ENERGY MATTERS MORE AND MORE

 

From the 11 September 2023 American Energy Society, Energy Matters:

• True or False?  Global warming is becoming so serious that the world is now using less coal.  FALSE.  However, mostly Asia is increasing usage.

- In 2022, global coal consumption increased 3.3% to 8.3 billion tons, setting a new record. That record will be broken in 2023 due to increased industrial use of coal in Asia. Indeed, China, India and Southeast Asian countries consume 3 out of every 4 tons of coal worldwide.  China, India and Southeast Asian countries together are expected to account for 3 out of every 4 tonnes of coal consumed worldwide in 2023.

• 
  Is this a solution for global warming? (Hint:  I don't think so.)

- It takes a lot of energy and equipment to capture CO2 before it escapes into the atmosphere. However, MIT researchers have designed a capture system that uses an electrochemical cell at room temperature and requires less energy than conventional, amine-based carbon-capture systems.

• 
  Guess where minerals necessary for no/low-carbon and renewable energy come from?

- The market for mined minerals necessary for the clean energy transition — such as lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper — doubled between 2017 and 2022.

- The top 3 critical mineral producing countries (China, South Africa, DR Congo) have increased their 75% market share of mined lithium, cobalt and rare earth elements in the last three years.

• 
  Looking for money to support your energy project?

- The DoE is offering five vouchers to help fund energy technology startups. The deadline to apply is September 26. Note: A second set of vouchers will be announced soon after this round close

• 
  Seeking funding for climate solutions?

- Wilson Sonsini has updated its Clean Energy and Climate Solutions Federal Funding database, including new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs).

• Louisiana electricity customers experienced about 80 hours of power outage.  #2 Oregon with 25 hours and #3 Texas with 19 hours.  However, Payless Power lists these 10 states as the worst over the past 20 years.  I don't see Louisiana nor Oregon.

• 
  Next to the USA and China, Japan is #3.  How much are they spending for their Green Transformation?

 Asia: Japan, the world’s third-largest economy and fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, has passed its version of the US IRA (Inflation Reduction Act). The Green Transformation Basic Policy, also called GX, will commit 2 trillion yen ($14 billion), mostly in support of energy technology innovation. For comparison, the IRA offers about $500B.

• 
  You have nothing better to do in your life?  Spend some time reading about Shared Socioeconomic Pathway 3, the worst-case climate model.

• 
  The worst-case climate scenario is a global mean temperature rise of 9 degrees Fahrenheit (or 5 C).  This article says the efforts of Europe and the USA have been so significant that this rise is now UNLIKELY.  Then again, I noticed that it was written two years ago.

• 
  Live in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Death Valley?  Here are the 7 cities/regions at greatest risk of extreme heat:
• Al Basra, Iraq (in that graphic to the right, 53 C is 127.5 F)
• Belem, Brazil
• Delhi, India
• Hermosillo, Mexico
• Kolkata, India
• Lagos, Nigeria
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Electric vehicles and hybrids make up 16% of total U.S. automobile sales.

Data source: Wards Intelligence
Note: 2Q23=second quarter of 2023

Hydrogen: Hope or Hype?

"Hydrogen is super important, not only because it's one of our biggest programs. It does move the needle — depending on how you count and how far you take possible hydrogen uses."

- DOE Undersecretary for Infrastructure David Crane

"Hydrogen will be a huge boom that ... replaces natural gas."
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz  

 

"H2 is a silver bullet ... excess wind power can produce green hydrogen."
- UK Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg

 

But ... 

“I'm told that hydrogen is the Swiss Army knife for energy.... However, you can cut your hair with a Swiss Army knife, and you can prune your trees with a Swiss Army knife, and you can replace a tire on your ... bicycle with a Swiss Army knife, but you don’t. And the reason you don’t is because there’s always something cheaper, safer and easier to use....  Hydrogen is starting to look like an economic bubble."

- Michael Liebreich, BNEF

About those disasters I reported on yesterday, the death toll from the Marrakech earthquake is now over 3000, while the Libya flood fatalities are now past 5300, with 10,000 missing.  Most of you have lost track of Libya:

• 
  Like Morocco (the blue country to the left), Libya is in northern Africa.
• Was taken over by Muammar Gaddafi in 1969, who ruled for 43 years.
• Civil wars killed 30,000 citizens.
• NATO forces and militia fighters killed Gaddafi in 2012.
• Civil wars continued until a ceasefire was signed in 2020.
• However, the country is split, and the anti-government forces have not maintained any kind of organized infrastructural effort.  Thus, those two dams that collapsed, resulting in almost all of the deaths, can be attributed to this continued split.

And Kim did meet Putin at a missile site in Eastern Russia.  Surely, they must have coordinated the appropriate attire for this occasion.  They are both 5'7" tall.

Finally kites in Cambodia.  SkyFest 2023, their First International Kite Festival on May 8, occurred at the Bay of Lights, Sihanoukville.

You want AWESOME?  Watch those kites above.  And this is from Cambodia.

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