Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Some Carbon Commentary newsletter extracts:

1, Hydrogen from wind. The Dutch gas grid operator Gasunie and its consortium announced that French electrolyser manufacturer McPhy would make the equipment for what will be Europe’s largest installation at 20 megawatts on the Dutch coast. The hydrogen will be used in combination with CO2 from a nearby industrial process to make methanol, a substitute for gasoline. The consortium is considering adding another 40 MW of electrolyser capacity to make ‘green’ aviation fuel. The scale of electrolyser projects announced in NW Europe is increasing exponentially, with Gasunie also recently announcing a positive result for a feasibility study for a 100 MW electrolyser at an electricity substation in Germany. It is only two years ago that the world’s largest electrolyser contract was ITM’s 10 MW deal with Shell, a project due to be completed this year.


3, Getting shipping to zero. International shipping contributes about 2% of global CO2e but is not covered by most agreements on emissions reduction. A new study suggests that complete decarbonisation will cost about $1.8 trillion by 2050, or around $60 billion a year. This compares to today’s fuel bill of about $100bn per annum. Over 85% of the decarbonisation cost arises from shore infrastructure, including renewable energy generation and hydrogen storage. Although the move to zero-carbon shipping is difficult and expensive, the visibility of international vessels and their need to dock in large ports to unload cargoes means that a worldwide agreement on a carbon tax on shipping could be highly effective and much easier to implement than, say, a carbon tax on steel. Polluting ships would be obliged to pay the tax based on their size and route taken before discharging their cargoes. This could be used to fund the transition.

4, Reversible fuel cells. Bosch spent £9m/$12m, acquiring an extra 4% stake in Ceres Power, the veteran UK manufacturer of small scale fuel cells. (Hydrogen or methane to electricity). It also invested large sums in buying existing shares and paying for Ceres products to be delivered to it this year. Bosch says it wants to commercialise the 10 kW units for use in individual buildings. Much speculation about whether a more important rationale for the deal is the potential ability of a Ceres fuel cell to reverse direction and generate hydrogen from power. A reversible fuel cell that can also function as an electrolyser, combined with hydrogen storage, will provide highly valuable services in matching electricity supply and demand. (Chemical engineers I have spoken to suggest that reversible equipment may be subject to much more rapid degradation, a major problem for the past generation of solid oxide fuel cells such as those of Ceres). Ceres shares are up 100% in the last two months, another example of the very rapid shift in investor sentiment towards cleantech.

5, BP reorientation. The New York Times reported that the incoming CEO of BP has decided to increase the company’s carbon commitments. His reduction goals will include the emissions from the combustion of the oil and gas that BP has sold, not just the footprint of the company’s own operations. He is slated to give a speech on this on February 12th. Investor pressure may force him to move towards the full decarbonisation commitments of Spain’s Repsol.

6, Forests. The UK government’s advisers, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) recommended increasing the share of the country’s land devoted to woodland from 13% today to 17% by 2050. This target would still leave the UK as about half as forested as other large European countries. The principal reason for the lack of UK woodland is the subsidy for grazing sheep (about £1bn/$1.3bn) on land which would otherwise revert to forest. The CCC avoids any mention of this. The Committee also looks for a mild 20% reduction in meat eating rather than the 50% plus recommended by public health experts. Even if its proposals are implemented, land use still remains a net generator of emissions, a conflict with net zero ambitions for the UK. A more radical solution, pushed by me in What We Need To Do Now, is to move the UK up to 30% forestry, using a carbon dividend as the financing source. Alongside this, a $100 carbon tax might add 50% to the retail price of some beef and lamb to reflect the heavy footprint.


8, Green hydrogen on sale. A Canadian company offers green hydrogen from a plant that is yet to be constructed at a price of US £2.67 per kilogramme. This compares to about $1.50 for hydrogen from natural gas. The new plant, planned to be finished in 2022, will generate hydrogen from biomass gasification. (Heating wood in the absence of oxygen results in hydrogen and carbon monoxide, plus residual solid carbon and other products).

9, Climate change and agriculture. Torres, the leading Spanish wine producer, has started buying large areas of land in many areas around the world seen today as utterly unsuitable for growing grapes. This includes prospective vineyards in southern Patagonia in Chile, where summer temperatures today are probably at least 2 degrees below the minimum required for decent wine. Torres has planted a trial plot of Chardonnay, Riesling and Pinot Noir alongside its 5,000 hectare forestry carbon offset project in Patagonia, expecting to get good harvests within 50 years as rising temperatures and drought make some of its existing vineyards unviable. It takes a family company to make investments as long term as this. (Disclosure: I have received fees from Torres).

Martyn1981

RE, the gift that keeps on giving, a cleaner World, cheaper energy and more jobs ..... win, win, win.

UK must create 120,000 green energy jobs by 2030 to meet targets

The UK must recruit more than 100,000 people to fill green energy roles within a decade if the government hopes to meet its binding climate targets, National Grid has warned.

A report by the company found that Britain needs to fill 120,000 roles in the green energy industry by 2030 to help develop projects that can cut greenhouse gas emissions to near zero. That number is likely to reach 400,000 by 2050, when the government expects to have developed a clean energy system based on renewable electricity, green heating systems and electric vehicles.

The growing need for new recruits to power the UK’s climate targets is expected to emerge as Britain faces a green energy jobs crunch over the next 10 years.

Martyn1981

Folk may be fully up on this, but here's an article on the UK Climate Assembly.

'Chuffed to be chosen': participants attend first UK climate assembly

Sir David Attenborough thanked the 110 people gathered in Birmingham for giving up their time

On the 16th floor of Birmingham’s Park Regis hotel, glass walls provide sweeping views of the city skyline, along with a long backlog of cars on the motorway outside – but transport is just one of many issues the 110 people gathered here will have to grapple with as they decide how the UK should respond to the climate crisis.

People travelled from all over the country for the first meeting of the UK climate assembly on Saturday. Over four weekends they will discuss a range of issues with experts and decide on a set of recommendations for how the government can reach its target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

It seems Greta isn't the only 17yr we should be listening to (instead of a small minority of angry old men).

At just 17, Max from Hertfordshire was one of the youngest members of the assembly, and he was optimistic over the impact it could have: “If this whole thing ends up making a big difference, and the government really does listen, it means we’ll be leading a new movement internationally, and we need to be the leaders of a better tomorrow.”

Martyn1981

I started to post this on the Solar News thread, but then wondered if it is perhaps less about PV, and more about government support / policies to drive change forward and fast, rather than get dragged along slowly behind the curve?

Solar to be removed from new Taylor Wimpey housing development

The development in Welwyn Garden City is for thirty residential units with rooftop solar PV, the application was approved in 2018 and development began in May of 2019.

However, the development is required to achieve a 10% carbon reduction, and Taylor Wimpey said in the application that it can achieve this through a fabric first approach that does not require solar.

It has therefore requested that the condition of having solar on the houses be removed, with the council now accepting comments on the request until 29 January.

This comes as the UK government plans on introducing its Future Homes Standard to improve building standards. It is currently consulting on the policy, with two options outlined, one to deliver a 20% reduction in carbon emissions through “very high” fabric standards. The other option, which is preferred, would deliver a 31% reduction based on both better fabric standards and carbon-saving technology such as solar PV.

However, last year the Solar Trade Association (STA) found that 51% of local authorities have higher building standards than the national requirements and 17% have ‘leading’ policies in terms of ambition, scope and integration of renewables.

Martyn1981

Greenwashing, shaming, marketing tactics, shareholder pressure etc etc or honest green aims, I've no idea, but a wins a win.

Tech giants power record surge in renewable energy sales

The world’s biggest tech companies fuelled a record surge in the amount of renewable energy sold directly to global corporations last year, according to new figures.

The amount of clean energy from renewable energy developers bought by companies has tripled in the past two years, driven by a growing corporate appetite for sustainable energy.

Tech giants including Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft have emerged as the biggest buyers of renewable energy to help power their data centres.

The so-called power purchase agreements (PPAs) are likely to have cost between $20bn and $30bn (£15bn to £23bn), making up about 10% of the world’s total renewable energy investments in 2019.

The market for PPAs has grown rapidly in North America, where most such purchases are made, but a growing number of deals were struck in Europe and Latin America.

Kyle Harrison, the lead author of the report, said: “The clean energy portfolios of some of the largest corporate buyers rival those of the world’s biggest utilities. These companies are facing mounting pressure from investors to decarbonise.”

Martyn1981

Lot of RE potential:

15GW of UK clean power 'awaiting construction'

The pipeline of clean power and energy storage projects in the UK, exclusive of Northern Ireland, which are ‘awaiting construction’ stands at 15GW, according to new analysis.

Latest figures from the Renewable Energy Planning Database show that the total capacity of clean power and storage projects across England, Scotland and Wales that have yet to be built stands at 24.7GW.

Analysing the pipeline, Cornwall Insight has found that just over 15GW of this capacity are classed as ‘awaiting construction’.
Cornwall Insight analyst Lucy Dolton said: “There is little surprise that so much of the total pipeline is awaiting construction – due to the underlying political uncertainty coupled with the lack of available support schemes, dampening investors’ confidence.

GreatApe

Martyn1981 wrote: »

RE, the gift that keeps on giving, a cleaner World, cheaper energy and more jobs ..... win, win, win.

UK must create 120,000 green energy jobs by 2030 to meet targets

You can't have cheap and more jobs at the same time what are you going to pay those 'more jobs' with

Renewables have more jobs because of higher prices
Which of course means less money by the consumer buying the electricity so less spent elsewhere so less jobs elsewhere in the economy

Martyn1981

Great revue and summary of the 'biggest' five climate myths here from Undecided, a very good site.

Climate change - top 5 myths

I think it's absolutely worth a watch, but a quick run through:

1 - Climate science undecided. The 1991-2011 science paper revue on climate reports is famous for finding a 97% figure for AGW, and 3% suggesting a myriad of other reasons. Interestingly, it turns out that after review the 3% all contains faults, so 100% scientific consensus. Not good news for those still trying to argue the point.

Also Frank Luntz who was the main Republican who promoted scientific uncertainty has now changed his story, recently stating to Congress "I'm here before you to say that I was wrong in 2001 .... just stop using something I wrote 18yrs ago, because it's not accurate today."

2. CO2 is good for crops - As I've said many times in response to the denial posts back in the Summer defending this, the result is a drop in nutrition values.

3. Climate change and renewable energy is a scam - strange this one is still 'holding on' given that RE is starting to undercut energy costs.

4. Not us, China is the problem - But they are deploying more RE than anyone else.

5. PV consumes more energy in production than they will generate, plus 'all that toxic waste' - Not sure this even needs debunking.

pile-o-stone

Good summary Mart, though the war is won - only idiots and trolls push that nonsense now.

andrewf75

GreatApe wrote: »

Like it or not the productivity and health benefits of modern life and fossil fuels is vastly net positive. The people who suffer are those without enough fossil fuel infrastructure.

That may be true, fossil fuels have played their part in our success, but we have to keep evolving to maintain that success. Now that the threats of fossil fuel use are very clear, we have to change in order to maintain progress.