Friday, April 17, 2020
Recycling, Renewables and Sustainable Business 31
1 EV Sales Could Crash By 43% This Year
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/EV-Sales-Could-Crash-By-43-This-Year.html
Sales of electric vehicles, which in 2019 topped 2.2 million, could plunge 43% this year, Wood Mackenzie said in a recent report. The reason: the travel bans in response to the coronavirus and a looming recession, which has dampened people’s appetite for new purchases, especially costly ones such as a new car. The economic situation, the Wood Mac analysts also noted, is also likely to increase people’s aversion to new technology adoption.
2 Scientists set new solar power efficiency record at almost 50 per cent
https://reneweconomy.com.au/scientists-set-new-solar-power-efficiency-record-at-almost-50-per-cent-71555/
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in the US have set a new world record solar energy conversion efficiency, producing an innovative solar cell that converts light into electricity with almost 50 per cent efficiency.
The new solar efficiency world record was set by NREL researchers using a “six-junction” solar cell, that used 140 layers of semiconductor materials to achieve a conversion rate of 47.1 per cent.
3 The Oil Price Crash Could Trigger A Geothermal Energy Boom
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Geothermal-Energy/The-Oil-Price-Crash-Could-Trigger-A-Geothermal-Energy-Boom.html
‘Geothermal is America’s untapped energy giant,’ the U.S. Department of Energy said in a report last year, highlighting in its analysis that this kind of “always-on” flexible renewable energy resource could grow 26-fold to generate 8.5 percent of U.S. electricity by 2050.
Unlike wind and solar, geothermal energy is a 24/7 energy resource, but the technologies to explore and drill for resources and build facilities make geothermal energy more expensive than other renewables.
4 Shell unveils plans to become net-zero carbon company by 2050
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/apr/16/shell-unveils-plans-to-become-net-zero-carbon-company-by-2050
Royal Dutch Shell plans to become a net zero-carbon company by 2050 or sooner by selling more green energy to help reduce the carbon intensity of its business.
Ben van Beurden, Shell’s chief executive, said the company must focus on the long-term “even at this time of immediate challenge” caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
5 What’s Holding The Renewable Revolution Back?
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/Whats-Holding-The-Renewable-Revolution-Back.html
For at least the last decade, renewable energy seems to have been accelerating at a ferocious pace. Every other day you can read about a new technological breakthrough or another incredible milestone being achieved. And yet… overall energy consumption continues to be dominated by fossil fuels. Source: Our World In Data
While the achievements made in the renewable energy space, some of which are listed below, are undoubtedly impressive, there is a long way to go before a full energy transition can take place.
6 Tracking global energy transition in turbulent times
https://blogs.platts.com/2020/04/15/tracking-global-energy-transition-solar-coal/
The global power capacity mix has already been shifting toward renewables. S&P Global Platts Analytics estimates that solar photovoltaic, wind and hydro made up almost 67% of total power capacity additions over the past year. The question is whether renewables investments will accelerate, but so far we do not see major signs that this could happen soon.
7 Three pathways to decarbonization of shipping
https://www.offshore-energy.biz/three-pathways-to-decarbonization-of-shipping/
There are three potential fuel pathways toward developing zero-emission vessels and decarbonizing the future of shipping, according to ABS.
The US-based classification society just released the 2020 Setting the Course to Low-Carbon Shipping — Pathways to Sustainable Shipping outlook, which maps out the path toward decarbonization goals of the global fleet.
The three fuel pathways are: (i) light gas, (ii) heavy gas-alcohol, and (iii) biofuel or synthetic fuels.
8 Spain’s Iberdrola targets Denmark’s Ørsted for top spot in U.S. offshore wind market
https://ieefa.org/spains-iberdrola-targets-denmarks-orsted-for-top-spot-in-u-s-offshore-wind-market/
Spanish utility group Iberdrola wants to be the biggest player in the U.S. offshore wind market, but it will need to go through early market front-runner Ørsted to get there.
Iberdrola, among the world’s largest wind power generators, plans to steamroll its way through the coronavirus crisis, with CEO Ignacio Galán announcing plans this month to increase investment in renewables projects and continue adding jobs as soon as the public health crisis is over. Up to a quarter of the €10 billion ($11 billion) the company plans to invest this year will go toward offshore wind.
9 Europe Is Sinking Billions into Beating Asia on Energy Storage. Will It Pay Off?
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/europe-sinks-billions-into-research-to-beat-asia-on-batteries
Europe is sinking billions of dollars into research in an attempt to overturn Asia’s dominance of the battery market, but analysts believe it could be in vain.
Along with various national initiatives, the European Union has put half a billion euros ($550 million) into battery projects within its Horizon 2020 global competitiveness program, which had a total budget of €80 billion ($88 billion) from 2014 to 2020.
10 ‘Coronavirus profiteers’ condemned as polluters gain bailout billions
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/apr/17/coronavirus-profiteers-condemned-as-polluters-gain-bailout-billions
Polluting industries around the world are using the coronavirus pandemic to gain billions of dollars in bailouts and to weaken and delay environmental protections.
The moves by the fossil fuel, motor, aviation, farming, plastic and timber sectorsare described as dangerous and irresponsible by senior figures. Environmental campaigners describe some participants in these industries as “coronavirus profiteers”.
11 The Western U.S. Has Some Of America’s Strongest Clean Energy Goals. It Needs More Grid Flexibility To Achieve Them.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/energyinnovation/2020/04/15/the-western-us-has-some-of-americas-strongest-clean-energy-goals-it-needs-more-grid-flexibility-to-achieve-them/
Western states like California, Colorado, and Nevada have enacted some of the country’s most ambitious climate laws, with at least five aiming for more than 50% clean energy within the decade.
This quilt of climate goals targets 33% and 64% clean energy across the region by 2026 and 2035, according to research prepared for the Western Interstate Energy Board, which finds the West could meet or exceed these targets – but only by boosting electric grid flexibility.
12 Clean energy transition plans imperiled by oil’s crash
http://www.worldoil.com/news/2020/4/15/clean-energy-transition-plans-imperiled-by-oil-s-crash
The pain felt by Big Oil from the coronavirus-led plunge in demand may derail global efforts to cut pollution, the International Energy Agency said.
The slowdown and falling prices “undermines the ability of the oil industry to develop some of the technologies needed for clean energy transitions around the world,” said the Paris-based agency that advises nations on energy policy.
13 Canada’s emissions count jumped 15M tonnes in 2018: report
https://www.canadianmanufacturing.com/environment-and-safety/canadas-emissions-count-jumped-15m-tonnes-in-2018-report-251172/
A new federal report on Canada’s greenhouse-gas emissions shows they soared 15 million tonnes in 2018.
Canada’s latest report shows in 2018 Canada’s total emissions count was 729 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and its equivalents.
14 Australia renewables hit 50% of main grid’s net demand on Easter Saturday
https://reneweconomy.com.au/australia-renewables-hit-50-of-main-grids-net-demand-on-easter-saturday-91084/
Renewable energy hit what may be a record level of renewable energy on grid demand in the early afternoon on Easter Saturday, when the combined output of rooftop solar, large scale wind and solar and hydro power accounted for 50.4 per cent of net load.
The 50 per cent share of renewables – which even the federal Coalition government now conceded will be an “annual average” by 2030, rather than a figure reached during a point in time – was attained just after noon on Easter Saturday, traditionally a time of low demand, and perhaps more so given the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
15 Olive oil industry under increasing threat from ‘olive leprosy’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/13/olive-oil-industry-under-increasing-threat-from-olive-leprosy
One of southern Europe’s most important staples, olive oil, is under pressure from a potentially deadly disease that new research shows could infect nearly all of the productive areas of Italy, Greece and Spain.
Economic losses could be as high as €5bn over the next 50 years for Italy, where at least 1m trees have already died, if nothing is done to halt the spread of the disease and olive groves are not replanted, the study found. In Spain, losses could total €17bn over the same period, and Greece could suffer to the tune of about €2bn.