Global Climate News - April 24
Reducing passenger vehicle emissions in Europe; Next-generation Geothermal Energy; Alberta (Canada) investing in new hydrogen tech;
Europe needs to work on reducing vehicle emissions
The European Court of Auditors reports that Europe is not making sufficient progress in reducing passenger car emissions, specifically on - reducing combustion engine car emissions, using biofuels, and using electric vehicles.
On combustion engine vehicle emissions
The regulation on CO2 emissions for passenger cars has been in force since 2012, but the observed emissions reduction is due to use of Electric Vehicles, and not due to better performance of combustion engine cars
Real emissions from conventional cars – which still account for nearly three-quarters of new vehicle registrations – have not dropped, note the auditors. Over the last decade, emissions have remained constant for diesel cars, while they have marginally decreased (-4.6 %) for petrol cars. Technological progress in terms of engine efficiency is outweighed by increased vehicle mass (about +10 % on average) and more powerful engines (+25 % on average).
Real world CO2 emissions of hybrid cars are also higher than laboratory levels
On biofuels
There is no clear roadmap for scaling production of biofuels, which will especially impact targets for use of sustainable aviation fuel. Current SAF production capacity is ~10% of capacity needed to meet 2030 targets.
Sustainability of biofuels is exaggerated
biofuels from feedstock that requires land to grow (and so may entail deforestation) may adversely affect biodiversity, soil and water. This inevitably raises ethical questions about the relative priorities of fuel and food.
EU does not have sufficient biomass for producing biofuels, will need to import it
Current cost is significantly higher than fossil fuels
On EV adoption
Insufficient incentives for battery manufacturing compared to other regions, such as US
Unlike the EU, the US directly subsidises the production of minerals and batteries, as well as the purchase of electric vehicles made in the US using American components.
Raw materials for battery manufacturing will need to be imported, trade agreements for this are not in place
Batteries produced in Europe may not be cost competitive, and may be affected by rising commodity prices
At the end of 2020, the cost of a battery pack (€200 per kWh) was more than double the amount planned
The analysis also finds that EV charging points are concentrated in just 3 countries - the Netherlands, France and Germany have 70% of all EV chargers in EU.
ECEEE | European Court of Auditors Press Release - April 24, 2024
Next-generation Geothermal Energy
When groundwater comes into contact with naturally occurring fractures in hot rocks, steam is produced, which can be used to turn turbines and generate electricity. That is the conventional way to use geothermal energy for producing power, and is limited to sites where fractures (cracks) are present naturally in hot rock.
Next-generation geothermal technologies use drilling to create fractures in the otherwise impermeable rock. This would allow geothermal power plants to potentially be setup anywhere, without having to look for sites with natural fractures in the rock - which is hard to do. There are 2 kinds of next-generation geothermal technologies under development:
Closed Loop - fluid (water) is heated by a geothermal resource (hot rock) without direct contact with the resource.
In these systems, fluid conducts heat as it flows through one or more boreholes within a hot, impermeable layer of bedrock, emerging at the surface at temperatures sufficient to produce power.
Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) - fluid is heated through direct contact with geothermal resource. First commercial pilot for this began in late 2023 - Project Red by Fervo Energy in Nevada (USA)
For both EGS and Closed loop technology, drilling deeper into the rock allows more heat to be captured and improves efficiency of the power plant.
Subsurface temperatures increase with depth; geothermal power plants leverage this gradient by drilling wells that convey fluids from the hot subsurface (below ground) to the surface, using that energy to spin turbines in power plants that generate electricity. Power can be generated from geothermal resources above approximately 90 ºC
Developing geothermal power is especially interesting because
no air pollutants such as particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides are released
circulates, rather than consumes, water - lower average water demand than coal, natural gas, nuclear and biomass power; using freshwater is not necessary
the reservoirs are at a depth of 8000 feet or more - far from drinking water supplies, no risk of contamination
low land use per kW power capacity
can store energy subsurface and generate power when needed - solving the intermittency problem renewables sources have
next-gen makes it own reservoir from hot rock, that is abundant
Failures in conventional geothermal tech - incorrectly identifying sites, long construction times, loss of investment, uniqueness of each site - have kept geothermal power from scaling. But next-generation geothermal can do better because
it uses existing technology from oil & gas industry
test wells to prove resource viability - a large cost contributor in conventional geothermal - are not required
small projects with repeatable design
EGS projects are composed of many individual 2-5 MW or more hydraulically fractured well pairs within a single site, such that one 30 MW EGS facility could comprise about 20 wells
very high rate of technology improvements, especially from improvements in drilling
Learning rates occur because drillers learn new information about the reservoir as they drill, which allows them to optimize drill bit performance, more efficiently use cement & casing, and optimize rig operation speeds. Oil & gas learning rates average about 15 percent today. Current EGS demonstrations are doubling average oil & gas learning rates, driving cost reductions of up to 50 percent in the last two years
…The private sector has shown how these drilling rate improvements translate to massive cost reductions: recent reports from Fervo’s earliest deployments demonstrated a 300 percent increase in drilling rate in the process resulting in drilling costs decreasing from an initial of $9.5 million to $4.8 million over six wells in 6 months.
To make power from next-generation geothermal a reality, cost needs to come down by about 60% to $60-70/MWh, multiple large-scale demonstrations are needed to prove viability and standardise construction techniques, offtake agreements are needed to support the investment, and collaboration is required for developing safe reservoir creation processes and monitoring environmental impact.
US DoE - Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Next-Generation Geothermal Power (PDF)
News from Governments
US has announced a national goal for zero-emissions freight transport covering rail, road, aviation and maritime sectors. Initiatives include:
$1 billion in funding to replace class 6 and 7 heavy duty vehicles, such as school buses, trash trucks, and delivery trucks
A $400 million grant program to reduce truck emissions at port facilities
$72 million investment to “demonstrate how vehicle-grid integration enables depots and truck stops to provide affordable, reliable charging while increasing grid resiliency.”
Alberta (Canada) will invest $57 million in new hydrogen technologies, including:
hydrogen production, distribution and refueling
demonstrating conversion of natural gas feedstock into low-carbon hydrogen and solid carbon
demonstrating a methanol-to-hydrogen fueling system while integrating two hydrogen vehicle technologies to test fueling and vehicle performance
installing a hydrogen-fueled system to provide heat and power
piloting and testing hydrogen vehicles and equipment
testing materials for retrofitting existing natural gas pipelines for hydrogen
exploring hydrogen’s use in aviation
The European Parliament has approved the Net-zero Industry Act that
sets a target for Europe to produce 40% of its annual deployment needs in net-zero technologies by 2030, based on National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) and to capture 15% of the global market value for these technologies.
Technologies to be supported include all renewable technologies, nuclear, industrial decarbonisation, grid, energy storage technologies, and biotech.
The European Parliament has adopted a new rule that sets stricter limits for 2030 on air pollutants - particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), and SO2 (sulphur dioxide).
For the two pollutants with the highest documented impact on human health, PM2.5 and NO2, the annual limit values are to be more than halved from 25 µg/m³ to 10 µg/m³ and from 40 µg/m³ to 20 µg/m³ respectively. There will also be more air quality sampling points in cities. The air quality standards shall be reviewed by 31 December 2030 and at least every five year thereafter and more often if clear from new scientific findings
The European Parliament has adopted new regulation that aims to reduce use of packaging - 5% by 2030, 10% by 2035 and 15% by 2040.
Certain single use plastic packaging types will be banned from 1 January 2030. These include packaging for unprocessed fresh fruit and vegetables, packaging for foods and beverages filled and consumed in cafés and restaurants, individual portions (for e.g. condiments, sauces, creamer, sugar), accommodation miniature packaging for toiletry products and very lightweight plastic carrier bags (below 15 microns).
The regulation will also require all packaging to be recyclable, and set “minimum recycled content targets for plastic packaging and minimum recycling targets by weight of packaging waste.” EP Press Release
Top Stories
UK, New Zealand and Denmark are partnering on a research project for early detection of earthquakes and tsunamis.
The technique uses telecommunication fibre optic cables that are already in place on the seabed, to detect earthquakes and ocean currents. The tech will be trialled in the Pacific Ocean – a region where earthquakes and tsunamis are common – with a view to investigate the use of seafloor cables to give coastal communities earlier warnings when tremors occur, which could potentially save thousands of lives.
Denmark-based Ørsted is developing two 920 MW (total) offshore wind farms that will supply power to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) for 20 years. ET Energy | Ørsted Press Release
RMI has released a Flaring Risk Map that allows you to see where communities are endangered from flaring natural gas. RMI
New report from Green Finance Institute quantifies financial impact of nature degradation in UK - GDP could be lower by 8% by 2030s, 14% in extreme scenarios
Some sectors in particular face higher levels of nature-related financial risk. Highlighted in the analysis are agriculture, manufacturing, and utilities. For example, the agricultural sector faces risks associated with water, climate regulation, soil quality, and pollution which could impact food production. The utilities sector is dependent on surface water for cooling power stations, and any constraint in water supplies could impede production and raise energy prices.
These impacts on the real economy will also have a material financial impact on banks and other financial institutions. The analysis estimates that some banks could see reductions in the value of their domestic portfolios of up to around 4 – 5% in some cases.
GFI Press Release | Assessing the Materiality for Nature-Related Financial Risks for the UK (PDF)
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Soumya Gupta
Founder, Telborg.com | SummaryWithAI.com
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