The EcoTech Synthesis – how to judge climate change solutions

The EcoTech Synthesis – how to judge climate change solutions

ByWayne Willlis

EcoTech Note: This post will be pinned to the top of the blog to define the “scope” of what will be covered here and to define terms found in the EcoTech Synthesis, summarized below.

I think this may be the most important post I’ve ever contributed personally, and I’d appreciate your reading it and giving me any feedback you have.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, CleanTech must displace DirtyTech in all sectors. That will only happen when CleanTech is cheaper than DirtyTech. And THAT will happen if we support CleanTech’s “learning curve” reductions in unit costs and/or if the cost of DirtyTech rises owing to carbon pricing.

Turbine Blades Have Piled Up in Landfills. A Solution May Be Coming.

Turbine Blades Have Piled Up in Landfills. A Solution May Be Coming.

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Here’s a good microeconomics case.  These recyclable wind turbine blades are “3 to 8 percent more expensive than traditional blades.” When retired, they can avoid being tossed into a landfill and be melted (at about 440º F) into an elastic liquid that can be molded into a new shape.

If the Green Premium is calculated on the “total cost of ownership,” the higher upfront cost will be offset by avoided landfill costs and the profit on the sale of the products created from the recycled wind turbine blade.

The blades on the newest wind turbines sweep an area longer than a football field and are nearly impossible to recycle.

At the end of their life span of around 20 years, they are chopped into pieces and buried in a handful of landfills across the Great Plains. But this waste problem from a growing source of low carbon energy could become a headache of the past.

Server Racks on Data Center
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Hungry for Clean Energy, Facebook Looks to a New Type of Geothermal

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:   Here’s a good example of a “power purchasing agreement,” probably at above-market rates, whereby Facebook (Meta, Inc.) will buy power from Sage Power in Texas.  Sage uses the same “enhanced geothermal” technology, borrowed from the fracking used in oil-and-gas drilling, that is used by Fervo, which is doing something similar in Nevada.  These new projects are bringing down the Green Premium, with a “levelized cost of energy” (LCOE) of about $0.06/kwh.  See also the promise of even better geothermal in the Quaise project in California.

Big tech companies across the United States are struggling to find enough clean energy to power all the data centers they plan to build.

Now, some firms are betting on ….

Clean Electricity Breaks New Records

Clean Electricity Breaks New Records

ByAdmin

The global transition to clean electricity has reached important new milestones and is set to continue at the current pace. According to a pair of new reports by research provider BloombergNEF (BNEF), for the first time ever, zero-carbon sources made up over 40% of the electricity the world generated in 2023. Hydro power accounted for 14.7%, while wind and solar contributed almost as much at 13.9% – a new record high. Nuclear’s share was 9.4%.

These findings emerge from two reports published today by BNEF: Power Transition Trends 2024, and the 2H 2024 Renewable Energy Investment Tracker, which indicate that momentum towards clean power has also accelerated, with wind and solar representing nearly 91% of net new power capacity additions in 2023 – up from 83% the year before – while fossil fuels including coal and gas represented just 6% of net new build – the lowest level ever.

Germany shows how permitting reform works
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Germany shows how permitting reform works

ByAdmin

EcoTech Note:  Here’s a mangled meme — “Necessity is a mother.” Germany faced an energy crisis after the Russia-Ukraine war interrupted their supply of natural gas. Needing more energy, fast, they reformed their permitting process … and, predictably, clean energy supplies poured onto their grid.

In the Fall, we in the US have a similar opportunity. See Big News: Bipartisan Permitting Reform Legislation Is Moving!

Talk to renewable-energy executives for long enough and almost everyone will complain about the time it takes to get government permits to build their power plants. Unless you’re operating in Germany these days.

“We’re quite pleased,” said Karsten Brüggemann, vice president of Nordex, which manufactures wind turbines. Particularly since 2022, he said, Nordex has seen a rapid rise in the number of turbines deployed and future wind farms permitted.

US Snowboard Champ Pitches Green Shipping for Maersk

US Snowboard Champ Pitches Green Shipping for Maersk

ByAdmin
EcoTech Note:  Ocean shipping has long been considered “hard to abate,” but here’s the 4th of 12 new container ships from Maersk using sustainable fuels composed of “green methanol.”  The Green Premium is about 15% – 20%.

Maersk CEO Vincent Clerc called on the Biden Administration to make the incentives for sustainable fuels provided by the Inflation Reduction Act available to maritime fuels, too.  For now, companies like Amazon, Nike, H&M, Volvo, and Nestle have agreed to pay the premium in order to help meet their own GHG goals.

Snowboarder Chloe Kim may not be an obvious patroness of green shipping. But it makes sense: The two-time gold medalist shares her hometown with the busiest port complex in the US. She’s also a climate advocate.

Finalized federal plan outlines future of Nevada, Western solar development
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Finalized federal plan outlines future of Nevada, Western solar development

ByAdmin

Nearly one-fifth of Nevada’s public lands could open up to utility-scale solar development under the Bureau of Land Management’s final Western Solar Plan — drawing the support of solar developers and the ire of conservationists.

The document released Thursday designates about 18,000 square miles or 11.8 million acres — roughly 17 percent — of the state’s public lands for possible large-scale solar projects, identified as 5 megawatts and larger.

Currently, only about 15 percent of the state’s BLM-administered land is available for possible solar development. In addition to calling for nearly 12 million acres in Nevada to be open to solar development, the final plan increases the total acreage available across the West from 22 million to 31 million acres.

Most Climate Policies Don’t Work. Here’s What Science Says Does Reduce Emissions.

Most Climate Policies Don’t Work. Here’s What Science Says Does Reduce Emissions.

ByAdmin

An evaluation of more than 1,500 climate policies in 41 countries found that only 63 actually worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

“The commonality in those successful cases is where we see subsidies and regulations being combined with price-based policy instruments,” said Nicolas Koch, senior researcher at the Berlin-based Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change and an author of the study. “This means carbon pricing, and it could be energy taxes, it could be vehicle taxes.”

Earth broke all-time heat record two days in a row, scientists say

Earth broke all-time heat record two days in a row, scientists say

ByAdmin

Global temperatures hit the highest levels in recorded history on Monday — breaking a record set only 24 hours earlier, according to preliminary data from Europe’s top climate monitor. The consecutive historic days — which came on the heels of 13 straight months of unprecedented temperatures and the hottest year scientists have ever seen — are yet another worrying sign of how human-caused climate change is pushing the planet to dangerous new extremes, scientists say.

Before July 2023, Earth’s daily average temperature record — set in August 2016 — was 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit). But in the past year, the global temperature has exceeded that old record on 58 days.

New Rhodium Report Shows GHG Declines based on Policy Choices

New Rhodium Report Shows GHG Declines based on Policy Choices

ByAdmin

Rhodium Group has a new report out, Taking Stock 2024: US Energy and Emissions Outlook. Consistent with other analyses, they anticipate that US climate pollution will reach 32–43% below 2005 levels by 2030 based on current policies. Rhodium concludes:

“Developers face challenges with long interconnection queues, increasing local opposition to installations, onerous siting and permitting processes, lack of sufficient transmission capacity, continued supply chain constraints, and inflation … [rapid clean energy deployment] will not happen without additional policy action to overcome the non-cost barriers facing clean electricity deployment today, such as siting and permitting, interconnection, and supply chain challenges.”

Big News: Bipartisan Permitting Reform Legislation Is Moving!

Big News: Bipartisan Permitting Reform Legislation Is Moving!

ByWayne Willlis

Co-sponsored by the top two leaders in the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 was introduced on Monday and has already garnered support from CCL, clean energy groups, public interest groups, and trade groups representing the fossil fuel industry.  Some groups, like the Center for Biological Diversity and Earth Justice are solidly against the Act, and the Sierra Club says it falls short of their standards to get their support (yet?).

This post reports on the legislative timelines, links to statements from the various interest groups and summaries of the Act itself.

CCL concludes: “It’s a really good bill!”