What proportion of trucks today could go electric? That’s the question Emily Porter at RMI has asked for California and New York. The answer is 65% of medium-duty trucks and 49% of heavy-duty trucks. Those are very encouragingly high numbers. RMI’s definition of “electrifiable” is if they travel fewer than 300 miles between trips to their home bases. The study gathered real data on how freight trucks are driven today. Clearly, a large number of … [Read more...]
New research ranks the 12 best ways to cut car use in cities
Behaviour change is as an important part of our transition journey as the clean energy revolution. Kimberly Nicholas at Lund University summarises research that has gathered together nearly 800 peer-reviewed reports and case studies from across Europe that analyse ways of reducing car use. One main challenge is to quantify the benefits so policy-makers and citizens can make evidence-based decisions on how to re-imagine city mobility. Nicholas … [Read more...]
Rotterdam’s World Hydrogen 2022 Summit & Exhibition: 3,000+ attendees, 120+ businesses, 9-11 May
The World Hydrogen 2022 Summit & Exhibition will open its doors to over 3,500 industry professionals on 9-11 May in Rotterdam where more than 120 leading hydrogen companies will be showcasing their technologies, applications and solutions at the city’s largest arena, the Rotterdam Ahoy. The anticipated meeting is the first large-scale hydrogen-focused event to take place following the pandemic in Rotterdam, a city recognised for its advances … [Read more...]
How could Germany wind down Russian oil imports by the end of 2022
Berlin has said that, though difficult, it could become independent of Russian oil imports by the end of 2022, with a target of halving them by the middle of the year. Kerstine Appunn at Clean Energy Wire compiles information on the practical challenges for Germany’s oil infrastructure, refineries and security of supply. Germany is serviced by three pipeline systems for the west, the east and the south of the country. But they are not connected … [Read more...]
Aviation policy alert: non-CO2 emissions have up to four times the climate impact
There’s little point designing CO2 policies without knowing what other factors are heating up the atmosphere. So it is with aviation. The non-CO2 emissions (aromatics, NOx, SO2, H2O, particulate matter, etc.) from jet engines have up to four times the effect of CO2. You can see it in the contrail cirrus streaks trailing behind aircraft. Carlos LĂłpez de la Osa at Transport & Environment summarises their recent summit that brought together … [Read more...]
Lower driving speeds + more: behaviour change can make up for 2.7m barrels/day loss of Russian oil imports
Russia normally exports 5m barrels of oil a day. Sanctions may now see Ukraine-supporting nations refuse to buy 3m of them. Can those nations cut their consumption by the same amount, immediately, and stop shortages and further price rises? Yes, says Lucas Davis at the Haas School of Business. Following the Russia-Ukraine crisis, the IEA has released a report “A 10-Point Plan to Cut Oil Use”, with ten ideas for immediate actions in advanced … [Read more...]
Event summary: “Unlocking the potential of Bioenergy”
Sara Stefanini provides a written summary of our panel discussion held on Thursday March 17th 2022. It’s a full summary of the 90 minute discussion (including audience questions), but it begins conveniently with a summary of the highlights (potential for bioenergy, hard-to-abate sectors, sustainability, policy needs). Those highlights include the need to scale bioenergy up from around 50 EJ today to 150 EJ by 2050; the importance of carbon … [Read more...]
Biomethane for decarbonising transport: the Swedish example
Biomethane has a critical role to play in the decarbonisation of transport, particularly long-distance trucks and ships, where electrification is more difficult and expensive. Angela Sainz Arnau at the European Biogas Association explains that biomethane represents one of the lowest greenhouse gas intensive pathways when the whole emissions lifecycle is measured. However, when nations implement bans on internal combustion engines to cut the use … [Read more...]
Germany’s electrification ambitions: TSOs scenario for 91% Renewables by 2045
The German TSOs submitted in January scenarios for their grid to 2037, making projections for increasing electrification. In addition, and for the first time, they included an ambitious and long term scenario to 2045. By pure chance, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Germany’s response – to consider a reduction in its serious dependence on Russian energy imports – should make eyes turn sharply towards that 2045 scenario. Simon Göss at cr.hub, … [Read more...]
Research into slowing lithium degradation can extend Battery life by 30%
The massive scale-up of batteries is essential to a successful transition. That will be made much easier if the lifetime of existing lithium batteries is greatly extended. With each charge-discharge cycle, the batteries accumulate tiny islands of inactive lithium that are cut off from the electrodes, decreasing the battery’s capacity to store charge. Jennifer Huber at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory explains how new research is showing a … [Read more...]
Critical Raw Materials for the energy transition: Europe must start mining again
A ramp up of the supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) is essential for the world’s energy transition. Wind and solar, batteries, digitalisation, transport and hydrogen cannot meet their targets without it. The EU defines 30 minerals as critical. To give one example, the global deficits in lithium supplies could surge more than 60-fold to 950,000 tons by 2030. Frank Umbach at EUCERS takes a thorough look at the issue. Europe represented just 5% … [Read more...]
E-fuels for cars are expensive, and pollute the air as much as petrol
MEPs and governments are currently deciding on an EC proposal for all new cars sold from 2035 to be 100% zero-emissions. Here, T&E present test results that show e-fuels should not be allowed to replace petrol. T&E are concerned that e-fuels are being promoted as a way to prolong the life of ICE vehicles. But their tests show that e-fuels produce just as much NOx, three times more carbon monoxide, and twice as much ammonia. Though e-fuels … [Read more...]
The 10 big problems with simply replacing fossil cars with electric
The planned rapid transition to electric vehicles has major challenges. Schalk Cloete compiles them into a list of ten, including: preserving our car-centric cities preserves its inefficiencies and societal costs; it works against much of the personal “behaviour change” we need; though BEVs (battery electric vehicles) are better in cities, when infrastructure costs are included they are less efficient than hybrids and modern ICEs for many driving … [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 year’s 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...]
Vehicle charge zones: too high, and driver detours can increase emissions
Vehicle congestion charge zones are a way of taxing drivers for the emissions they create. They have great potential to steer polluters towards shorter and/or fewer journeys, and towards cleaner fuels. But it's full potential that has gone mostly untapped. Most “cordon zones” found in big cities like London, Stockholm, Milan and Singapore keep the rules very simple. Journey length is rarely, if ever, taken into account. Importantly, no one is … [Read more...]
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