Despite much debate, governments are hesitant to raise â or even impose â carbon pricing, worried about the direct impact it will have on businesses and consumers.To help understand its effect Severin Borenstein at the Energy Institute at Haas has crunched the numbers of a $50/tonne CO2 price, very expensive by todayâs standards. Heâs calculated the actual price increases on a gallon of petrol/gasoline, gas- and coal-fired generation, and natural … [Read more...]
Private finance must invest in carbon asset retirement, not just clean energy
The Climate Finance Leadership Initiative (CFLI) is laying out concrete plans for the private sector to finance the low-carbon transition, say Tyeler Matsuo and Lucy Kessler of Rocky Mountain Institute. One important insight of their new report âFinancing the Low-Carbon Futureâ is that itâs not enough to back clean energy. Climate finance also needs to accelerate the retirement and transformation of the carbon assets that are responsible for 78% … [Read more...]
UN climate summit: which nations are leading, which failing
Ahead of the UN climate summit in New York on September 23rd, where countries are expected to set themselves more ambitious targets and roadmaps than they did in Paris in 2015, Bill Hare of Climate Analytics looks at the emissions league table. There are some surprises at the top: Ethiopia, Morocco and India, though he points out being at the top can still be a long way from doing enough to meet the 1.5â goal. At the bottom are Australia, the … [Read more...]
UK fracking earthquakes: why the worldâs âtoughestâ safety rules failed to predict them
In August this year Lancashire experienced the largest fracking-induced earthquake recorded in the UK. Fracking was suspended. Legislators discussed a complete ban. As a result, serious questions are being asked about the effectiveness of the safety regulations, given the operating company, Cuadrilla, predicted there was a âlow-likelihoodâ of such events occurring. And given the UKâs âtraffic light systemâ (TLS) is the most stringent TLS in the … [Read more...]
Lightweight Gasoline Cars: a necessary 30-year stop gap?
We should all be driving electric vehicles. But we have to wait for renewable electric grid capacity to support them all, charging points everywhere, and enough new batteries to be manufactured and put in all the new, affordable BEVs. And weâre running out of time. An interim solution has come from a study by MIT and Ford. David Chandler, writing for MIT, explains the study, which says that an interim solution â for certain regions - is … [Read more...]
BP Review of 2018: record CO2, energy use as gas outstrips wind & solar
Energy use grew at 2.9% in 2018, the largest rise since 2010. Itâs what happens when economies grow. But gas, oil and coal's contribution to that growth saw global CO2 emissions rise by 2% in 2018, the largest year-on-year increase in seven years. Wind and solar growth, driven by China though slowing in the US, EU, and India, achieved its second fastest rate on record - but still lagged behind gas additions. These are not the trends we need to … [Read more...]
$400bn in global fossil fuel consumption subsidies, twice that for renewables
At over $400bn in 2018, global fossil fuel consumption subsidies are more than double those for renewables. That makes sense while governments worldwide use energy subsidies to help poor consumers, and clean energy still makes up a smaller proportion of the global energy mix. But it makes the transition harder: cheaper fossil energy means more is consumed, and itâll take longer for clean energy to compete it away. The IEAâs WEO Energy Analysts … [Read more...]
New gas-to-methanol technology OxE could end oil well âflaringâ
Oil wells also release natural gas. But itâs burnt off on site whenever the economics of collecting and piping it donât add up (gas canât use the existing petroleum infrastructure). What if it could be converted into methanol, says Nichole Liebov at the University of Virginia. She describes a new process called oxyesterification (OxE) that converts methane (the main constituent of natural gas) into methanol cost effectively at low temperatures … [Read more...]
IEA: Global energy investment stabilises at $1.8tn after 3 years of decline
Three consecutive years of declining global energy investment has ended. But itâs not risen, just stabilised at $1.8tn, according to the IEAâs latest report World Energy Investment 2019. To meet the Paris targets investment in efficiency needs to rise substantially, and double by 2030 for renewables: they have stalled for both. To meet soaring global energy demand oil and gas investments need to rise too. That demand is seeing cheap coal still … [Read more...]
UK oil & gas keeps rising. Clean Energy blueprint can reverse it
In the UK the ÂŁ2.3bn (=$2.9bn / âŹ2.6bn) in new oil and gas subsidies introduced since 2014 will state-fund the addition of twice as much carbon as its coal phaseout saves, says a new report âSea Change: Climate Emergency, Jobs and Managing the Phase-out of UK Oil and Gas Extractionâ. Can the UK call itself a climate leader if its existing policies push it over its emissions limits? It can, if you consider this: the UK took 16 years to become the … [Read more...]
Carbon Capture: Can CO2-EOR really provide carbon-negative oil?
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) injects CO2 into oil reservoirs, increasing the pressure and forcing the oil out. 20% of global oil production uses EOR. But if that CO2 doesnât stay underground it hasnât been captured. If it was itself extracted from natural underground CO2, there is no benefit â or worse. Ideally, it should come from already captured CO2. But most oil wells are nowhere near a CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage) facility: in the … [Read more...]
A grassroots fightback against Trump and U.S. Oil & Gas is underway
As the 116th Congress commences, in the wake of dire reports from climate scientists, the debate over U.S. climate policies has taken a welcome turn towards bold solutions. Capitol Hill is alive once again with policy proposals that edge towards the scale required to address the crisis weâre in. A new study by Kelly Trout of Oil Change International, along with 17 partner organisations, makes it clear that managing a rapid and equitable decline … [Read more...]
Low oil price alongside rise in renewables sees Oil & Gas slide to bottom of S&P 500
In December we reported that in 2018, the U.S. became the world's leading oil producer for the first time since the 1970s. It is tipped to produce 12 million barrels of oil per day this year (up approximately 10% year on year), and over two-thirds of it will come from shale producers. But the consequent squeeze on the oil price meant U.S. Oil & Gas firms ended the second year in a row at the bottom of the stock market. IEEFAâs director of … [Read more...]
The Saudi Dilemma: To Cut Or Not To CutÂ
Following November's G20 meeting in Buenos Aires and the ensuing OPEC meeting earlier this month, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is still left scratching its head. 90% of the Kingdom's income comes from Oil. As US shale keeps piling on the pressure, some argue they have enough in the bank to fund higher production levels and even lower prices for another 10-years. But their Vision 2030 initiative, to radically diversify their economy, also requires … [Read more...]
IEA: Future is electric and increasingly renewable
"The IEA is no longer the conservative bastion of oil it once was" writes Fereidoon Sioshansi. Distilling all 650 pages of their latest Outlook, he summarises how the pressing need to address climate change means the dwindling supremacy of oil is giving way to a growing role for electricity that will, amongst other things, cater for 1 billion EVs by 2040. Courtesy EEnergy Informer … [Read more...]
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