{"id":102421,"date":"2022-09-28T08:34:35","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T08:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alj.com\/?post_type=spotlight-fadyjameel&p=102421"},"modified":"2022-11-15T05:20:06","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T05:20:06","slug":"what-can-we-do-to-continue-our-progress-to-decarbonization","status":"publish","type":"spotlight-fadyjameel","link":"https:\/\/alj.com\/en\/spotlight-by-fady-jameel\/what-can-we-do-to-continue-our-progress-to-decarbonization\/","title":{"rendered":"What can we do to continue our progress to decarbonization?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ParisIn 2015, 196 countries came together at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris and reached an agreement to limit global warming to an average of 2\u00baC above pre-industrial levels, and also “pursue efforts to” limit the increase1.5\u00baC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was the 21st<\/sup> annual session of the Conference of the Parties (COP21<\/a>) to the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the 11th<\/sup> session of the Meeting of the Parties (CMP) to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.\u00a0 This historic agreement was due to become effective once 55 or more nations, together representing a minimum of 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions, joined \u2013 a target reached on November 4, 2016.\u00a0 By April 22, 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries had signed the agreement in New York, and began adopting it within their own legal systems (through ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession).<\/p>\n

\"UN<\/p>\n

To achieve this aim, climate scientists agreed that the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere must have stopped rising \u2013 so net zero anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions to be reached in the second half of this century. sometime between 2030 and 2050.\u00a0 If carbon emissions growth is halted by then, the current modelling indicates that global warming may potentially stay within the 2\u00baC upper limit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"IEAThe International Energy Agency (IEA<\/a>) subsequently published a detailed plan[1]<\/sup><\/a> the world could follow to achieve this target.\u00a0 It lays out more than 400 milestones ranging from home insulation to carbon capture and, perhaps most importantly of all, the generation of electricity and its distribution.<\/p>\n

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In electricity generation, fundamental change must happen, and happen quickly, for these milestones to be met.\u00a0 Currently, energy consumption is by far the biggest source of human-caused greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, responsible for 76% worldwide[2]<\/a>. \u00a0The energy sector includes transportation, electricity and heat, buildings, manufacturing and construction, fugitive emissions and other fuel combustion.\u00a0 Within the energy sector, heat and electricity generation is responsible for around 32% of total GHGs.<\/p>\n

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In the IEA plan, unabated coal power plants are to be phased out of first world countries by 2030.\u00a0 More than a terawatt of solar and wind power capacity<\/a> is to be active by the same year, with a huge expansion in renewable capacity running all the time.\u00a0 By 2035, power generation must reach net zero emissions in developed countries and sales of internal combustion engine must cease.\u00a0 Solar power<\/a> is to generate 70% of the world\u2019s electricity by 2050 \u2013 a target towards which I\u2019m proud to say renewable energy leaders like our flagship renewables business FRV<\/a>, part of Abdul Latif Jameel Energy<\/a>, are already showing the way.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a highly ambitious roadmap but, crucially, it does not depend on some miracle new technological breakthroughs swooping in to rescue us.\u00a0 The energy technologies needed to enable us to reach these targets are already in use around the world to varying degrees, today!\u00a0 Governments are urged to increase their spending on research in areas such as battery storage systems, wind, solar and wave power generation, and safe nuclear power, but there is no completely new, untried type of technology mentioned in the report.<\/p>\n

One thing is clear though: every process that can be, should be electrified.\u00a0 Electricity generation capacity must be transformed to produce even more energy than it does now, in a carbon-neutral way; and the grid itself must undergo deep change if that power is to be delivered consistently whenever and wherever it is needed.<\/p>\n

Promising progress \u2013 so far\u2026<\/h2>\n

Much progress has already been made in reducing emissions, but we are entering a new phase that will require careful thought and concerted action.\u00a0 The UK, for example, has reduced its emissions by 44% since 1990, while growing its economy by 75%[3]<\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0 But we are now running out of room for improvement without a fundamental change in the technologies we use every day at home, in transport and in industry.<\/p>\n

Improvements so far have mostly been achieved through efficiency, rather than radical change.\u00a0 Fossil fuels are still very widely used for heating, transport, electricity generation and heavy industry.\u00a0 Conversion to electric cars and heating without modifying the ways the electricity is generated will increase the yield from the same amount of fuel but could potentially place greater strain on the grid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If we do not reform at the point of generation, we are at risk of running our clean tech on dirty power.<\/p>\n

The energy used by buildings accounts for 27% of global carbon emissions.\u00a0 Currently, more than half of the emissions of an average domestic home in the US do not come from electricity, but from gas used for central heating and hot water.\u00a0 Converting the world\u2019s boilers and radiators to electric systems such as ground- and air-source heat pumps offers a great opportunity to increase efficiency, but more importantly, it is the only way that domestic consumption can become carbon neutral.<\/p>\n

Electric boilers are more efficient than gas, but simply moving the carbon emissions back up the chain to fossil fuel-fired power stations will not take us to net zero.<\/p>\n

Storing up solutions<\/h2>\n

The IEA roadmap names wind, solar and nuclear as the main sources of low-carbon power. \u00a0Countries such as Norway also make considerable use of hydro-electricity, and Iceland geothermal power, but not every country has access to such hydro-friendly mountainous terrain nor subterraneous heat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Although the wind and the sun have been used to generate a great deal of power already \u2013 19% of energy in the EU in 2021 came from these sources[4]<\/sup><\/a> \u2013 they are, by their very nature, intermittent.\u00a0 To cope with this slower, but steadier and cleaner mode of generation, power must be stored.\u00a0 Long-term storage of power is still some way off, technologically, but there is already a great deal available in local batteries, both in static installations and in cars.<\/p>\n

Cheap renewable power produced at very windy periods of the night, for example, when there is little demand but still a great deal of capacity for wind turbines to produce it, can be stored at an individual household or small community level and used when required.<\/p>\n

Electric cars<\/a> sit unused for most of the day and offer a readily accessible form of mobile storage.\u00a0 Plugging an electric car into the grid does not create any new power, but the car battery can provide storage and can release the stored energy at peak times, thus reducing the need to install as much extra generating capacity.\u00a0 When the car itself is worn out as a form of transport, the battery will still have most of its original capacity and can be recycled into a home installation.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Rather than be a strain on an old-fashioned grid, cars become an asset to modern \u00a0infrastructure. \u00a0A trial in the UK backed by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy<\/a> found that a single electric vehicle could power 100 homes for one hour[5]<\/a>.\u00a0 Studies have shown that flexible tariffs, EV adoption and smart grid management can reduce peak demand by almost a quarter[6]<\/sup><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Home batteries would assist even further.<\/p>\n

Large community batteries provide larger scale solutions.\u00a0 Most of these are in the form of arrays of lithium ion cells \u2013 like the three utility-scale battery storage projects<\/a> being developed by FRV-X<\/a> and Harmony Energy<\/a> in the UK \u2013 or bodies of water pumped to raised positions with available solar-powered pumps, then released when power is required.\u00a0<\/p>\n