Friday, June 19, 2020
Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 40
1 Which Is Better for the Environment — Biodegradable or Recyclable Plastic?
https://www.plasticstoday.com/recycling/which-better-environment-biodegradable-or-recyclable-plastic/57151282263224
Biodegradable plastics aren’t really good for the environment because to biodegrade they have to be left out in the open. Recycling, on the other hand, helps capture the value of certain polymers — primarily PET and HDPE, some PS and PP — but the costs of collection, sorting, and transportation involved with mechanical recycling continue to raise challenges. Two new studies from IDTechEx seek to clarify these issues.
2 For Oil, The Writing Is On The Wall: New Times Call For New Energies
https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2020/06/18/for-oil-the-writing-is-on-the-wall-new-times-call-for-newenergies/
With the stock market capitalization of the five-biggest US oil companies slashed by half since the beginning of the year, the future is increasingly clear: although stopping oil production overnight would bring the world to a grinding halt, particularly in the transport, cement and metals industries, but as we emerge from lockdown, we must now focus on building a circular carbon economy and reduce industry’s contribution to carbon dioxide emissions.
3 Goldman: Clean Energy Investment Has Hit A Critical Point
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Goldman-Clean-Energy-Investment-Has-Hit-A-Critical-Point.html
Global investment in renewable energy is set to surpass oil and gas for the first time ever next year, according to a new report. Trillions of dollars are slated to pour into wind, solar, batteries, EVs and green infrastructure in the coming decade. “[W]e estimate that clean tech can drive US$1-2 [trillion per year] of green infrastructure investments and create 15-20 [million] jobs worldwide,” Goldman Sachs said in a lengthy new report it calls “Carbonomics.”
4 Smart Money Is Betting On These 5 Exciting Energy Technologies
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Smart-Money-Is-Betting-On-These-5-Exciting-Energy-Technologies.html
The Covid-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow to the energy sector well beyond the fossil fuel collapse. The renewable energy industry was in full swing before the health crisis struck with 184 gigawatts (GW) of new clean energy capacity added in 2019, good for 12% Y/Y growth. Unfortunately, a short-run contraction is now expected with Morgan Stanley projecting declines of 48%, 28%, and 17% in U.S. solar photovoltaic installations during the second, third, and fourth quarters of the current year.
5 Six EU countries lead push for clean hydrogen support
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-energy-hydrogen-idUSKBN23M18G
Six European Union countries, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, have called for EU legislation and increased funding to support hydrogen, a low-carbon technology in line for cash from the bloc’s coronavirus recovery fund. The European Commission has pledged to use its proposed 750 billion euro recovery fund to support clean hydrogen – a fuel that can be produced using renewable power and which can replace fossil fuels in polluting industrial processes.
The energy ministers of Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg on Monday said this funding must be backed by legislation.
6 Enel to launch hydrogen business as part of green drive
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-enel-hydrogen-idUSKBN23Q1XN
Europe’s biggest utility Enel is set to launch a green hydrogen business next year to speed up its plans to become a carbon-free power producer by 2050.
The group is targeting markets in the United States, Chile and Spain, the head of Global Power Generation Antonio Cammisecra told Reuters. In the United States a focus will be on Texas, where the group has wind and solar assets.
7 World has six months to avert climate crisis, says energy expert
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/18/world-has-six-months-to-avert-climate-crisis-says-energy-expert
The world has only six months in which to change the course of the climate crisis and prevent a post-lockdown rebound in greenhouse gas emissions that would overwhelm efforts to stave off climate catastrophe, one of the world’s foremost energy experts has warned.
“This year is the last time we have, if we are not to see a carbon rebound,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency.
8 Plastic superhighway: the awful truth of our hidden ocean waste
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/16/plastic-knows-no-borders-the-manmade-scourge-washing-up-on-the-worlds-shores
We called the competition Who Found the Weirdest Thing? So far, the entries that day were a motorcycle helmet, a lithium battery covered with scary stickers asking that we return it to the military, and a toy dinosaur.
The dinosaur was warm from the sun and starting to degrade. The ocean had smoothed and worn down its edges. Rocks and sand had crosshatched its skin. It was missing a hind leg. On one side it was dark grey; the sun had bleached its opposite flank white.
9 Cotton fibres, microplastics pervade Eastern Arctic, study finds
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/eastern-arctic-microplastics-nu-1.5617223
Chelsea Rochman wasn’t surprised when her research cruise through Canada’s Eastern Arctic showed tiny plastic shards and other human debris in nearly every bucket she hauled aboard.
What puzzled her was the colour. The answer changed the way she looks at her wardrobe.
“Some of the particles that we sampled weren’t microplastics,”
10 Tesla cracks 400 mile range barrier for Model S as world waits for battery update
https://thedriven.io/2020/06/17/tesla-cracks-400-mile-range-barrier-for-model-s-as-world-waits-for-battery-update/
As the world of electric vehicles hangs on news of a Tesla battery update, the Californian electric car maker has taken time out to explain how it has cracked the 400 mile barrier with its Tesla Model S.
On Monday (US time), Tesla was finally able to officially confirm that the Model S has been rated for 402 miles (647km) by the US-based Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
11 RWE, German LNG to explore hydrogen opportunities
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/rwe-german-lng-to-explore-hydrogen/
RWE and German LNG Terminal have agreed to jointly explore the development of green hydrogen possibilities via the planned LNG terminal in Brunsbüttel.
To this end, the two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to promote the use of hydrogen produced from renewable sources.
In September 2018, both companies had already signed a long-term agreement for a considerable part of the planned terminal’s LNG import capacity.
12 Lyft promises switch to 100% electric vehicles by 2030
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lyft-electricvehicles-idUSKBN23O37R
Ride-hailing company Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) on Wednesday said every vehicle on its ride-hailing and rental car platform will be electric by 2030, but it would not provide direct financial support to drivers for switching from gas-powered cars.
Instead, the company plans to push competitors, lawmakers and automakers to make it easier for drivers to switch to electric vehicles by creating financial incentives, Lyft executives said during a call.
13 Unilever’s brands to invest €1 billion in new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund
https://www.britishplastics.co.uk/News/unilever%E2%80%99s-brands-will-collectively-invest-%E2%82%AC1-billion-in-a-n/
Unilever’s brands will collectively invest €1 billion in a new dedicated Climate & Nature Fund.
This will be used over the next ten years to take meaningful and decisive action, with projects likely to include landscape restoration, reforestation, carbon sequestration, wildlife protection and water preservation.
Unilever aims to achieve Net Zero emissions from all its products by 2039
14 BlackRock Leads $50M Investment into Off-Grid Solar Technology that Generates Water
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/blackrock-leads-50-million-investment-in-off-grid-solar-technology-that-makes-water
A cleantech startup announced this week that it has raised $50 million to scale distributed solar technology — but not for electricity production.
Zero Mass Water creates boxy solar panels that generate flows of pure, potable water instead of electrons. It offers access to safe water for homes or businesses in arid parts of the world, or places with unsafe tap water. That need is set to grow as climate change dries out regions and alters weather patterns.
15 Climate crisis: alarm at record-breaking heatwave in Siberia
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/17/climate-crisis-alarm-at-record-breaking-heatwave-in-siberia
A prolonged heatwave in Siberia is “undoubtedly alarming”, climate scientists have said. The freak temperatures have been linked to wildfires, a huge oil spill and a plague of tree-eating moths.
On a global scale, the Siberian heat is helping push the world towards its hottest year on record in 2020, despite a temporary dip in carbon emissions owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
16 Nearly US$1T in investments by 2030 as power sector transitions to a decarbonized system
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/nearly-us1t-in-investments-by-2030-as-power-sector-transitions-to-a-decarbonized-and-flexible-system-255461/
Frost & Sullivan’s recent analysis, Growth Opportunities in Distributed Energy, Forecast to 2030, finds that the rate of annual investment in distributed energy resources (DER) will increase by 75% by 2030, with the market set for a decade of high growth.
Favorable regulations, declining project and technology costs, and high electricity and demand charges are key factors driving investments in DER across the globe. The COVID-19 pandemic will reduce investment levels in the short term, but the market will recover.
17 VW starts using first LNG-powered car carrier
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/vw-starts-using-first-lng-powered-car-carrier/
German giant Volkswagen Group is to send the first LNG-fuelled vessel it chartered from Siem Car Carriers on its maiden voyage.
The Siem Confucius is the first of two vessels built at China’s Xiamen Shipbuilding yard which will replace Volkswagen’s conventional heavy oil-powered ships.
The car freighter will leave Germany’s port of Emden on Tuesday with more than 4,800 new vehicles on board, according to Volkswagen.
18 California To Fight Wildfires With Microgrids And Batteries
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kensilverstein/2020/06/16/california-energy-regulators-want-to-fight-wildfires-by-facilitating-more-microgrids-and-energy-storage/
California is the national leader when it comes to addressing climate change and facilitating the use of renewable energies and green technologies. But the concern is that utilities would rely too much on fossil fuels. Beyond that, the worry is that the process would unfold too slowly, all in the context that faulty utility equipment has led to numerous fires — not good with wildfire season coming up in September.
19 Special Report on Sustainable Recovery IEA – International Energy Agency
https://www.iea.org/
The International Energy Agency is today presenting a Sustainable Recovery Plan focusing on a series of actions that can be taken over the next three years to revitalise economies and boost employment while making energy systems cleaner and more resilient.
Set out in a Special Report on Sustainable Recovery from the IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook series, the plan offers an energy sector roadmap for governments to spur economic growth, create millions of jobs and put global emissions into structural decline. By integrating energy policies into government responses to the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the plan would also accelerate the deployment of modern, reliable and clean energy technologies and infrastructure.
