Daily Climate News - March 5
Direct Air Capture costs; Carbon Casting; Wave Energy
Direct Air Capture (DAC) costs for Climeworks' plant in Iceland are currently at $1000-$3000 per tonne of CO2 captured. A new study by ETH Zurich projects reduction (assuming 1 Giga-tonne capacity) to $226-835 per tonne of CO2 - a reduction of upto 90%.
Innovation News Network | Article in Cell
Top Stories
Graphyte has opened its Carbon Casting facility in Arkansas, USA which is expected to capture over 15000 tonnes of CO2 by the end of the year.
Carbon Casting is a new approach to carbon removal that leverages readily available biomass, such as residues from timber and farming operations. We dry and compress it into dense carbon blocks protected by an environmentally-safe, impermeable barrier, and then store these blocks in underground sites with state-of-the-art monitoring. Carbon Casting preserves nearly all the carbon captured in the biomass and consumes very little energy in the process.
Power Technology | Graphyte Website
Singapore and Australia have signed a MoU to create the Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC). The collaboration aims to
develop zero or near-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emission fuel supply chains for the maritime industry, including building necessary infrastructure, formalizing standards, and developing and implementing the training requirements.
Dutch pension fund ABP plans to channel
€30 billion in investments by 2030 that yield double returns: financial and societal impacts, especially in areas like climate and biodiversity solutions. The fund plans to allocate €10 billion of these 'impact investments' within the Netherlands, focusing on affordable housing, sustainable energy, and innovation.
Carbon Pulse | ABP Press Release
Scenario analysis by a Finland university shows UK & Ireland need to harness 27 GW wave energy to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2050.
Several projects for testing the commercial viability of wave energy are in place. In August 2023, Swedish company CorPower deployed a device off the coast of Portugal for full-scale ocean demonstration to determine survivability and efficient power generation. Here's a video of the device.
Another project - the Renewables for Subsea Power (RSP) project is an integrated project that connects a wave energy converter to an underwater battery storage system. It has completed 12 months of testing off the coast of Scotland.
Offshore Energy |HiWave-5 Project Website
UK has announced up to £120 million in additional funding for its Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) and £200 million to aerospace R&D projects, supporting the development of energy efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technology and accelerating the transition to net zero aviation.
The Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) is a £960 million fund to support the expansion of strong and sustainable clean energy supply chains across the UK, including: carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS), engineered greenhouse gas removals (GGRs) and hydrogen; offshore wind and electricity networks; and civil nuclear. This is part of a wider £4.5 billion package of funding for manufacturing to support private sector investment in strategic sectors across the UK.
GIGA Call for Evidence (Feb 27, 2024)
Power Technology | UK govt press release
US startup Nano Nuclear is developing portable nuclear micro-reactors that can "fit on the back of a truck" for decarbonizing shipping, mining and remote industries
Recharge
Due to lower EV demand in the West and significant supply of battery metals, Goldman Sachs expects lower prices for Lithium, Cobalt, Nickel in the following 12 months
CNBC
USA added 42GW of renewable capacity in 2023 including 35GW of large-scale and rooftop solar and 7GW of wind, as per BNEF report
First ever hearing for people displaced by climate crisis being held in Washington
ECEEE
Research
Perovskite solar cells may be recycled by remanufacturing - using their constituent layers to form new cells which have nearly 90% of the initial performance.
Only a small part of the global warming potential (GWP) contribution of the cell stack comes from the materials itself (5%), while the majority originates from the energy and solvents used to deposit these layers,” they said. “The main GWP reduction can be achieved by re-using or recycling the glass (front and back), which can potentially reduce the GWP of PSMs by up to 53% and 52%, respectively. The photovoltaic cell constituents (and their embedded energy) have a relatively small contribution to the overall carbon footprint.
PV Magazine India | Paper in ACS Sustainable Management
You can read over 200 stories from March 5 on Telborg.
Follow us on Twitter, Youtube, Reddit and LinkedIn.
Let me know if I can help with anything! Enjoy your day!
Best,
Soumya Gupta
Founder, Telborg.com | SummaryWithAI.com