Friday, February 21, 2020
Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 23
1 Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Densities Have Almost Tripled Since 2010
https://cleantechnica.com/2020/02/19/bloombergnef-lithium-ion-battery-cell-densities-have-almost-tripled-since-2010/
Battery energy density is the amount of energy that can be stored in the same amount of weight. Think about it as the amount of range that can be extracted from the same 500 kilogram pack. As energy density increases, more energy can be extracted from a battery pack of the same weight. “Battery energy densities keep getting better,” Colin McKerracher, Head of Advanced Transport at BloombergNEF, said. “They’ve almost tripled at the cell level since 2010.”
2 Can The U.S. Compete With China In The Energy Storage Race?
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/Can-The-US-Compete-With-China-In-The-Energy-Storage-Race.html
Last year Oilprice reported that the energy storage industry was about to explode in China. We wrote that “China is set to become the single biggest energy storage market in the Asia Pacific region by 2024,” citing a Wood Mackenzie report that said China was in the midst of a global energy storage market takeover with “cumulative energy storage capacity projected to skyrocket from 489 megawatts (MW) or 843 megawatt-hours (MWh) in 2017 to 12.5 gigawatts (GW) or 32.1GWh in 2024.”
3 The Two Most Important Factors In The EV Boom
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/The-Two-Most-Important-Factors-In-The-EV-Boom.html
The ranks of batteries aiming to challenge the dominant lithium ion technology have been swelling rapidly in the past few years are researchers and businesses seek a better and cheaper alternative to lithium ion technology. But lithium ion battery makers have not been sitting on their hands, either. According to BloombergNEF, the energy density of lithium ion battery dells has tripled over the last ten years.
4 Electric Vehicle Growth Set To Accelerate Through The 2020s
https://www.woodmac.com/news/opinion/electric-vehicle-growth-set-to-accelerate-through-the-2020s/
Wood Mackenzie projects demand for global petroleum products to fall by 1 million barrels a day from the effect of BEVs alone. We also project automotive batteries to form the bulk of the demand globally for metals such as lithium (69%) and cobalt (46%). The need for charging infrastructure is expected to create new industries for installing and maintaining charging stations. For a more thorough analysis of the impact, see our H2 2019 electric vehicle long-term outlook.
5 Tesla’s Secret Weapon In The EV Revolution
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Teslas-Secret-Weapon-In-The-EV-Revolution.html
The future of electric vehicles around the world depends on China. While Europe has long been at the forefront of the electric car industry, with Tesla leading the charge, almost all of those European EV companies have to go through China at some point in the production process, as Chinese industry has a veritable chokehold on one of the essential components of the standard electric car.
6 Taxpayer subsidies for electric vehicles only help the wealthy
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/taxpayer-subsidies-for-electric-vehicles-only-help-the-wealthy
The reality is that the rest of us are already doing a lot to support the adoption of electric vehicles. For example, taxpayers fund the federal electric vehicle tax credit program, which grants up to $7,500 for qualifying purchases. States such as Colorado offer an additional state income tax credit of $4,000, and New Jersey just passed legislation for a new $5,000 state rebate in addition to an existing sales-tax exemption for electric vehicle buyers. The nation’s teachers, nurses, and factory workers are all paying higher taxes for a program that generously benefits those who buy electric vehicles.
7 Why The World’s Top Oil Traders Are Going Green
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Why-The-Worlds-Top-Oil-Traders-Are-Going-Green.html
Oil and gas companies have frequently been pilloried for trying to burnish their green credentials with half-hearted attempts at clean energy investments. The recrimination appears well deserved, considering the sector currently dedicates less than one percent of its capital spending to renewable energy despite its operations being responsible for 15% of greenhouse emissions.
8 BMW expects to cut average emissions in Europe by 20% this year
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bmw-emissions-cfo-idUSKBN20E1KK
BMW (BMWG.DE) will continue to grow sales globally while at the same time lowering its European average emissions of carbon dioxide by around 20% this year, Chief Financial Officer Nicolas Peter said on Thursday.
9 Livent Corp expects lower profit in 2020 on weak lithium prices
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-livent-corp-results-idUSKBN20E2VJ
U.S. lithium producer Livent Corp (LTHM.N) reported an 87% fall in quarterly adjusted profit on Thursday and said it expects a drop in 2020 profit, hit by a downturn in prices of the metal used in rechargeable batteries.
10 Albemarle expects 2020 profit drop as lithium prices sag
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-albemarle-results-idUSKBN20D2R0
Albemarle Corp, the world’s largest lithium producer, reported a lower-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday and forecast a double-digit drop in 2020 earnings on weak prices for the battery metal.
11 Global Offshore Wind Capacity Tops 27GW as 2019 Sets New Record
https://www.offshorewind.biz/2020/02/20/global-offshore-wind-capacity-tops-27gw-as-2019-sets-new-record/
Global offshore wind installations reached 27,213MW by the end of 2019, according to Global Offshore Wind Report 2019 by World Forum Offshore Wind (WFO).
5,194MW of offshore wind capacity went into operation during the last year, making 2019 a new record year in terms of new global offshore wind installations with a 24% growth as compared to 2018, WFO said.
12 The Solar Sector Is Suffering From Coronavirus Contagion
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/The-Solar-Sector-Is-Suffering-From-Coronavirus-Contagion.html
While analysts and international agencies are already assessing the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak on global oil demand, the damage to the energy industry is extending well beyond oil. Promising fast-growing green energy technologies and sectors are also suffering because the outbreak is disrupting China’s industrial activity and manufacturing of crucial components for the solar, wind, and battery storage industries.
13 Solar energy expands quickly in Brazil, attracts Chinese firms
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-power-solar-idUSKBN20E2UO
Beside the green pastures and sugarcane plantations surrounding the farming town of Porto Feliz is the strange sight of hundreds of blue, silicon panes turned towards the sun.
14 Austria’s OMV Wants To Dominate $50B Global Market For Synthetic Oil Made From Plastic Waste
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gauravsharma/2020/02/20/austrias-omv-wants-to-dominate-50b-global-market-for-synthetic-oil-from-plastic-waste/
The complex is running at a 97% utilization rate these days and accounts for over 50% of Austrian oil and gas company OMV’s refinery capacity of nearly 18 million tons. On its grounds, hidden away from prying eyes, amid the chimney masts, manifolds, pipelines and tanks, a rather unique and as yet commercially untested project is underway that could have a profound impact on the crude oil and plastics market, via a unit that connects both by converting plastic waste into synthetic crude.
15 In Mexico’s cradle of corn, climate change leaves its mark
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-climate-change-mexico-idUSKBN20F0OC
At least 9,000 years ago, humans began domesticating corn for the first time near Tehuacan, in the central Mexican state of Puebla, laying the foundation for permanent settlements in the Americas. But in the past few years, more frequent and longer droughts have forced many farmers in the area to give up corn and other cereals in favor of alternatives requiring less water such as pistachio nuts or cactus.
16 Canada is launching methane emissions rules for Oil and Gas
https://energypost.eu/canada-is-launching-methane-emissions-rules-for-oil-and-gas/
January 2020 marked the first time the Canadian government has targeted methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. They’ve committed to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by 40% to 45% below 2012 levels by 2025.
17 Shipping industry faces $370 million hit from new Panama Canal charge
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-shipping-panamacanal-idUSKBN20E211
A new “freshwater” charge that came in this month to help the Panama Canal cope with climate change will cost the shipping industry up to $370 million a year, marking another blow for maritime companies already hit by fallout from the coronavirus.
18 Rio Tinto becomes latest mining giant to tap solar-plus-storage
https://www.energy-storage.news/news/rio-tinto-becomes-latest-mining-giant-to-tap-solar-plus-storage
Mining giant Rio Tinto is to develop a large-scale solar-plus-storage system at an iron ore mine in Western Australia, continuing a trend of hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects in the region.
Announced earlier this week, Rio Tinto is to combine 34MW of solar PV with a 12MWh energy storage system at a cost of US$98 million.
19 How Siemens Gamesa Could Give Coal Plants a Second Life
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/how-siemens-gamesa-could-give-coal-plants-a-second-life
Ten years ago, Siemens Wind Power, as it was then known, started playing around with a concept for a thermal energy storage system. Last year, the wind turbine manufacturer now known as Siemens Gamesa plugged a 30-megawatt/130-megawatt-hour demonstration system into the grid at Hamburg harbor.
20 Germans divided over plans for Tesla electric car factory
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/19/germans-divided-plans-tesla-electric-car-factory-environmentalists-tree-felling
German environmentalists and political leaders are at loggerheads over plans to build a Tesla electric car factory on the site of woodland outside Berlin, with the government casting doubt over the future of a project seen as key for its support of green technologies and regeneration in the east of the country.
21 Chinese giant doubles down on cell production expansion
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2020/02/19/chinese-giant-doubles-down-on-cell-production-expansion/
When Chinese solar manufacturer JA Solar announced less than seven weeks agothat its ambitious production expansion plans would be ‘periodically reviewed’ and ‘subject to market conditions’, it would have been natural to presume the board was covering its back in the case of any sudden downturn in a still-volatile domestic market.
22 Oil and gas major Galp eyes 10GW clean energy portfolio by 2030
https://www.pv-tech.org/news/52074
Oil major Galp is to allocate up to 15% of its overall investments to renewable power generation and businesses, with a view to amassing a 10GW clean energy portfolio by 2030.
