Global Climate News - June 7-10
Networked Geothermal; World Energy Investment 2024; AI to identify new semiconductor materials; Taiwan's lists first carbon project; Combining waste-to-energy with carbon capture
In this newsletter
Networked Geothermal in the USA
World Energy Investment 2024
Top stories
Networked Geothermal in the USA
The state of Massachusetts (USA) is setting up a networked geothermal pilot - the first such in USA. This is a district heating/cooling solution where heat pumps are installed in buildings and connected with pipes buried underground, at a depth where temperatures remain at 55 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the year. The heat pumps transfer heat to the ground in the summer and from it in the winter.
Networked geothermal differs from large Geothermal power plants which drill much deeper underground and heat the fluid to much higher temperatures. The main upfront cost in networked geothermal is for installing the heat pumps. Operating costs are fairly low.
At least 5 US states - Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Washington, Maryland - have passed legislation that allows setting up pilots for Thermal Energy Network (TENs).
Springhill in Canada has been using a similar solution for district heating since the late 1980s.
Facilities Dive | What is Networked Geothermal
World Energy Investment 2024
Highlights from IEA’s new report
Solar PV receives more funding than any other technology, and falling module prices have significantly boosted returns
In 2023, each dollar invested in wind and solar PV yielded 2.5 times more energy output than a dollar spent on the same technologies a decade prior.
Renewables need to scale further to meet clean energy goals. Further deployments are held back by high interest rates, land availability and delays in permitting and grid connection
Investment in clean power is nearly 10 times the investment in fossil-fuel based power
Rising investment in nuclear - USD 80 billion projected for 2024
Investment in oil & gas continues to grow, with about one-third going to new fields and exploration
Annual investment in clean energy needs to double to meet COP28 goals. Capacity for low-emission fuels needs to scale significantly
Achieving net zero emissions globally by 2050 would mean annual investment in oil, gas, and coal falls by more than half, from just over USD 1 trillion in 2024 to below USD 450 billion per year in 2030, while spending on low-emissions fuels increases tenfold, to about USD 200 billion in 2030 from just under USD 20 billion today
Households are also investing in clean energy through solar rooftops, electric vehicles and energy efficiency measures for buildings
Key blockers to financing - high interest rates in many countries, rising cost of living affects investment by households
Share of debt in current investment has fallen from ~60% in late 2010s to about 50% now
Equity has a greater share in less mature technologies - geothermal, battery storage, carbon capture, green hydrogen
Banks have an important role to play
Currently, more than 140 banks are Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA) members, and around 40% of global banking assets are held by banks with net-zero commitments. Despite this, data from Bloomberg indicate that the ratio of clean energy funding (including debt and equity underwriting) compared to fossil fuels has slightly worsened: For every 1 USD loaned to the fossil fuel sector in 2021, 75 cents went to clean energy companies. By 2022, the ratio had fallen to 73 cents (latest available data).
Carbon pricing instruments currently in use - compliance-based instruments like carbon taxes and emissions trading schemes; baseline and credit systems like carbon credits
Compliance-based carbon pricing instruments covering nearly 23% of global greenhouse emissions are in place. Revenues from these crossed USD 100 billion in 2023 - highest ever
Investment in grids reached USD 375 billion in 2023, in battery storage - USD 40 billion
Electricity prices in some European countries hit all-time lows in 2024
Spain achieved record-high solar power production in the first quarter of 2024 with prices averaging 43 USD/MWh – and sometimes approaching zero. Germany and the Netherlands also experienced brief periods of negative prices in March 2024.
Four countries - China, India, Russia and the Philippines - continue to make significant investment in coal-based power, while Europe, the US and rest of Asia are investing in gas-based power
Nearly 32GW of hydropower projects received final investment decisions (FIDs) in 2023, mostly for pumped hydro projects. Led by China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Viet Nam, Angola
Countries with government initiatives for energy R&D - USA, South Korea, Austria, the UK
Energy startups have outperformed those in other sectors, since 2021
Growth in global VC investment by sector of start-ups, Src: World Energy Investment 2024, IEA Energy start-ups in the US received most funding in 2023. In China, batteries and energy storage start-ups, and in India electric vehicle and charging infrastructure startups attracted most investment.
Press Release | IEA - World Energy Investment 2024 (PDF)
Top Stories
Canada- and UK-based Varme Energy is combining waste-to-energy with carbon capture for waste management.
In January, the City of Edmonton awarded Varme a 15-year contract to collect and process 200,000 tonnes per year of municipal solid waste beginning in 2027. The new, sustainable project will integrate carbon capture technology to safely and cleanly incinerate waste and produce affordable clean electricity, all while creating well-paying jobs for Albertans, lowering home energy costs, diverting waste from landfills, and reducing emissions.
The Canada Growth Fund, a government vehicle, will purchase up to 200,000 tonnes of carbon credits from the project for a period of 15 years at a price of CAD 85 per tonne plus escalation. Govt Press Release | Varme Energy
US-based RepAir is a direct air capture(DAC) company that has developed a low-energy use solution for capturing CO2 from the atmosphere. RepAir claims a levelised cost of capture at $50 per ton, at the gigaton scale, and uses 600kWh energy per ton of CO2 removed.
The all-electric system (no heat needed) operates at ambient temperature and uses electric current to generate hydroxides, which bind CO2 to form carbonate and bicarbonate ions. The membrane between the electrodes allows only these ions to pass, which are then decomposed back to CO2 and hydroxides.
Illustration of cell used for carbon capture by RepAir, Src: RepAir website The polarity of the electrodes is then reversed to allow the process to be repeated in the opposite direction. RepAir’s cells can be stacked in series to scale up the carbon capture capacity. The company is setting up a pilot in Greece to capture CO2 and store it in a saline aquifer, with a planned capacity for capturing 3 million tons of CO2 per year. Press Release | RepAir website
EU’s LH2CRAFT project is developing a containment system for liquid hydrogen for marine transport that will allow vessels to carry a large capacity of liquid hydrogen at -253℃. Offshore Energy | LH2CRAFT | American Bureau of Shipping - Requirements for Hydrogen Fueled Vessels (PDF)
Barbados is collaborating with Ireland-based wave energy developer Seabased to setup a 2MW pilot wave power park off its coast that will supply energy for producing green hydrogen. Offshore Energy | Seabased Press Release
Switzerland has voted in favour of the renewable electricity bill that aims to expand solar power production; improve planning for wind, hydropower and solar; and enable more funding for production, storage and transport of electricity. Jurist | Switzerland - Federal Act on a Secure Electricity Supply from Renewable Energy Sources
Taiwan’s Carbon Credit Trading Platform, which launched in December 2023, has listed its first Verra-registered carbon dioxide removal project - the Myanmar mangrove blue carbon project that involves community-led mangrove restoration and planting.
The Taiwan Carbon Solution Exchange (TCX) offers two main pillars for domestic carbon credits. The Voluntary Emission Reduction Project allows enterprises to transfer, trade, and auction publicly and transparently to those who need to offset carbon fees or meet the offset plan requirements.
Secondly, the application of the GHC Offset Emissions Plan offers several carbon reduction measures for enterprises to obtain offset quotas. These offset quotas can be used for the environmental impact assessment requirements of new or changed emission sources by the business. AlliottGlobal
RMI recommends “clean repowering” to bypass the interconnection backlog for renewable energy projects in the US. Rather than applying for new connections, projects with a total capacity of ~250GW can apply to use interconnections in place for existing projects by
using either the surplus interconnection process (adding resources without removing existing generation) or the generator replacement process (where new clean energy resources take the place of existing generation)
MIT scientists have trained a computer vision model that can help determine the suitability of new semiconductor materials for use in electronics. For new combinations of semiconductors, typically a human expert would check the absorption spectrum for each sample to determine the wavelengths the semiconductor absorbs the most. This allows about 20 samples to be checked every hour. The newly trained model is able ‘look’ at the absorption data for each sample across a wider range of wavelengths and do this ~85 times faster.
“We were constantly shocked by how these algorithms were able to not just increase the speed of characterization, but also to get accurate results,” Siemenn says. “We do envision this slotting into the current automated materials pipeline we’re developing in the lab, so we can run it in a fully automated fashion, using machine learning to guide where we want to discover these new materials, printing them, and then actually characterizing them, all with very fast processing.” MIT News
Saudi Arabia is building one of the largest carbon capture facilities in the world to capture emissions from gas plants on its east coat. The project includes a 200km+ pipeline network and onshore geological storage with a storage capacity of 14 million tons per annum of CO2 equivalent by 2035. OGV Energy
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