Plus: Dial back on climate ambition continues; Jera chases green ammonia; Zero emission buildings in Europe by 2030; Record batteries in Australia
Hi everyone,
I am taking some time off, so watch for the next issue in early May. And for this issue, a bit lighter on the number of stories, but I make up for in breadth of topics. Included is some further thinking on solving for climate change in cities – see Peter’s Take.
Thanks,
Peter
Peter’s take: Solving for Climate Change in Cities
I have been busy putting some time into trying to influence thinking in my home city of Calgary regarding a proposed change to enable gentle densification city-wide. Check out my blog post: Guest Blog: Seven Myths About R-CG Zoning Debunked (calgarysfuture.ca). My intent was to dispel the many fears I’ve heard expressed by people.
The topic is due to be decided at City Council this week, with what is expected to be among the longest hearings ever starting today. I posted on the many merits of doing so in my February 26 issue: The Case for Denser Cities.
Carrying on the urbanism theme, I offer two videos. The first from “Oh the Urbanity” shows how the two largest cities in Alberta – Edmonton and Calgary are underrated for their urbanism. Calgary’s C-train, it’s light rail transit has remarkably high ridership compared to other cities in the US. You get this newsletter in large part because I use the time traveling back and forth to work on the C-train to read my news feeds. With more than 264,000 daily riders (Q4 2023), Calgary’s C-train moves more people than San Francisco’s BART, Muni Metro and Caltrain, combined – despite the latter serving a far more populous area.
Next is a video from RM Transit, highlighting the lack of train service from Edmonton and Calgary’s airports into their respective downtowns, offering design suggestions.
The point of all this content is that denser cities, served by well-designed transit and bikeable neighborhoods offers a practical solution to lowering our demand for oil and gas and the related emissions. This is solving climate change in the places many of us call home: cities.
Finance & Sentiment
Zurich Insurance to Halt Coverage of New Fossil-Fuel Exposures | BNN Bloomberg
Zurich Insurance Group AG will no longer underwrite new oil and gas projects, and is cracking down on clients planning to expand in metallurgical coal mining. The restrictions also entail asking the highest-emitting corporate customers to reduce their carbon footprints, the company told Bloomberg.
Climate target organisation faces staff revolt over carbon-offsetting plan | The Guardian
[Excerpt] The UN-backed Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), which certifies whether a company is on track to help limit global heating to under 1.5C, has validated hundreds of net zero plans from companies including J Sainsbury plc, John Lewis and Maersk. Until now, the SBTi has ruled out the use of carbon offsets, instead emphasising the importance of deep greenhouse gas emissions cuts. But on Tuesday, the SBTi board of trustees released plans to allow carbon credits in their net zero standard by permitting companies to use them to offset emissions from their supply chains, known as scope 3 emissions.
See also: Inside the Controversy That’s Divided the Carbon Offsets Market | BNN Bloomberg
Scotland abandons 2030 climate goal citing credibility concerns | edie
The Scottish Government has ditched its target of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 75% by 2030 after a recent report revealed that the goal is ‘no longer credible’; nevertheless, the Government remains committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2045.
[Comment] The aspiration of the ambition was good. But ambition is now meeting reality. Another reminder of how challenging the energy transition is. This is going to take longer than many of us hoped. Watch for more of the same coming from other jurisdictions. And companies too. Take Unilever, for example.
ESG Poster Child Unilever Waters Down Green Pledges | BNN Bloomberg
Unilever Plc plans to abandon or water down a string of environmental and social pledges against the backdrop of a growing backlash from investors, consumers and politicians against companies pursuing non-financial objectives.
AI Computing Is on Pace to Consume More Energy Than India, Arm Says | Financial Post
AI’s voracious need for computing power is threatening to overwhelm energy sources, requiring the industry to change its approach to the technology, according to Arm Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer Rene Haas.
[Comment] Repeats on a theme I posted on a while back asking: how much will we have to pay to be able to use AI?
Chevron arm launches $500 million fund to invest in low carbon technologies | Reuters
[Excerpt] Like the previous two funds, the Future Energy Fund III will focus on innovations in industrial decarbonization, emerging mobility, energy decentralization and the growing circular carbon economy, Chevron Technology Ventures said.
Adaptation
Greece Invests Over €2 Billion to Fight Climate Change Effects | BNN Bloomberg
Greece is investing €2.1 billion ($2.27 billion) to protect the nation from natural disasters caused by climate change as wildfires are already breaking out ahead of fire season, which normally starts in May. The Aegis program is the first of its kind in Greece.
Technology
Hydrogen
French Hydrogen Taxi-Rental Firm HysetCo Raises €200 Million to Expand Refueling Network | BNN Bloomberg
HysetCo SAS, a startup that rents hydrogen-powered electric vehicles to hundreds of taxi drivers around Paris, raised nearly €200 million ($218 million) to expand its operations beyond the French capital.
CF Industries (CF), JERA Execute Ammonia Agreement | Yahoo Finance
CF stated that it has executed a joint development agreement (JDA) with JERA Co., Inc. to develop greenfield low-carbon ammonia production capacity at CF Industries’ Blue Point Complex in Louisiana. The JDA will guide JERA and CF Industries’ review of a joint venture agreement to construct a low-carbon ammonia plant with a capacity of roughly 1.4 million metric tons. JERA and CF Industries plan to make a final investment decision on the planned project within a year, with production beginning in 2028.
[Comment] Jera is busy working its options, including in India: ReNew, Jera collaborating on green ammonia project in India
Canadian Green H2 Project Gets Environmental Green Light | Rigzone
Canada’s World Energy GH2 has secured environmental approval for Project Nujio’qonik, a fully integrated, commercial-scale wind-to-green hydrogen project, from the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. World Energy noted that a three-GW wind farm will deliver approximately 250,000 tons/year of hydrogen using 1.5-GW electrolyzers.
Carbon Capture
MHI to supply carbon capture for world’s first full-scale cement CCUS project | Gas World
The US arm of building materials giant Heidelberg Materials has unveiled the next phase of its selection process for carbon capture technology and contractors for the Edmonton, Alberta carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) Project. MHI-LCSC, a division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) Group specialising in CO₂ capture services and clean fuel initiatives in Canada, along with Kiewit, have secured a front end engineering design (FEED) contract for the carbon capture technology at the Edmonton CCUS project.
Geothermal
US DoD investing in advanced geothermal tech | Defense One
[Summary courtesy of Energy Weekly by GreenBiz] The Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit said that it will work with six technology companies to use advanced geothermal energy technologies for projects at four Air Force and Army installations in Alaska, California, Idaho and Texas. With the new plants, “DoD is doubling its efforts to leverage advancements in geothermal commercial technologies for energy resilience and support DoD carbon free energy goals,” said Michael Callahan, a senior advisor and program manager for the Defense Innovation Unit’s energy portfolio.
The Grid
Maryland is first US state to pass vehicle-to-grid legislation, virtual power plant tariff | Energy Storage News
The US state of Maryland will require utilities to allow electric vehicles (EVs) with bidirectional chargers to connect to the distribution grid after new legislation was passed last week. In addition to its “first-of-a-kind” treatment of bidirectional vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, the act also enables the creation of distributed energy resource (DER) virtual power plants that pool the capabilities of home solar PV, batteries, smart thermostats, and other equipment.
Urban Design & Buildings
Transforming Energy Efficiency: The Case for Digital Home Energy Labels | Alberta Ecotrust
[Excerpt] A recent pilot project led by the Alberta Ecotrust Foundation and funded by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation demonstrated the potential of digital home energy labels. Using Lightspark’s technology, the project predicted the energy use of all single-family homes in Edmonton and Calgary, providing a market-accessible digital energy label for display on a map.
Better heat pumps for commercial buildings are coming soon | Canary Media
The U.S. Department of Energy has launched a program to turbocharge the manufacture and deployment of next-generation heat pumps for commercial buildings.
EU Adopts Rules Requiring All New Buildings to Be Zero Emissions by 2030 | ESG Today
The European Council announced today that it has formally adopted the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), with new rules aimed at reducing energy use and emissions from buildings across the EU, including targets for all new buildings to be zero emissions by 2030, and to phase out the use of fossil fuels in building heating systems by 2040.
Small Modular Reactors
X-energy and TransAlta to study small modular reactor deployment in Alberta | Power Engineering
Advanced nuclear developer X-energy and Canadian power producer TransAlta are partnering to study the deployment of X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular reactors (SMRs) in Alberta. Supported through funding from Emissions Reduction Alberta (ERA), the study aims to assess the feasibility of repurposing a fossil fuel-fired generation site for an Xe-100 plant.