Plus: Solar+Storage gets competitive; VW to spend $B’s to connect e-cars and start e-car share; 1st electric autonomous container ship
Hi Everyone,
I want to be careful at pointing the finger at India being the poster child of the problem for moving off fossil fuels, because the developed world helped create the climate crisis in the first place. Yet it is important to understand the challenges India faces – as the problems there are many and complex – providing a very sobering look at how slow the transition might take there. The sheer size of India’s contribution to global emissions, along with China and other parts of Asia, show them to be the front lines for the climate war, not oil pipelines in Canada and the US. To learn more – I highly recommend reading in full the Economist piece I profile this week.
Quite the collection of other stories this week – not all ‘material’ to the transition, though interesting nonetheless. Call them early weak signals, perhaps.
As always, send this on to others who may be interested.
Thanks,
Peter
India shows how hard it is to move beyond fossil fuels
Just read the whole article, please.
In case you missed my intro: I want to be careful at pointing the finger at India being the poster child of the problem for moving off fossil fuels, because the developed world helped create the climate crisis in the first place. Yet it is important to understand the challenges India faces – as the problems there are many and complex – providing a very sobering look at how slow the transition might take there. The sheer size of India’s contribution to global emissions, along with China and other parts of Asia, show them to be the front lines for the climate war, not oil pipelines in Canada and the US.
Excerpt: Last year, just as Western banks and global development agencies were shunning coal projects on environmental grounds, India, the world’s second-biggest burner after China, consumed an additional 27m tonnes, a rise of 4.8%. That led to the first increase in global coal consumption in four years, says BP, an oil company. Demand in China also picked up slightly, and there were big increases from Bangladesh and Pakistan to the Philippines and South Korea. Such is the supply and demand that prices for thermal coal, the type used for generating electricity, are at their highest since 2012, and have more than doubled in the past two years. Economist
DTE begins work on $1B Michigan gas plant
Comment: Another example of the yet strong demand for natural gas.
Excerpt: DTE Energy on Tuesday broke ground on a new $1 billion gas-fired power plant in Michigan, a key part of the utility’s plan to reduce carbon emissions by more than 80% and to entirely phase out coal generation by 2040. Utility Dive
VW to spend billions to transform cars, start ‘We Share’ service
I have to point to two articles to get the main points across:
VW will deploy 2,000 electric cars in Berlin for a new car sharing service
Excerpt: VW announced today the deployment of what could be one of the largest all-electric car fleets through its new ‘We Share‘ car sharing service. Berlin is going to be the first city to get the service and it will start with a fleet of 2,000 electric cars. Electrek
Volkswagen will spend $4 billion to connect its cars to the Internet of Things
Excerpt: Volkswagen plans to make a big push through 2025 to fully connect its cars to the Internet of Things, beginning with its first all-electric car — the I.D. — in 2020. The move is part of an effort to streamline the onboard electronics of its vehicles, while at the same time making possible autonomous driving functions which should start appearing in Volkswagen Auto Group cars during the same time. Digital Trends
Stacking concrete blocks is a surprisingly efficient way to store energy
Simulation of a large-scale Energy Vault plant
Excerpt: Here’s how it works: A 120-meter (nearly 400-foot) tall, six-armed crane stands in the middle. In the discharged state, concrete cylinders weighing 35 metric tons each are neatly stacked around the crane far below the crane arms. When there is excess solar or wind power, a computer algorithm directs one or more crane arms to locate a concrete block, with the help of a camera attached to the crane arm’s trolley. Quartz
VW receives massive order of 1,600 all-electric trucks
Comment: When Tesla announced its big electric semi, I said the smarter move would have been to go after electrifying the smaller delivery trucks. Shorter driving distances between stops for recharging is the main reason, but generally lower entry costs as well. Plus, charging infrastructure doesn’t need to be spread out over continents, rather just in specific cities, likely in depots. Smart moves by VW and Ambev.
Excerpt: VW has received what could very well be the largest order of all-electric trucks to date. Ambev, an important Brazilian brewery, has committed to electrify its delivery fleet and placed an order for 1,600 all-electric trucks with Volkswagen. Electrek
WaveSense adapts ground-penetrating radar tech for self-driving cars
Comment: Could this keep autonomous cars on the road in white-out conditions of Canadian winters?
Excerpt: Technology pioneered by MIT and adopted by the military can keep self-driving cars on the road in all kinds of weather. The way it works is the WaveSense system will scan up to 10 feet below the surface of the road in order to lock on to stable ground. It can then use this data, combined with data from the vehicle’s other onboard sensors, to build itself a map of subterranean features which is can then use to maintain its position on the road.
Obviously that is a supersimplified version of what is a technologically complex process, but the company says the system has been proven to work at an accuracy of up to 1 inch at highway speeds, regardless of road conditions. CNET
A 550-ton floating turbine smashes records in a significant step forward for tidal power
Comment: The biggest challenges for this technology is the cost for the power output, as acknowledges by the developer. That, and the potential marine environment impacts of two large spinning blades underwater.
Excerpt: The 2 megawatt (MW) SR2000 turbine produced more than 3 gigawatt hours (GWh) of renewable electricity in less than 12 months, Scotrenewables Tidal Power said in a statement Tuesday. The turbine is located at the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, Scotland. CNBC
The World’s First Electric Autonomous Container Ship To Set Sail In Norway
Excerpt: It’s been commissioned by the Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer Yara International, which plans to commute with the freighter between ports and thus abandon use of diesel-powered trucks. According to Yara International, the electric ship should able to replace a total of 40,000 truck journeys a year. Though it’s not a particularly large cargo ship, 70 meters long and 14 meters wide with 120 containers on board. The ship will be delivered in 2020 and plans are for it to be fully autonomous and operational by 2022. The Beam
Thermal energy storage drops refrigerated warehouse’s peak demand by 29%
Excerpt: Ice storage has largely proven its worth, with projects utilizing cheaper energy to freeze a solution that can be later used for cooling during times of peak demand.
Viking’s test at the Dreisbach Enterprises’ frozen food distribution center showed a significant drop in weekly energy use and an even greater drop in peak refrigeration load.
In a sign of the increasing interest in thermal energy storage, last year, Massachusetts tapped Genbright and Ice Energy for a $1.5 million grant to utilize thermal energy storage at residential sites, and for peak demand reductions. In California, Ice Energy and NRG Energy partnered on 1,800 Ice Bear 30 storage solutions to commercial and industrial buildings in Orange County, Calif., as part of Southern California Edison’s storage procurement efforts. Utility Dive
China spent $12B on renewable power in Europe and Australia
Excerpt: “China is now a driver of the European energy transformation, and its international leadership in low-emissions sectors of the future are entirely aligned with efforts to increase China’s global economic influence,” said Simon Nicholas, a Sydney-based IEEFA analyst. “While Chinese foreign renewable energy investments were boosted by the launch five years ago of its Belt and Road Initiative, its foreign renewable energy investment now extends well beyond that framework. This is a superpower taking its energy policy global.” Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (whew – a mouthful…and a new one to me)
Why Alaska might seriously consider a carbon tax
Excerpt: When carbon taxes keep getting scrapped by blue states like Washington and Oregon, why would such a plan succeed in Alaska: a red state where oil companies are a major economic lifeline?
Necessity is one explanation. Alaskans have been at the forefront of climate change for decades now, facing melting permafrost, coastal erosion, and rising seas. And dealing with these problems — building new infrastructure and relocating communities, for instance — is expensive. By 2030, climate change could add another $3 to $6 billion in costs to public infrastructure alone. A carbon tax could help pay for the state’s ballooning climate costs. Grist
Dutch fashion company C&A launches ‘world’s most sustainable jeans’
Excerpt: The Dutch-headquartered fashion company said it took more than a year to design the jeans, the first to earn “Cradle to Cradle” (C2C) gold certification.
Developed in collaboration with Fashion for Good, the jeans are made from sustainable and non-toxic materials with some elements, such as the lining and thread, having been completely redeveloped, C&A said. The product is made in factories that run on renewable power and enforce high social standards.
The jeans’ materials can be recirculated safely back into industrial process or composted into the soil at the end of their life — although C&A encourages customers to keep the clothes in use for as long as possible. GreenBiz
Here comes the sun: Solar plus storage energy solutions get competitive
Excerpt: Xcel’s preliminary analysis from December (a more thorough report is expected to come out this month) showed that the median bids for battery storage projects coupled with solar and wind generation came in at about $36 and $21 per megawatt-hour, respectively. The prices of projects that combined solar or wind with storage, according to the report, were still more expensive than conventional fuels but only marginally more expensive than bids for standalone solar or wind projects. What it shows, analysts say, is that utilities can use batteries without adding huge costs to renewable projects.
The industry still faces some headwinds. Analysts say costs need to decrease even more for batteries plus renewables to compete head-on with most conventional fuels. GreenBiz