Green, ethical, energy issues in the news

Martyn1981

Detailed article here explaining the necessary works and costs for decarbonizing and growing the UK grid. Well worth a read, with good visuals.

TLDR - Looks like the full decarbonization approach leads to lower bills than a partial approach by ~2044. So good news for the children/grandchildren …. on top of the environmental gains. And faster decarbonization will also reduce the cost impacts of energy shocks, such as the invasion of Ukraine, and the war in Iran.

Mapped: the £150bn megaproject that aims to protect Britain from energy shocks

Martyn1981

Carbon Commentary newsletter from Chris Goodall. Once again, apologies for formatting if I've not fully cleaned it up.

Item 2 seems interesting as a way to deal with plastic waste if it is economical. Item 9 for free solar panels, and a funny (not funny) apology in item 10.

1, Sodium ion batteries in cars.

The cost advantages of sodium ion batteries, and their ability to work at ultra-low temperatures, mean that some manufacturers are pushing to use them in EVs. However the energy density is only about two thirds of a good lithium ion battery. One route forward may be use sodium ion for low voltage applications, such as powering the cars internal electric circuits for infotainment, lighting and signalling, while retaining Li batteries for most or all of the requirements for motion. Chinese manufacture BAIC said it would incorporate sodium ion for the auxiliary power in its Arcfox vehicles in 2027. Industry sources suggest that we may see EVs use around 10 kWh of sodium ion in vehicles that employ a total of about 60 kWh of batteries. This will also help the vehicles start in
extremely cold weather.

2, Conversion of plastics into hydrogen.

A new study shows how mixtures of the three main plastics, polyethylene, PET and polypropylene, can be used to make hydrogen in a relatively simple chemical operation. More than 75% of the carbon dioxide is captured in the process and turned into sodium carbonate, which can then be easily converted to calcium carbonate (limestone) for permanent storage. The chemical reactions happen at much lower temperatures than current alternatives meaning that energy requirements may be lower. No pre-sorting of the plastic waste is required. This route to hydrogen manufacture and CO2 capture may be a key step in reducing the global warming impact of plastics. (Thank you to Scott Bishop).

3, Fewer negative price hours in European electricity markets.

I expected that the unprecedentedly high levels of sunshine across much of Western Europe over the last months would have meant increased numbers of hours with negative wholesale electricity prices.
Surprisingly, that has not been the case. Voltcast reports a fall of over 27% in below zero prices this year compared to 2025. Although some southern European countries saw increases in negative price hours, the numbers fell sharply in northern countries. In some cases, such as Denmark, they fell by more than a half. Grids must be getting better at dealing with abundant electricity. Growing numbers of batteries help store surpluses. (Thank you to Troels Johannesen)

4, Growth in European EV sales.

The sale of pure EVs in France grew to a 38% share in August, double the level of a year ago. This is the highest percentage ever recorded in a top five European country. EV sales rose to 32% in Germany, also almost twice the percentage of August 2025. Performance varies sharply from country to country as government subsidies change but overall European EV sales were up 36% year-on-year. China and the US saw falls, meaning that global sales were down slightly.

5, The growing impact of clothing production on global emissions.

The Apparel Impact Initiative (AII) reports that industry emissions rose by over 6% in 2024. ‘Business as usual’ projections from AII suggest a further 27% rise by 2030 as textile volumes continue to increase. The causes of this growth, says AII, include the continued emphasis by the industry on ultra-fast fashion. It adds that ‘Brand buying practices do not incentivize long-term thinking and investment by manufacturers’.
The advertising from major retailers and manufacturers that stresses their ecological credentials remains largely dishonest as polyester volumes continue to increase. Selling fewer, better clothes is the only immediate route to the stabilisation of emissions.

6, Making Sustainable Aviation Fuel from renewables and industrial CO2 (eSAF).

Cement plants are potentially large sources of the CO2 needed for making aviation kerosene. Leading producer Holcim said it had found a prospective customer for the 100,000 tonne output from the eSAF plant to be built next to its Toledo cement works close to Madrid. This would cover about 1.5% of total Spanish aviation fuel demand when the plant has scaled to full production in about 2035.
Holcim says that about 700,000 tonnes of CO2 will be captured each year, of which half will be used for eSAF and the rest will be injected underground. But using industry CO2 combined with renewable hydrogen for aviation fuel doesn’t fully decarbonise cement production, it just delays the time at which the carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere.

7, Hydrogen in Germany.

The growth in hydrogen use is still slow as costs stay high and end-uses remain unclear. But Germany continues to take important steps towards building H2 into the industrial economy. Utility RWE announced that it had finished installed a small (30 MW) hydrogen turbine at a key power station in north west Germany. The turbine can run on 100% hydrogen, 100% natural gas or any combination in between. The percentage of hydrogen can be varied rapidly. Further south, construction began of a hydrogen pipeline running between the French border and a steel works about 17 kilometres into Germany. This will be part of a longer pipeline network intended to link French hydrogen production sites with industries in the Saarland.

8, Using electric bus depots for grid stabilisation.

First Bus, a large UK bus operator, said it would install 172 charging outlets at its depot in Glasgow. The decision comes after a smaller trial over the summer. The new chargers will adjust their rate of charge dependent on the availability and price of electricity. The depot became a participant in the UK’s national electricity market earlier in the year, making it possible to generate revenue by responding to requests to immediately use more or less electricity by altering the rate of bus charging. With its substantial wind resources, which have to be frequently curtailed because a lack of transmission capacity into England, Scotland needs large amounts of flexible demand.

9, Innovations in agrivoltaics.

Increasing aridity and higher temperatures will increase the rate of installation of ‘agrivoltaics’ that combine solar PV with food production. Summer temperatures under PV are lower and soil moisture loss is slowed. The PV cover also improves working conditions, an increasingly important consideration. One announcement this week had interesting characteristics. A 2 hectare blueberry farm in Switzerland is now covered with partly transparent solar panels.
Trackers precisely align the PV to the sun’s rays, meaning that the output of electricity will be far greater than a standard farm, justifying the $3.5m cost before subsidies for just 0.75 MW of capacity. The solar energy captured by the panels varies in order to ensure that enough photosynthetic light still gets through to the
plants. Strikingly, a Swiss renewable electricity company has paid the entire bill in return for all the electricity production. To the farmer, the advantage is better protection for his crops after a recent history of catastrophic yields. He noted that temperatures under the panels were now sometimes to 5 to 6 degrees lower than outside and that he had used 30% less water than would have been expected.

10, What communication strategies should be used to encourage climate action?

A new studyshowed that human beings are most likely to engage in climate mitigation if told of a moral duty or reminded of ‘the awe and beauty of nature’.
Pictorial representations are more influential than words. Using rational ‘scientific evidence and fact-based messaging’ doesn’t really work. Whereas the evidence suggests that ‘emotions play a central role… in driving climate action’.(So I’m not sure this newsletter meets any of the key requirements to encourage get us to work harder on mitigation. Apologies).

Screwdriva

Things are looking pretty bleak for next year's energy price cap. The gasp from the crowd says it all. Martin breaks the news here

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82142319#Comment_82142319

No surprise when you look at natural gas prices which have doubled in the last 3 months, and are three times higher than where they were leading into last winter.

UK natural gas prices

I recently jumped onto Octopus' Cosy Fixed tariff to lock in sensible rates for the winter, given high heat pump usage Dec-Feb. The current cheap rate Cosy fix is 14.88p/kWh, which will drop to ~14.2p/kWh once the VAT is removed in October. This is less than we were paying last winter, which seems like a no-brainer given natural gas prices are three times higher.

I jumped early, and have maybe lost a little solar revenue from leaving Flux because I was concerned Octopus may actually withdraw or suspend the tariff. They did not hesitate to suspend Flux and IOF earlier this year when they clearly became uneconomical, so given the uncertainty I was happy to lock in those prices now for winter. The Cosy Fixed tariff also has no exit fee, so in the unlikely event the variable (non-fixed) Cosy tariff (currently 13.08p/kWh) remains cheaper in Jan, I can always switch to that for Jan/Feb at no cost. The Cosy fixed is currently around 13.75% more than the current variable rate, with predicted 3.6% and 24% price rises to come in Oct & Jan, respectively.

debitcardmayhem

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82142799#Comment_82142799

Not so sure that the 24% is going to be on leccy though I could be wrong, the leccy could be less unless the wind goes on holiday.

NedS

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82143161#Comment_82143161

Yeah, I appreciate that 24% figure is for the ofgem energy price cap and that gas prices may be more adversely affected than electricity prices. My post jumps from talking about price per kWh to the estimated 24% increase, implying that increase would apply to electricity prices which as you say is not necessarily the case.

However, the reality is that natural gas prices are 2-3 times higher than they were last winter, and that the price of gas significantly contributes towards the cost of electricity, so it is reasonable to assume we will be paying more for electricity this winter than last. Hence I'm happy to have fixed at a price similar to last year, and have the VAT reduction to come.

silverwhistle

We are using decreasing percentages of gas all the time as wind and solar increase their share, so although it still has a 'significant' contribution the impacts of high prices are lessening.

The other thing to bear in mind is that your supplier doesn't control the price and as they are risk adverse and need to meet their customer's demands so their fixes have to reflect that. They'll have done some hedging, obviously, but in my situation I'm prepared to take some of the risk by being on Agile, and have benefited by doing so.

Effectively I'm in the market to a small degree and not entirely a price taker, although it does take a bit of effort and I wouldn't recommend it to everybody. I'm also on Tracker for gas, although that's more an academic thing at the moment to see what's happening in the market, and to scare me into getting a move on to my heat pump install..

NedS

@silverwhistle wrote:

We are using decreasing percentages of gas all the time as wind and solar increase their share, so although it still has a 'significant' contribution the impacts of high prices are lessening.

Yes, one of the benefits of CfD and preceding schemes is that a lot of renewable generation is locked in at a fixed price (rising with inflation). This has the effect of smoothing out a lot of the extreme fluctuations in gas prices. This is of benefit to consumers as gas prices soar but equally will hinder when gas prices fall like they did during Covid lockdown in the summer of 2020. Electricity is never going to be cheap in the UK, but at least we have some inbuilt protection if things get substantially worse in the current conflicts (I don't hold out much hope Iran will agree to a deal to open the Striates of Hormuz as long as Trump is still around, and global reserves are getting dangerously low, and Ukraine seem to be a pretty good job of disrupting Russian supply).

Coastalwatch

Offgrid Energy Labs, Keele University to trial UK-made zinc LDES system

One for Mart!

https://www.solarpowerportal.co.uk/energy-storage/offgrid-energy-labs-keele-university-to-trial-uk-made-zinc-ldes-system?utm_source=eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NL_SPP_NL_09242026&sp_eh=2589e1b5a2175b6c102b7bc151e346d0ba67ff53c20aecfba81262f73e9c2db9

QrizB

Substation batteries could allow Germany to install another 150GWp of solar PV, in addition to the 130GWp they already have.

https://www.renews.biz/solar/batteries-could-enable-150gw-german-solar/