology Manufacturing around the world: solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
For every nation, clean technology manufacturing can bring economic security, employment, and resilience to clean energy transitions, says the IEA. The sector is now so significant that it’s also impacting overall GDP performance: in 2023, clean technology manufacturing alone accounted for around 4% of global GDP growth and nearly 10% of global investment growth. Here, the IEA summarises its first-of-its-kind “Energy Technology Perspectives … [Read more...]
10% of global GDP growth came from the new Clean Energy economy in 2023
The clean energy economy is making its mark on global GDP, explain Laura Cozzi, Timur GĂĽl, Thomas Spencer and Peter Levi at the IEA. It accounted for 10% of global GDP growth in 2023, primarily through three activities: manufacturing of clean energy technologies, deployment of clean power capacity, and clean equipment sales. Here, the authors present the in-depth results for four of the largest economies: the U.S, the EU, China and India, which … [Read more...]
Electrochemical Carbon Capture: a cheaper one-step process, power by clean energy
Carbon capture is expensive. Hence continuous attempts in laboratories around the world to find new ways to capture CO2 that are simpler and cheaper. One problem with the traditional method is that it is a two-step process, and energy intensive (therefore powered by high-heat fossil fuels). Jennifer Chu at MIT describes a new electrochemical method that separates out CO2 in a single step, and it’s powered by clean energy. It’s particularly … [Read more...]
U.S. Inflation Reduction Act: one year on, a summary of impressive progress in the energy transition
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act has been described as unprecedented in its ambition for the nation’s energy transition. One year on from the passing of the bill in August 2022, Hannah Perkins and Adam Aston at RMI describe the progress on implementation as unprecedented too. The authors break their review down into categories: clean tech manufacturing, electrifying transport, greening buildings, decarbonising electricity, transforming industry, … [Read more...]
Rooftop Solar for industry: up to 35% of U.S. manufacturing sectors could supply all their own power
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...]
Draft EU rules on Battery lifecycle decarbonisation: close the loopholes!
Draft rules mean battery manufacturers selling into Europe will have to report the product’s entire carbon footprint, from mining to production to recycling, as early as July 2024. That data will then be used to set a maximum CO2 limit for batteries to apply from the end of 2027. This is a big step forward, says T&E, addressing concerns over battery carbon footprint and recycling, and it also covers environment and human rights. But T&E … [Read more...]
IEA report: global manufacturing capacity is expanding rapidly for solar, wind, batteries, electrolysers, heat pumps
The IEA summarises its special briefing, “The State of Clean Technology Manufacturing.” It’s a global update on recent progress in key regions, focussing on five technologies – solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers and heat pumps – critical to the energy transition. It should be read to keep decision makers informed of investment trends and the impact of industrial strategies. Overall, manufacturing capacity for these technologies is expanding … [Read more...]
Turning Ethanol production’s CO2 by-product into E-Fuels using Wind power
With vast open spaces, Midwest states in the U.S. produce millions of gallons of ethanol from corn as well as thousands of kilowatt-hours of electricity from wind farms every year. Research led by NREL is working on using wind power to drive electrolysers that turn the ethanol’s CO2 by-product into e-fuels, explains Erik Ringle at NREL. A typical 50 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant releases 14 tons of CO2, a natural by-product of … [Read more...]
Europe vs U.S: incentivising battery manufacture to take the global lead from China
Europe is already well placed to end its reliance on Chinese Li-ion battery cells by 2027, according to a study by Transport & Environment (T&E). The new analysis of battery-makers’ announcements points at Europe producing enough Li-ion cells to fully meet domestic demand for EVs and energy storage in four years’ time. T&E also forecasts that essential elements of the supply chain can substantially shift from China into Europe, like … [Read more...]
What’s stopping even bigger Wind Turbines? Blade speed and flexing? More likely manufacturing and installation capacity
Bigger wind turbines make cheaper energy. The sector’s unexpectedly rapid successes in designing and building bigger and bigger turbines has been one of the major success stories of the clean energy sector. In 2023, the biggest turbines in the world will start generating electricity off the coast of the UK. Each of General Electric’s Haliade X turbines stands 260m high from sea level and can generate 13MW at under ÂŁ50/MWh (€56/$61). But how big … [Read more...]
Corporate targets are forcing suppliers to cut emissions or relocate to clean energy nations
Emissions targets being imposed by corporates in the U.S. and Europe are forcing manufacturers in other parts of the world to decarbonise, writes Kwangyin Liu at Clean Energy Wire. Here, she looks at how Taiwan’s TSMC – the world’s third largest chip manufacturer – is having to set up factories in Arizona (U.S.) and Kumamoto (Japan) where emissions are lower and thus to comply with requirements set by customers like Apple, Google and Microsoft. … [Read more...]
China tariffs: Biden’s plan to unblock domestic Solar manufacturing
The U.S. solar industry has been caught up in the wider tariff disputes with China, a key exporter of solar panels and components. The Solar Energy Industries Association estimates hundreds of projects have been cancelled or delayed, totalling more than 50GW (that’s over twice the total US solar installations of 2021), putting 100,000 jobs at risk (almost half the solar workforce). John Rogers at UCS explains what the Biden administration is … [Read more...]
Clean transport in Europe: key trends to watch out for
T&E’s quarterly trends series gives a snapshot of the key developments that will define the future of clean transport in Europe. And what Europe does – given it wants to lead this field – should influence what happens worldwide. T&E’s Thomas Earl brings attention to four issues. First, proven progress in this major sector makes it a contender for a significant role in Europe’s new industrial strategy. It ranges from battery and … [Read more...]
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