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...]
Behaviour Change: strategies and case studies for reaching net-zero by 2050
Technological solutions on their own are unlikely to deliver emissions reductions at the speed and scale required to reach net zero by 2050. Daniel Crow, Insa Handschuch, Gabriel Saive and Leonie Staas at the IEA look at a suite of policy-driven citizen “behaviour changes” that should be used to bridge the gap. The impact will be greatest in advanced economies where energy intensity is highest. Meanwhile, in emerging economies the good habits put … [Read more...]
Will Wind & Solar confront its 10 challenges? If not, we need Nuclear, CCS, and more
Wind and solar’s impressive cost declines have seen its welcome and rapid emergence. But currently they account for a mere 2–4% of global energy. So these variable renewable energy sources (VREs) must now address 10 big challenges if they are to dominate the energy sector, explains Schalk Cloete in this data-led review. Their cost declines will be confronted and even cancelled by new costs they’ve not yet faced during their low-hanging-fruit … [Read more...]
How much Carbon Capture will Germany need? Both nature-based and technological
Yet more studies have been published that show Germany needs carbon removal to meet its emissions targets. Simon Göss and Hendrik Schuldt at cr.hub add two, from the German Energy Agency and the Ariadne report (funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research), to those that already exist to shine more light on a carbon capture pathway. The main observation is that nature-based solutions (LULUCF: land use, land use change and forestry) … [Read more...]
Concern over auto job losses as Europe transitions to EVs
The state premier of Lower Saxony, home of Volkswagen, says he would not tolerate a large-scale reduction in staff at Germany’s largest carmaker. There is talk of axing 30,000 VW jobs nationwide, though messages have been mixed. Benjamin Wehrmann and Sören Amelang at Clean Energy Wire look at the latest news, then summarise the implications of the EV transition for the auto industry across Europe. Highlights include the observation that a Tesla … [Read more...]
Green hydrogen-based fuels pivotal in decarbonising Shipping by 2050
The international shipping sector’s emission levels are comparable to Germany’s. Like aviation and heavy transport, reaching net-zero will need renewable fuels – direct electrification won’t be sufficient. Existing fossil fuel engines allow for biofuel blends of up to 20% without any modifications, and 100% methanol engines are a proven technology. Making sufficient quantities of clean fuels - without consuming food crops – is the challenge. … [Read more...]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- …
- 24
- Next Page »
![](https://energypost.eu/wp-content/themes/dynamik-gen/images/content-filler.png)