Global Climate News - April 30 & May 1
Reducing emissions from road freight transport, shipping, aviation, iron and steel, chemicals and petrochemicals; Closed Loop Geothermal in Germany; Costs for CCUS in USA;
Alternative and Bio-fuel Economics
Estimated costs for e-methanol - $800/t to $2400/t - varies due to cost of hydrogen and source of carbon
Estimated cost for biomethanol - $327/t to $1013/t - depending on cost of feedstock
E-ammonia - $720/t - $1400/t. May fall to $310/t - $610/t by 2050
(all numbers from the IRENA publication discussed below)
Reducing Emissions from Hard-to-abate Sectors
From the new IRENA publication:
Five sectors - road freight transport, shipping, aviation, iron and steel, and chemicals and petrochemicals - account for ~25% global energy use and 20% of CO2 emissions
Technologies in use - electric arc furnaces for steel manufacturing, electric heat pumps, electric trucks, cold ironing (letting ships use electricity at ports, instead of using auxiliary engines for basic operations) at ports
Early-stage technologies
electric crackers to produce primary chemicals;
electrolysis of iron ores;
electric or hybrid aircraft and ships for short distances
Policy recommendations - sector specific targets, carbon pricing policies
Other recommendations - electrification; increase renewable energy installations and scale bioenergy; support commercial-scale use of hydrogen in iron, ammonia, methanol; markets for low-carbon commodities; guarantees and concessional loans to support projects; develop skilled workforce
Road Freight
Heavy duty trucks make up 9% of global vehicle stock, but contribute ~25% of transport-related emissions and 5% of global CO2 emissions. Biofuel use in heavy-duty trucks is less than 5%
For road freight, efficiency standards for trucks, partial shift to rail-based transport, fast-charging infrastructure, and smart charging can help
Electric truck use is not scaling due to higher vehicle cost, lack of charging infrastructure and insufficient production capacity
Shipping
Shipping currently uses inexpensive, low-grade fossil fuel like heavy fuel oil (HFO) and marine diesel oil
Current cost of alternative fuels can be upto twice that of petroleum-based marine fuels
Cost comparison of renewable marine fuels, IRENA (April, 2024) Container ships, bulk carriers and fuel and chemical tankers account for 80-85% of emissions from shipping. About 20% of the emissions from these occur when at port, which can be avoided with cold ironing
Barriers to more use of biofuels (biomethane, biomethanol and bioethanol) in shipping - high cost, low production capacity, sustainability concerns such as land-use for biomass production. Carbon prices, such as under the EU ETS, can address the cost difference
Over the coming years, this [ETS] scheme will make vessels sailing in European waters pay for an increasingly larger share of their emissions. When comparing biodiesel and marine gas oil (MGO) prices between 2022-2023, if the additional CO2 emissions cost for MGO featured in the EU ETS had been operational, biodiesel would have been cost competitive with its fossil counterpart (Argus, 2023).
Alternative fuels like e-methane and e-methanol need cheap, sustainable sources of carbon. Bio-based sources are cheapest currently. Direct air capture costs are very high to be used for e-fuels production. Another e-fuel, Ammonia, is toxic and engines to use it as fuel are still under development. Efficiency of e-fuels is also a consideration
E-fuels require significantly more primary energy, compared to other alternatives such as direct electrification and some biofuels. The use of e-fuels should therefore preferably be limited to cases where more efficient alternatives are unfeasible.
Aviation
Key emission reduction approaches - reducing demand, improving fuel efficiency, using sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs)
Most viable SAF option currently is biojet, from biomass. But, only 30 production facilities worldwide. Alternative fuel options - green hydrogen, e-kerosene
No hydrogen-based large passenger aircrafts currently
For e-kerosene, carbon needs to come from cheap, sustainable sources - currently from biomass
Electric planes could be used for short flights
Chemicals and Petrochemicals
Primary chemicals - ammonia, methanol and “High-value chemicals” (HVCs), such as olefins (principally ethylene, propylene and butadiene) and aromatics (including benzene, toluene and xylenes) - are used in many industries, and their production almost entirely depends on fossil fuels for energy and for feedstocks
Today, 90% of plastic products are still made from fossil feedstocks. In 2022, bio-based plastics constituted 0.5% of total plastics production, a figure equivalent to 2.3 Mt, in absolute terms. Globally, around 9% of global plastics production comes from the recycling of plastic waste
Key emission reduction approaches - energy efficiency, using bio-based feedstocks, carbon capture and storage (CCUS), bioenergy + CCUS, recycling, replacing ammonia with e-ammonia
The production cost of natural gas-based ammonia and coal-based ammonia is currently between USD 110/t and USD 340/t. Renewable ammonia production costs for new plants are currently estimated to be between USD 720/t and USD 1400/t. This will potentially decrease to between USD 310/t and USD 610/t by 2050
Estimated costs for e-methanol - USD 800/t and USD 2400/t - varies due to cost of hydrogen and source of carbon
Estimated cost for biomethanol - USD 327/t to USD 1013/t - depending on cost of feedstock
IRENA - Decarbonising Hard-to-Abate Sectors with Renewables, April 2024 (PDF)
News from Governments
The EU Innovation Fund (€91.6 million grant) and European Investment Bank (EIB) (€45 million loan) will provide funding to a closed-loop geothermal power and heating project in Bavaria (Germany)
Europe will provide nearly €720 million in funding to 7 hydrogen projects in Spain, Portugal, Finland and Norway.
Selected projects will have to start producing renewable hydrogen within a maximum of 5 years after signing the grant agreement. They will receive the awarded fixed premium subsidy for up to 10 years for certified and verified renewable hydrogen production.
Europe has approved state aid for the construction and operation of a 1200MW nuclear plant in Czechia. Trial operations expected 2036, commissioning in 2038, planned life of 60 years. At least 70% of the power output will be sold on open power exchanges. EC Press Release
UK has invited small and medium enterprises to apply for funding from a £1.8 million pool for developing AI and automation solutions for the freight sector. GOV.UK Press Release | Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator Cohort 3
The US Dept of Interior has proposed offshore wind energy auctions with more than 18GW total capacity off the coasts of Oregon and in Gulf of Maine. Power Technology | DOI Press Release
Netherlands has announced that its previous target of 21GW offshore wind capacity by 2030, will be achieved by 2032 instead. At the end of 2023, the country had reached 4.7GW in total offshore wind installations. Energy Watch
Top Stories
US-based Shiru has developed OleoPro, a combination of plant protein and unsaturated plant-based fat, that can be used as an alternative to palm and coconut-based fats for making plant-based meats.
OleoPro™ is a one-to-one replacement for coconut oil or other fats commonly used in alt meat products – it’s solid and holds its shape at room temperature; … and because it leverages unsaturated, sustainable oils, it delivers an improved sustainability profile and also reduces saturated fat by 90%.
The US conducted a study of potential carbon capture and storage sites in several offshore and onshore areas. Around 1500 depleted oil & gas fields located within a 50km radius of pre-determined, large-scale carbon capture sites were analysed to see if these could serve as permanent storage for the captured carbon. After eliminating for risk of leakage, lack of sufficient storage capacity, and reservoir depth, top 15 fields were identified. S&P estimates the cost at these top 15 fields
The development capital cost ranges from $10/t to $30/t for the top 15 fields, with top 5 fields averaging $14/t. Assuming 20-year operating life, the operating expense ranges from $21/t to $36/t for these top 15 fields, with top 5 fields averaging $25/t.
Paris has added 8000 electric connections at sites for the upcoming Olympic Games (July 26 - Aug 11, 2024) to avoid the use of diesel generators, and procure certified renewable energy for the entire event. ET Energy
Poland plans to build its first nuclear power plant with 3 reactors of 1250MW capacity each. Construction to begin in 2026, and commercial operation expected 2033. Power Technology | Polish Nuclear Power Programme
G7 countries - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and U.S - have agreed on phasing out unabated coal power, support renewables deployment and battery storage supply chains, reducing non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions, promoting fusion energy, working on adaptation and water, and sustainability in fashion and textiles. ET Energy | G7 Press Release | G7 Joint Declaration 2024 (PDF)
Queensland (Australia) has published its Battery Industry Strategy. Innovation News | Queensland Gov | Queensland Battery Industry Strategy 2024–2029 (PDF)
Fuel savings calculator for Battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for the US. Innovation News
You can find all previous posts of this newsletter here.
Have the best day!
Best,
Soumya Gupta
Founder, Telborg.com | SummaryWithAI.com
LinkedIn | Twitter | soumya@telborg.com
