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The March Budget 2021 and the Thunberg/Attenborough Effect: the myth of building back better rather than decarbonising

Posted on February 26, 2021 by dishanth

“The primary challenge facing humanity is climate change. UK government policy must acknowledge that the primary challenge is not about ‘building back’ focusing on developing a revised economy that will be ‘better’ in some general way, but on decarbonising lifestyles. This process of decarbonising lifestyles will destroy jobs and firms but will create new opportunities. Our lifestyles must change including major alterations in the ways in which we consume.”

John R. Bryson, Professor of Enterprise and Economic Geography, University of Birmingham,

There is no question that climate change is the most important challenge facing this planet. On 3 March 2021, Rishi Sunak, the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, will present the 2021 budget. This will be an extraordinary budget for extraordinary times. The pre-budget media discussions commenced late last year, but there have been silent voices including those of Greta Thunberg and Sir David Attenborough. Next week, when you reflect on the budget, I would encourage you to consider how Thunberg and Attenborough would have used this political moment to shape a new national trajectory towards a decarbonised future.

All nation-states continue to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The focus continues to be on reducing cases and transmission, vaccination and protecting the most vulnerable, health services and social care, education, childcare and protecting the economy. Over the medium term, a primary policy objective is to keep COVID-19 case numbers as low as possible once the current outbreak has been suppressed.

The March budget needs to set the tone for this government’s approach to balancing policy interventions intended to temper the impacts of COVID-19 on liveability and livelihoods with fiscal sustainability combined with addressing major global societal challenges including decarbonization. The UK economy will not return to as it was prior to the pandemic. There have been permanent changes in the labour market that reflect alterations in the ways in which goods and services are produced, traded, and consumed. These alterations will impact on everyone and transform national finances.

COVID-19 has destroyed jobs, firms, and lives, but the destructive impact of this pandemic will be nothing compared to climate change. Climate change will destroy cities, countries, businesses, and there will be increases in mortality and morbidity rates. One of the COVID-19 recovery mantras is based around the expression ‘build back better’. This approach was developed in 2015 by the United Nations as a crisis response strategy focussing on “integrating disaster risk reduction measures into the restoration of physical infrastructure and societal systems” (United Nations, 2017: 6). The emphasis was on recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.

This three ‘B’ approach is dangerous as it is too general. Everyone will define ‘better’ in their own terms. Thus, the UK Build Back Better Campaign defines ‘better’ in terms of protecting public services, tackling inequalities in communities, provide well-paid jobs and creating a shockproof economy which can fight the climate crisis. This is all very well, but the primary challenge facing humanity is climate change. UK government policy must acknowledge that the primary challenge is not about ‘building back’ focusing on developing a revised economy that will be ‘better’ in some general way, but on decarbonising lifestyles. This process of decarbonising lifestyles will destroy jobs and firms but will create new opportunities. Our lifestyles must change including major alterations in the ways in which we consume.

New approaches must be developed based on taxation innovation driving alterations in lifestyles and business behaviour. For example, there are taxation solutions to the demise of high street retailing. These include replacing a property tax (business rates) with a sales tax and developing a taxation approach to forcing owners of retail properties to adopt turnover-based rents.

The key question is to consider the implications for Rishi Sunak as his team prepares for the 3 March 2021 Budget. There are three points to consider.

First, the UK government needs to raise revenue, and this will be a continuing challenge for this government and the next. Any increase must be staggered; a crisis is not the time to raise taxes. Over the short-term this will include increases in the corporation tax rate from its current 19%. Over the medium-term it will include increases in VAT and in personal taxation, but ideally these increases must be targeted at carbon-intensive activities, including lifestyles.

Second, the chancellor must continue to support companies and households as they experience the direct impacts of COVID-19. There will be an extension to current government COVID-19 support measures including the furlough scheme, the VAT cut for the hospitality and tourism sectors, the business rates holiday, and the temporary uplift to Universal Credit. The impact of the pandemic on government finances suggests that spending on these support measures will need to taper as the economy begins to recover.

Third, there is a danger that the COVID-19 support measures may be encouraging firms to continue to maintain current business models, products, and services. There needs to be a rapid shift towards products and services that support decarbonised lifestyles and that respond to some of the permanent alterations in labour markets and lifestyles that have emerged with COVID-19. Government policy, including taxation, must be developed that forces companies to innovate to support decarbonisation and to discourage carbon-intensive lifestyles.

The March 2021 budget must focus on the current crisis, but now is the time not to build back better, but to develop an effective cross-party approach to decarbonising our futures. This will require disruptive innovation and radical changes to everyday living.

One can only hope that the March budget places climate change at the centre of the political agenda. The danger is that talk about addressing climate change displaces action. Developing a climate change informed approach to taxation is an excellent starting point. The key question is: how far the March 2021 budget goes towards achieving this?

Source Eco News AU

Is it worth tracking your carbon footprint?

Posted on February 26, 2021 by dishanth

Increasingly concerned about the environment, for the past few years Alya Annabi, 26, has taken steps to live a more sustainable lifestyle, with the digital learning manager refilling goods at plastic-free stores, making her own skincare from scratch and composting her kitchen waste.

But in the past year Ms Annabi has decided to take her environmental mission to the next level by tracking her carbon emissions.

Using an app called Capture, which calculates users’ monthly CO2 targets by asking a series of questions such as how many flights per year you take and what kind of diet you adhere to, and using GPS tracking to predict emissions from transportation, Ms Annabi is able to view an estimate of her carbon environmental impact.

“I’ve been on a more conscious journey for the past couple of years,” says Ms Annabi, who lives in Singapore. “I like to measure things so it’s a nice way to have real numbers.”

Seeing the higher carbon emissions from meat in her diet was one of the reasons behind her decision to go vegetarian. The app has also made her more aware of the type of transport she takes. “I definitely now try and walk more and take the bus or train rather than a car or taxi. I’m more mindful because I can see the numbers.”

With climate change affecting regions around the world and exacerbating extreme weather events, more people are looking at ways to lead a more planet-friendly lifestyle. Almost two thirds of people around the world now view climate change as a global emergency, according to the largest opinion poll on tackling global warming.

While the big impact on CO2 emissions will have to be made by governments and business, apps such as Capture and Almond are helping individuals measure their own carbon footprint, as well offering ways to offset emissions and providing tips on leading a lower carbon lifestyle.

“Measuring your carbon footprint can be quite motivating,” says Christian Arno founder of Pawprint MICAH STANABRIDGE

Billing itself as a “Strava for lower carbon living”, Edinburgh-based website Pawprint, which launched in September 2019 and is set to launch on the App store this month, works in a similar way to Capture, with users encouraged to answer questions about their lifestyle across areas such as home, diet, travel and consumer goods.

Questions range from how much you spend on electronics and gadgets every month to how much is spent on paper products like magazines and newspapers.

Based on such data, Pawprint then calculates your CO2 emissions and to help simplify it, equates it to how many miles driven. Using data provided and verified by carbon footprint expert Prof Mike Berners-Lee, it also encourages users to set their own carbon reduction goals.

Founder Christian Arno says he was inspired to start the company a few years ago after realising the danger posed by climate change: “I’d always been vaguely eco and would travel by train and so on but I wanted to see what changes I could make as an individual that would make a difference.

“There are apps for mental health, managing fitness… people are using apps for key numbers in their lives. Measuring your carbon footprint can be quite motivating. People are understanding even the difference the impact of different meats has on their carbon emissions.”

Can apps capture the carbon used in a complicated supply chain? GETTY IMAGES

But how accurate are such apps?

Prof Tahseen Jafry, director of Centre for Climate Justice at Glasgow Caledonian University, questions how they can capture the carbon footprint of everything we do.

“All of the products we consume come from various parts of the world,” she says. “How do we begin to look at the footprint of all of those materials that have gone into producing the range of products consumed? There’s huge complications to get any proper meaningful and useful data, so how accurate can these apps be?”

Nevertheless, carbon tracking features are being integrated into other services, including banking.

Based on individual transaction data, some customers are able to view their carbon footprints alongside their statements.

Using open banking technology provided by companies such as Icelandic tech company Meniga, and CoGo, spending – from a cup of copy to an energy bill – can be translated into a carbon equivalent.

Emma Kisby from CoGo wants more detail in her firm’s carbon tracking tech COPYRIGHT: COGO

Some 35 UK banks have so far joined CoGo, which has been downloaded 50,000 times since it launched in 2019. Customers can see a real-time personalised breakdown of their footprint, compare their results to the country average, and view information on ways they can reduce their score and offset emissions.

“People love seeing and tracking their carbon footprint,” says Emma Kisby, managing director UK of CoGo, which has headquarters in New Zealand.

“It’s educating [people] about carbon emissions, and then the next question [for users] is, ‘what do we do now?’ For example, people might look at carbon emissions associated with their clothing spend and think can I buy secondhand? Collectively, small actions can have an enormous impact.”

However, with the apps unable to distinguish what products users have bought – for example, if they bought new or second-hand goods on Ebay, how accurate is the data?

“It gets more complex when it gets to product level,” admits Ms Kisby. “That’s where we want to go into 2022… we are looking to do more work with businesses to open up to show product-level data.”

While those already awakened by the climate crisis and engaged in being more environmentally-friendly might be interested in tracking their carbon emissions, Prof Jafry questions the broader interest.

“How do we get the people not really interested in any of that to use them?” she asks.

By Suzanne Bearne
Technology of Business reporter

Source BBC

How to Transform Sustainability from an Empty Promise to the Guiding Star of Businesses

Posted on February 23, 2021 by dishanth

In the wake of Trump’s presidency and amidst the coronavirus pandemic, it is no surprise that people’s trust in the government is at a new low. As the 2021 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals, many people are looking to businesses to solve the societal and environmental problems they no longer believe the government is equipped to confront. Despite this transfer of trust from government to businesses, most businesses are not living up to this new responsibility.

Big corporations are hostages to growth and wealth creation. There is no getting away from the fact that they are hooked, addict-like to feeding on numbers. Despite all the evidence, despite all the talk of a new corporate consciousness being awakened by the monumental challenges humanity faces, the profit card continues to trump the purpose one.

It is not that big businesses can’t have a purpose, they can. The issue is that they are simply not ever going to be fit enough to deliver a purpose. They are simply the wrong kind of beast. Meat-eating wolves don’t become grass-eating sheep though they can do a pretty good job of dressing up like them – some of the time.

That is where Single Organizing Idea comes in. As we all know, business as usual is over — the world of work has changed. Businesses without a greater purpose beyond profit are increasingly being called out, struggling to respond or simply failing. While business leaders know that the pressure on them needs to be urgently addressed, few have the tools or systems required to deliver the kind of changes being demanded. Adding to the complexity, and despite best intentions, too many consultants and advisors are using outdated or fragmented models that do little to address the immediate issues, or deliver the long-term systemic changes critically needed. Single Organizing Idea (SOI®) was created to solve this problem.

SOI® is a strategy tool and management system. First conceived in 2005 by Neil Gaught,

SOI® is the culmination of many years of obsession with the challenges facing the business world and the inadequacies of ‘purpose’ to address those challenges.

Purpose is a tarnished old idea that is being promoted by out-of-date, noisy, attention and lobbying reliant big businesses who are themselves no longer fit for purpose. Businesses possess an array of unique attributes and the potential to make a huge contribution to all our futures. They will fail us in this regard, however, if we expect tacking on a CSR team or sustainability campaign, without altering the profit-centered structure of the rest of the company, to have any significant impact.

SOI® allows companies to discover their true, sustainable potential, then embed it at the heart of their mission and actions. By operating at the intersection of their economic and social strategy, these businesses thrive while simultaneously creating sustainable progress for all. The days of businesses doing the bare minimum to appear as though they care about more than just profit are over. The innovative potential of business is unparalleled, we must simply provide businesses with the tools to combine their strategy for growth with their strategy for benefiting people and the planet.

Source Single Organizing Idea

Environmental impact assessments in Singapore to be further strengthened: Desmond Lee

Posted on February 23, 2021February 23, 2021 by dishanth

SINGAPORE – The framework to guide how and when environmental studies should be done ahead of development works is being reviewed again, to see how they can be done in a way that is sensitive to the environment, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

Three areas are being reviewed, Mr Lee said during a virtual press conference held on Monday (Feb 22) to address concerns over the clearance of a Kranji vegetated plot before a biodiversity study there was completed.

First, a more comprehensive picture of Singapore’s nature areas and how they connect to one another will be developed.

The idea is to map out the islandwide ecosystem and connectivity to better consider how specific sites connect to nature areas, buffers and corridors.

“We will do this in a science-based manner on an islandwide scale and we’ll conduct baseline studies for specific sites to understand their ecological profile and their role in ecological connectivity,” he said.

“The findings from these studies will add to the existing data and connectivity models that my colleagues at NParks have built up over the years and help guide longer term planning.”

Second, the Ministry of National Development (MND) will review whether it is better to centralise the management of environmental impact assessment consultants instead of having individual developers manage their own.

Lastly, MND will explore the use of technology in the built environment sector and see how it can be applied to project management.

“We will learn from this incident and the discussions that have resulted. I hope that everyone, including our nature community, will continue to partner and support us in our efforts as we continually work to improve,” said Mr Lee.

On the Kranji clearance, he said that a thorough investigation will be done and the findings will be made public when ready.

“We will not hesitate to take the necessary action should any party be responsible,” he said.

A Kranji vegetated plot was cleared before a biodiversity study there was completed. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

But in parallel, his ministry will continue efforts to strengthen the environmental impact assessment (EIA) framework, Mr Lee added.

The review of the EIA framework announced on Monday (Feb 22) follows sweeping changes made to it last October.

The changes then had included the introduction of new biodiversity impact assessment guidelines, the enhancement of transparency of such environmental studies, as well as the roll-out of strategies to improve the planning process so developers take wildlife into consideration at an earlier stage. For instance, a course on basic ecology and the EIA process for planners from development agencies will be introduced.

“In our engagements with the nature community last year before we launched the enhancements, we had identified and discussed with them several ways to further strengthen the EIA process which we have been studying,” said Mr Lee.

“We had identified and discussed with them several ways to further strengthen the EIA process which we have been studying,” he said.

Asked if an EIA law was necessary, Mr Lee said that the requirements for the relevant studies – such as those that look at the flora and fauna of the area – are pegged to legislative gateways.

For instance, under the Planning Act, statutory permissions and conditions can be imposed for the conduct of these studies and investigations into biodiversity, said Mr Lee.

The Wildlife Act, which came into force last June, also gives the National Parks Board (NParks) greater regulatory and enforcement powers to look into and to impose the relevant studies and measures.

But other than through legal means, Mr Lee said there are other measures in place to improve the sensitivity of development to the environment in Singapore, citing the changes made to the EIA framework and the areas under review.

Source The Straits Times

Will Asian consumers pay for clean energy?

Posted on February 23, 2021 by dishanth

Will people in price-sensitive Asia only buy clean energy if it’s cheap? Eco-Business spoke to clean energy entrepreneurs about why consumer behaviour is lagging behind investment trends in Asia, and what can be done to persuade more people to switch to clean electricity.

Clean energy is on the rise, even in Asia, where fossil fuels play a stubbornly resilient role in the region’s energy story. The proportion of renewable energy consumed in Asia is projected to double within the decade.

The big question is, what will persuade the region’s consumers to switch to clean electricity? Will people in price-sensitive Asia only buy clean energy if it’s cheap?

A GlobalData consumer survey in 2019 showed that 45 per cent of consumers in Asia Pacific prefer to buy products that are “better for the environment”. Asian consumers also expect brands to care about society. Compared to just 41 per cent in the US and 46 per cent in the UK, 58 per cent of Asian consumers prefer to see brands leading meaningful initiatives in their communities.

But that does sentiment translate to the energy people consume?

Martin Lim, CEO of Singapore-based marketplace for retail electricity, Electrify.sg, says that although investors are showing a growing appetite for clean energy in Asia, consumers seem to be behind the curve. Out of about 66,000 residential rooftops in Singapore, less than 1,400 have adopted solar panels in their homes, he notes. Why?

Requiring about $20,000 in upfront investment, a home solar panel system in Singapore would still need about 6-10 years before it starts to provide owners with “free energy”; after offsetting the energy expenditure of household consumption.

Jeffrey Char, founder and CEO of SOGO Energy, a Japan-based renewable energy investment firm that serves rural communities in developing countries, believes that Asian consumers still tend to be rather price-sensitive, even in wealthier countries like Singapore.

Even if there’s a one-cent difference, the percentage of consumers who would pay extra would probably drop from 90 per cent to 10 per cent.

Jeffrey Char, CEO and founder, SOGO Energy

Increasing financial pressures in the region like household debt only serve to heighten the price sensitivity to “non-essential” or “luxury” goods.

Furthermore, Asian consumers are twice as likely as their American counterparts to tighten their wallets after a crisis. 60 per cent of consumers in this region are putting more money aside for rainy days post Covid-19, according to a study by Bain and Facebook.

Karlo Edesson Abril, accounts manager of Filipino solar energy developer SunAsia Energy, thinks that economic status is still the largest determinant of individuals’ power to vote with their wallets.

“Sustainability and green energy is the way to go, but for people who are just living from day to day, every peso counts. So if green energy is cheap, people will go for it, but price is still the main concern.”

What is causing clean energy inertia in Asia?

What experts agree on is that the lack of consumer demand is not due to the inefficacies of renewables, and emerging reports are proving renewables to be the lowest cost form of energy in many countries.

But larger factors are at play that makes switching less worthwhile.

For one, clean energy might cost more in developed countries, because of existing grid and pricing infrastructure that favours traditional energy sources.

“In Singapore, you flip a switch and the lights come on. In other parts of Asia, you have people whose generators go out all the time because of poor infrastructure. They’re using fossil fuels in a very suboptimal way, and it ends up being very expensive and very dirty. Having the choice to invest in clean energy versus fossil fuels from scratch, it makes sense for them to choose the former,” explains Char.

It is for this reason that rural Asia and Africa might leapfrog developed economies to clean energy “in the same way they didn’t build telephone networks and jumped straight to cell phones,” he says.

Levelling the playing field

While meeting global climate targets will likely depend on stronger demand for clean electricity in Asia, stakeholders are using a variety of approaches to help consumers make the switch.

SOGO allows its clients to completely avoid transmission costs by installing solar power locally, giving clean energy a 9 yen (USD$0.086) competitive advantage.

On a governmental level, support seems to be headed in the right direction. “I think it’s commendable for The Department of Energy in the Philippines to start quantifying generation instead of capacity, looking more at consumer-centric prices (kilowatt-hours) instead of installed capacity,” says Abril.

Nevertheless, it remains hard for clean energy projects to remain financially sustainable if they drain state funds with feed-in tariffs.

Perhaps the most recent and notable example of this is the Japanese government’s cutting of feed-in-tariff purchase prices towards 2019, even though the return of investment for post-Fukushima solar farms was staggeringly profitable.

“The investments in these solar farms [in Japan] took only about four years or less to break-even, which is twice as fast as that of anywhere else around the world,” Lim says. “But feed-in-tariffs is a model that eventually stops because the premium is paid for by the state.”

Governmental initiatives need to be complemented by market mechanisms to promote organic demand.

Clean energy washing?

A looming danger is that consumers might purchase the cheapest available clean energy plan—which might not actually reduce their carbon footprint.

Since the launch of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme 15 years ago, mandating big emitters to offset via carbon reduction projects, the demand boom for carbon offsets has resulted in incidences of fraud and greenwashing.

Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), which provide proof of a carbon offset, are a reliable way to offset emissions. Whereas a typical reforestation project might be time and cost-intensive, solar and wind projects are easy to audit even on a large scale, according to Kang Jen Wee, founder and CEO of renewable energy certification company Trecs.ai. But the currency is not flawless; RECs could be subject to double-counting or false reporting.

RECs emerged more than 10 years ago, as a tool to address flaws in the carbon crediting system. At that time, there was no high-speed broadband, but today we can tap on real-time data to avoid greenwashing.

Martin Lim, founder and CEO, Electrify.sg

To ensure a reliable offset, there are firms that specialise in verification, such as Trecs.ai, which holds REC sellers accountable. Using blockchain technology, every transaction can be tracked in the public domain, and consumers can find out exactly where their clean energy originates from by keying in the serial number of their purchased REC.

Meanwhile, Electrify works to attribute the energy in real-time, limiting the amount of clean energy one can buy to offset their emissions at each time period. This ensures sustainable rates of consumption.

Ultimately, consumers are more likely to switch to clean energy if they are made aware of its benefits.

“If we put environmental education in the general curriculum, we can educate everyone of the benefits of clean energy,” says Abril. Sustainability Reporting is also an important way to employees to be more conscious of their energy consumption choices and therefore carbon footprint, he says.

By Rachel Teng

Source Eco Business

Carbon reducing multi-million pound heating network backed

Posted on February 18, 2021 by dishanth

Plans for a new ‘carbon emission-reducing, energy efficient’ district heating network have been unveiled which will set out to support efforts to tackle climate change by cutting emissions from a new housing development by up to 70%.

The initiative is being backed by Teignbridge District Council, Exeter City Council and Devon County Council with funding of up to £7.3 million contributions to the £23 million capital investment project.

An advance payment of £50,000 will be made available for preliminary infrastructure works to take place.

According to Viridor, analysis suggests that the new heat network will reduce carbon emissions from new homes planned by up to 70% compared with natural gas fired boiler alternatives, delivering carbon savings of at least 2,500 tonnes per annum via a long-term low-carbon heat supply.

The new heat network will support the current Local Plan’s mixed-use development at South West Exeter which, with Teignbridge Council, Exeter City Council’s planned housing developments, will see up to 2,500 new homes in the area plus a new school campus, shops and community facilities.

The network will be provided with heat from the nearby Viridor Exeter Energy Recovery Facility (ERF) located in Marsh Barton. The ERF puts residual waste which ‘cannot be recycled’ to work to generate heat and power.

With the Government stopping the use of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes in the ‘shortest possible timeline’, the network heating solution will provide home owners with not only an environmentally friendly alternative but also a cost effective one

Viridor says the export of heat from the ERF is around five times more energy efficient than the generation of electricity at the plant and it would mean that for example, gas boilers would not be needed in homes within the South West Exeter development area.

‘With the Government stopping the use of fossil fuel heating systems in new homes in the shortest possible timeline’, the network heating solution will provide home owners with not only an environmentally friendly alternative but also a cost effective one,’ says Viridor.

Officers from Exeter City, Devon County Council and Teignbridge Council have been working with advisers from the University of Exeter and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to bring the project forward. Last mile multi-utility network and operator, Leep Utilities will operate the network as the Energy Services Company (ESCo).

Leep Utilities is working closely with ERF operator Viridor to put in place arrangements for accessing the plant’s heat. They are also in the process of negotiating terms with the development area’s housebuilders and developers in order to provide low carbon heat to future residents and occupants.

The need for substantial upfront capital investment and uncertain rates of return means that the scheme today is not commercially viable, leading council members to decide to support the venture with a multi-million-pound package of grant and loan funding. The funding will come from developer contributions, including the Community Infrastructure Levy, which is a charge on development to fund new infrastructure. The expectation is that the system would also have the capacity to heat further new homes and commercial buildings at Marsh Barton.

‘Innovation’

Teignbridge Council leader Alan Connett said: “This is an innovative way of helping future home owners with an effective energy solution for heating their homes whilst at the same time making a significant impact on our carbon savings plans.

“It is an example of how we as a council can work with neighboring authorities and developers to implement solutions which improve housing while tackling environmental concerns.

“Until contracts are signed we can’t guarantee that the scheme will go ahead but everyone is committed to overcoming the outstanding issues and pushing forward with this innovative approach”.

Cllr Rachel Sutton, Exeter City Council’s Deputy Leader and Lead Councillor for Net Zero Exeter 2030, said she welcomed the initiative: “Coming up with better ways to heat our homes is vital if we are to reduce our carbon footprint,” she said.

It is an example of how we as a council can work with neighbouring authorities and developers to implement solutions which improve housing while tackling environmental concerns.

“Using heat from the Energy from Waste plant is both sensible and efficient,” she added.

Devon County Council Leader John Hart said: “We support the concept of this district heating system in the south west Exeter development, as we’ve seen it successfully introduced at other developments in the area such as Cranbrook and Monkerton, and it would help our efforts to tackle the climate emergency.”

Viridor Chief Operations Officer Richard Pennells said the company, which has its headquarters in the South West, was looking forward to working with the councils.

Mr Pennells said: “Exeter ERF already attaches a purpose to non-recyclable waste, diverting 60,000 tonnes from landfill every year and generating enough energy to power the equivalent of more than 6,600 homes. The ERF is, however, designed to be a combined heat and power plant and we are pleased to be working with the councils and its partners to fully realise the ERF’s potential and contribute to this important initiative.”

Source Circular Online

The global race to produce hydrogen offshore

Posted on February 18, 2021February 18, 2021 by dishanth

Last year was a record breaker for the UK’s wind power industry.

Wind generation reached its highest ever level, at 17.2GW on 18 December, while wind power achieved its biggest share of UK energy production, at 60% on 26 August.

Yet occasionally the huge offshore wind farms pump out far more electricity than the country needs – such as during the first Covid-19 lockdown last spring when demand for electricity sagged.

But what if you could use that excess power for something else?

“What we’re aiming to do is generate hydrogen directly from offshore wind,” says Stephen Matthews, Hydrogen Lead at sustainability consultancy ERM.

His firm’s project, Dolphyn, aims to fit floating wind turbines with desalination equipment to remove salt from seawater, and electrolysers to split the resulting freshwater into oxygen and the sought-after hydrogen.

The idea of using excess wind energy to make hydrogen has sparked great interest, not least because governments are looking to move towards greener energy systems within the next 30 years, under the terms of the Paris climate agreement.

Hydrogen is predicted to be an important component in these systems and may be used in vehicles or in power plants. But for that to happen, production of the gas, which produces zero greenhouse gas emissions when burned, will need to dramatically increase in the coming decades.

Mr Matthews says his firm’s project is just getting going, with a prototype system using a floating wind turbine of roughly 10 megawatt capacity planned, but not yet built.

It’s possible that the system could be based in Scotland and the aim is to start producing hydrogen around 2024 or 2025.

But there are many other ventures in this area besides Dolphyn.

Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa and energy firm Siemens Energy are ploughing 120m euros ($145m; £105m) into the development of an offshore turbine with a built-in electrolyser.

German energy company Tractebel is exploring the possibility of building a large-scale, offshore hydrogen production plant powered by nearby wind turbines; and UK-headquartered Neptune Energy is seeking to convert an oil platform into a hydrogen production station, which will pump hydrogen ashore to the Netherlands via pipes that are currently transporting natural gas.

There are plans to convert this old North Sea oil platform into a hydrogen production plant NEPTUNE ENERGY

All of the excitement around hybrid wind energy and hydrogen generation systems is partly down to climate commitments but economics are also involved.

Large-scale hydrogen electrolysers are becoming more available while the costs of installing wind turbines has fallen “dramatically”, says James Carton, assistant professor in sustainable energy at Dublin City University.

He and others think the time is right to kick-start large-scale hydrogen electrolysis at sea, though the idea has been around for many years.

Electrolyser stacks break seawater down into hydrogen and oxygen ITM POWER

Oyster is yet another project in this area, and involves a consortium of companies including Danish energy firm Ørsted and British electrolyser specialists ITM Power, among others.

In the first instance, a wind turbine will power an onshore electrolyser that will churn out hydrogen. The device will be exposed to sea spray to simulate, to a degree, the harsh environment facing offshore equipment. ITM intends to design a system compact enough to fit into a single wind turbine.

The firm’s chief executive, Graham Cooley, points out that it is much easier to store molecules such as hydrogen than electrons in batteries.

“All the renewable energy companies… they’ve realised they’ve got a new product,” he adds. “Now they can supply renewable molecules to the gas grid and industry.”

The Oyster consortium hopes to have shown off a demonstrator of its system within 18 months.

ITM plan to build a hydrogen-producing unit that can fit into a wind turbine ITM POWER

Among the many potential uses for hydrogen is as a fuel for gas-burning boilers in homes. Converting the domestic gas grid to provide hydrogen, and fitting homes with boilers capable of burning it, would be a huge task.

However, it would mean that excess wind energy could in principle be used to supply this giant system, meaning very little of that energy would go to waste, says Mr Carton, referring to the gas main pipes scattered around the UK and Ireland: “We have a big tank, it’s just a really long tank in the ground.”

For some, this is all very exciting. But there are hurdles yet to overcome. A spokesman for the wind energy industry body WindEurope says that while renewable hydrogen produced via wind-powered electrolysis is “future-proof”, a decade or so of technological development is required before these systems will have a larger impact.

Jon Gluyas, Ørsted/Ikon chair in geoenergy, carbon capture and storage at Durham University, adds that the real question is whether it is cost-effective to set up such equipment at scale. Proponents, unsurprisingly, argue it is – but with energy systems the proof is only ever in the pudding. Ultimately, Prof Gluyas says a mix of different technologies and approaches will be needed for countries like the UK to be carbon neutral.

For Mr Carton, the vision remains tantalising. Schemes that solve the problem of wind’s variability by using excess power to good use could be transformative, he argues: “It’ll change the way we look at renewables.”

By Chris Baraniuk
Technology of Business reporter

Source BBC

Singapore renewable energy finance firm Positive Energy scales back as Covid stymies investment

Posted on February 17, 2021 by dishanth

The startup endured a tough 2020, shed staff and its co-founder relocated to the Netherlands as the firm’s only remaining employee. The startup’s struggles reflect the difficulties of renewables entrepreneurship in the Covid era.

Singapore-based renewable energy financing company Positive Energy has scaled back operations after enduring a difficult year impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Positive Energy is a digital platform that connects renewable energy projects to investors, and aims to simplify and speed-up renewable energy project financing. Founded in 2017, the Asia-focused firm makes money by taking a cut of deals made on its platform.

Having raised seed funding and launched the platform in 2019, the firm ran into difficulties after failing to secure further financing in 2020. The platform was suspended late last year, and the company let go employees in Singapore, where it was headquartered, as well as business heads in Vietnam and India.

Co-founder and chief finance officer Vincent Bakker joined another firm at the start of this year. Co-founder and chief executive Nicolas Payen is now the sole employee, and has relocated from Singapore to the Netherlands.

Positive Energy recently landed a waste-to-energy deal that saved the company, and the platform is up and running again, Payen told Eco-Business.

Positive Energy is not the only player in the renewables space to face difficulties over the last year. The pandemic has applied the brakes to development capital, and investors have pulled back in emerging markets, meaning fewer potential deals to run on Positive Energy’s platform. The Covid-induced fall in electricity demand has also slowed the planning and execution of energy deals.

Payen said that although 2021 still presented uncertainties, if Covid vaccinations are rolled out quickly, a return to peak energy demand would follow, and that would mean a need for additional clean energy generation and investment.

“We have seen a number of countries declare net zero ambitions, and a lot of investment will be oriented towards climate friendly technology. So the fundamentals of our business are very strong,” he said.

“We will see growing momentum among climate technology venture capitalists this year. If we get the capital support we need, we can play our role in the energy transition.”

Payen said he remained focused on the company’s mission — rethinking the energy funding process to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy assets globally.

By Robin Hicks

Source EcoBusiness

Researchers say EU climate change plans will ripple through foreign policy

Posted on February 17, 2021 by dishanth

The European University Institute and two influential think-tanks have predicted the European Union’s goal to have zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 will have “profound geopolitical repercussions,” including sharply lower revenue to oil and gas exporting neighbours such as Russia, Algeria and Libya.

By its own estimates, EU oil imports by 2050 would drop to 79 per cent below 2015 levels to meet climate goals, at the same time gas imports would fall by 67 per cent.

Reuters Newsagency reports EU states import most of their fossil fuel energy needs, and the experts said sharp cutbacks in these purchases would hurt nearby economies and could destabilise some countries economically and politically.

“The EU needs to wake up to the consequences abroad of its domestic decisions,” the researchers, who included experts from Bruegel and the European Council on Foreign Relations, said.

Europe’s dwindling fossil fuel consumption could in turn depress oil prices, affecting major producers such as Saudi Arabia, even if they have little trade with the EU.

The researchers said the EU should set aside funds to help neighbouring countries diversify hydrocarbon-dependent economies.

This would not only aid global climate goals, but also help EU industry enter fast-growing new markets, they said.

Reuter reports while climate policies will reduce Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels, the researchers said Brussels will need to mitigate other security risks, such as a dependency on imports of raw materials used in electric vehicle batteries.

Another geopolitical flashpoint is Brussels’ plan to impose carbon costs on imports of polluting goods, which could trigger retaliation from countries such as China or Russia, whose steel exports would likely be among the first sectors hit.

The researchers said the EU should work with the new United States administration to jointly introduce carbon border measures, and incentives for other countries to match their efforts.

By David Twomey

Source econews.au

Shift to green energy ‘could cost oil states $13 trillion’ by 2040

Posted on February 16, 2021 by dishanth

A new report says that oil and gas producing countries face a multi-trillion-dollar hole in their government revenue.

The report from the think-tank Carbon Tracker looks at the financial impact as the world cuts back on fossil fuels.

It says some countries could lose at least 40% of total government revenue.

It estimates the cumulative total revenue loss for all oil-producing countries by 2040 will be $13 trillion (in 2020 dollars).

That is as efforts to contain the rise in global temperatures drive the decarbonisation of energy supplies.

Carbon Tracker describes its report as a wake-up call to oil producing countries and international policymakers. It says they have planned on the basis that demand for oil will increase until 2040.

But the agency warns that demand will have to fall to meet climate targets, and oil prices will be lower than oil producers and the industry currently expect.

The report looks at what would happen to government revenues if the increase in global temperature is limited to 1.65C.

The $13 trillion figure for lost revenue is compared with what it calls “business as usual” expectations of continued growth. It includes countries whose economies are not dominated by oil – such as the UK, the US, India and China.

The main focus of the report, however, is a group for which the loss of oil income will be much more challenging, 40 countries it calls “petrostates”.

Saudi Arabia relies of oil for 60% of its revenue GETTY IMAGES

The predicted damage to government finances in these nations is stark; an average loss of 46% of oil and gas revenue.

The dependence on oil and gas revenue is very marked for some countries – more than 80% for Iraq and Equatorial Guinea. For another seven including Saudi Arabia the figure is more than 60%.

Some countries face very large losses of total revenue. For seven countries, including Angola and Azerbaijan the predicted loss is at least 40%. For another 12, including Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Algeria it is in the range of 20% to 40%.

For some in the Middle East and North Africa, the effect is moderated somewhat because their low production costs would give them a more prominent role in global oil and gas supply.

There is also a concern about what the report calls emerging petrostates. What they have to confront is a loss of potential revenue from oilfields where development is planned in the coming years. Ghana, Uganda and Guyana are among the countries facing this risk.

‘Diversification’

Some of the countries facing severe losses – from existing or potential oil and gas production – are among the poorest.

The report says diversification – of government revenue and national economies – is an urgent task. That will need to be tailored to the needs of each individual country but there are some steps it suggests will be of widespread use.

These include investing in education and improving the quality of government and the climate for business. Capital that is not invested in oil and gas can instead be used to invest in industries that are more resilient to the energy transition.

The report also says there is a strong case for the rest of the world to support this transition. It says there are moral reasons to do so as many of the countries concerned are so poor.

It would help get better climate outcomes. It could also help address the risk of petrostates becoming less stable. They could see social unrest as spending is cut or underfunded security services struggling to contain existing threats.

By Andrew Walker
BBC World Service economics correspondent

Source BBC