The Climate of Business #51: The role of renewables in decarbonising the economy

Climate Change Reality

The ancient subarctic forests at risk from climate change and war (Financial Times)

Real estate worth $35B could be underwater in 2050 (E&E)

Thousands of low-income households in Belgium to receive energy bill relief via solar power (Euronews)

South Africa is key to global net zero (Bloomberg)

It wasn’t just oil companies spreading climate denial (The Atlantic)

Climate migrants flee Iraq’s parched rural South, but cities offer no refuge (The Washington Post)

Climate change could worsen supply chain turmoil (The New York Times)

As the planet warms, Canada faces an influx of climate Refugees (WIRED)

Reasons for (cautious) optimism: the good news on the climate crisis (The Guardian)

Business Climate Reality

The climate cost of space tourism (Yale Climate Connections)

The clarion call of ‘transition finance’ in a warming, wobbly world (GreenBiz)

Farming for crops and for solar power (Axios)

Companies are buying large numbers of carbon offsets that don’t cut emissions (The Wall Street Journal)

Swiss running-shoe brand on launches resale site in sustainability push (Bloomberg)

Air conditioning has a climate problem. New technology could help. (The Washington Post)

European Commission proposes electricity windfall taxes, demand reduction (Politico Pro)

Africa's first hydrogen power plant seen producing electricity in 2024 (Reuters)

Economic lifeline or climate peril? East African pipeline is a new flashpoint (National Geographic)

These remote Australian islands could determine the future of offshore drilling (The Wall Street Journal)

Portugal approves energy-saving plan, may beat EU target (Reuters)

Reality Check

Current innovations with solar and wind - the progress through the years?

The last decades have fundamentally changed the way we think about renewables. Just the last few years have been record breaking on many levels.?

2020 - Over 256 GW of renewable power capacity was added globally during 2020

2019 -? 11.2 percent of the energy consumed globally came from renewables (up from 8.7 percent a decade prior (see figure below)

By end 2020 - 29? percent of global electricity generation came from renewables?

How did this happen??

• Increased demand and procurement which then caused a decrease in costs;
• Between 2010 and 2019, the cost of utility-scale solar photovoltaics went down 82 percent, and the cost of onshore wind decreased 39 percent.
• Coupled with stronger policies, as governments raised climate goals leading into COP26, ,as well as public awareness as lead to an increase in the use of renewable energy and the development of newer technologies to continue the trend

Is it a surprise?? Not really. During most of human history renewable energy has been the only energy option available.?

The history of renewables

• Started already in 200 BC, with the waterwheels, which mimic the workings behind hydropower. A waterwheel converts the energy of moving water into mechanical or electrical energy;
• In the 1590s, windmills took over in the Netherlands to pump water and mill grain, thanks to the wind blowing the blades to motion, causing them to spin;
• In 1860, the world’s first solar energy system was invented in France by French investor Augustin Mouchot, as he predicted, quite accurately that the coal supply would eventually run out; but only in 1876 in London were solar cells shown to generate energy; and then in 1905 Albert Einstein perfected the ‘photoelectric effect’;
• By 1888 the first windmills that generated electricity were being created and by 1908 there were already 72 wind turbines generating electricity in Denmark.

Why did industry turn to fossil fuels?

• Raw materials cost and production;
• First solar cell was manufactured with a coating selenium with a thin layer of gold;
• Producing these technologies and equipment requires advanced manufacturing as well as expensive raw materials, such as high-grade silicon for solar panels and lithium for solar batteries.
• The first photovoltaic cells only achieved an energy conversion rate of 1 to 2 percent initially;
• Technology hadn’t evolved enough to enable the cheap production, as well as proper storage of renewable energy; These technologies needed time and money to be produced and developed to achieve better efficiency;?
• Which is why government grants and subsidies sped up the developments.

What does the future of renewables hold?

By 2026:

• Global renewable electricity capacity rises up to? 60% to over 4 800 GW;
• Renewables will account for 95% in the global power capacity;
• Solar PV will be providing more than half.?

Major Trends: use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and the internet of energy (IoE);

New innovations and future needs:

• Advanced Photovoltaics, which integrate PV systems with the environment which minimises the need for additional land usage. Plus new innovations in productions such as thin-film cells to make solar panels flexible, cost-effective, lightweight, and environment-friendly. Or new technologies that concentrate solar power using mirrors and lenses;
• Grid analytics, integration and management through AI’s applications, that uses data analytics and machine learning for renewable energy model designing and performance analysis, as well as transmission, distribution, and stabilisation of renewable energy;
• Better energy storage systems, which helps with the irregularity in renewable energy production;

The new kid on the block: Green Hydrogen

• Hydrogen gas has the highest energy density of all fuels and produces near-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG).?
• In the past, however, most hydrogen was derived from non-renewable sources;
• Now via electrolysis it can be produced from renewable sources by breaking down water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.
• It will also provide a different type of storage. Since it can store energy as liquid, it can be transported and used for shipping or rocket fuel.

The benefits of renewable energy in companies reaching net zero emissions

• Consistently lower energy costs
• Stimulation of the sustainable transition of the economy
• Reduced service disruption
• High ROI (Return on Investment)
• Less emissions and alignment to net zero targets

Carbon Price