Trending Now

Building a Resilient Supply Chain with Advanced Predictive…

New Articles

How Can We Make Trucking More Sustainable?

trucking insurance
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Trucking

How Can We Make Trucking More Sustainable?

Leave a comment

Transportation accounts for around one-fifth of global carbon emissions, with road freight being one of the largest contributors.

As a result — and as sustainability becomes more important to businesses, investors and consumers — trucking companies are looking for ways to make their work greener. New strategies and technology are helping the industry improve its sustainability and reduce its carbon footprint.

Utilizing these strategies could help make a trucking industry that’s more sustainable and just as capable of moving goods around the country. Here are some tactics that are helping companies to go green.

New Technology Paves the Way for Green Trucking

A handful of innovations may help the trucking industry tackle its most significant sources of carbon — primarily, emissions generated by trucks burning fossil fuels.

The most significant new technology will likely be the electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) arriving on the market. These trucks are powered by nondiesel energy sources — like hydrogen, biodiesel, renewable natural gas or pure electricity.

Depending on their particular fuel source, they can produce reduced carbon emissions compared to diesel, or none at all. This allows trucking companies to significantly reduce their largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Limitations of these EVs and AFVs — like a lack of national electric vehicle charging and infrastructure — made them a risky investment in the past. However, as charging stations become common and manufacturers release electric trucks with ranges comparable to diesel ones, companies are beginning to reconsider these vehicles. The growing AFV and EV market segment also means businesses have more options than ever when it comes to nondiesel trucks.

Some AFVs, like those powered by biodiesel and renewable natural gas, aren’t emissions-free but are a more sustainable option than conventional trucks. For example, biodiesel is a renewable resource produced from feedstock that absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as it grows. Burning it isn’t completely green, but making it can help to actively sequester atmospheric carbon.

Adopting either AFVs or EVs will take a major investment from the industry, and there are still risks to pivoting away from conventional fuel-powered trucks. However, these AFVs are likely the best way for a trucking business to reduce its individual carbon footprint.

Other significant innovations come from the IT world. New monitoring and driver management software provides businesses with data management and gathering tools that were never available before. Telematics and GPS technology can help companies monitor their fleets and driver behavior, allowing them to identify unsustainable driving habits and route choices.

These GPS devices could be combined with other monitoring technologies, like Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) sensors that gather truck health and performance information. They are already being used in the intermodal transportation industry to improve business efficiency.

This technology could make tracking driver behavior and vehicle health much easier.

Best Practices Could Reduce the Trucking Industry’s Carbon Footprint

Businesses may not need to adopt entirely new technology to improve their carbon footprint. Instead, new business services, models and best practices may help the trucking industry cut back on carbon emissions while using existing trucks.

Full truckloads (FTLs) are a strategy that aims to minimize empty miles and underutilized truck storage space. This allows businesses to make trucking a much more sustainable shipping approach.

In some cases, trucking companies may be able to maximize their FTL count by outsourcing logistics operations to the right partner. Business-to-business freight shipping company FlockFreight has launched a new service that combines multiple less-than-truckloads (LTLs) to maximize goods shipped while reducing carbon emissions.

In 2017, empty miles accounted for around 17% of all greenhouse gas emissions from the trucking industry. Cutting down on these miles while maximizing full truckloads could help improve the industry’s productivity and minimize carbon emissions at the same time. All it takes is partnering with a sustainable logistics company.

The Right Maintenance Approach Can Minimize Carbon Emissions

Even simple changes to a business’s maintenance strategy can significantly reduce carbon emissions. For example, tire rolling resistance is considered to be one of the main factors impacting a vehicle’s fuel efficiency, along with the engine and aerodynamics.

A company’s choice of tire and maintenance practices that keep tires inflated can help significantly reduce the amount of fuel a vehicle needs. Lower consumption can reduce operational costs and carbon emissions.

Other effective maintenance practices can also help minimize fuel consumption and risks like downtime. Oil changes and other repairs that keep engines as efficient as possible can improve fuel economy and keep carbon emissions low.

Businesses are also beginning to invest in new telematics strategies that provide them with additional maintenance data. Remote monitoring solutions with IoT devices give companies a real-time snapshot of their entire truck fleet’s health.

Virtual dashboards can collect and display data like fleet-wide tire pressure, maintenance needs and fuel consumption, allowing managers to pinpoint potential problems.

Over time, these monitoring solutions can also lay the foundation for predictive maintenance strategies. They use a combination of real-time maintenance data from telematics systems and artificial intelligence to predict when a truck will need work. These algorithms can often significantly improve vehicle performance, increase life span and reduce the risk of unexpected downtime.

These benefits can help companies reduce operating costs while minimizing their carbon footprint.

New Technology Can Create a Sustainable Trucking Industry

The trucking industry has long struggled with carbon emissions and pollution. Trucks that burn fossil fuels, like diesel, naturally produce a large amount of greenhouse gas. This takes a huge toll on the environment. Trucking companies would be wise to adopt sustainable practices as more consumers and corporations look to green practices.

New technology and best practices can enable the sector to become more sustainable. Combined with new monitoring or maintenance platforms, AFVs and EVs may allow a business to almost eliminate its carbon footprint. Even simple changes to business processes that help maximize the number of FTLs can have a major impact on emissions. Employing these tactics paves the way for a more sustainable trucking industry.

___________________________________________________________________

Emily Newton is an industrial journalist. As Editor-in-Chief of Revolutionized, she regularly covers how technology is changing the industry.

green
Archives, Global Trade Daily, Special Reports

Accepting Gas as Sustainable Will Hurt Korea’s Green Finance Credentials

Leave a comment

After six months of resisting industry calls to add liquefied natural gas (LNG) to its green taxonomy, the South Korean government this week finally succumbed to gas lobbyists. 

This is surprising as, only 2 weeks ago, President Moon Jae-in made a well-received, new emissions pledge—cutting the country’s greenhouse gas emissions to 40% by 2030.

The obvious dichotomy here is that recognizing gas and LNG as an environmentally sustainable “transition” fuel will likely lock South Korea into a high-emitting future, which directly contradicts the policy and market incentives created by President Moon’s new emissions reduction targets.

Released last week, the draft green taxonomy, known locally as the K-Taxonomy, prescribes an end-use emission technical screening criteria of 320g of carbon dioxide (CO2) per kilowatt-hour (kWh). A life-cycle emission standard is also expected, but it will only apply from 2025.

This means that new unabated LNG-power projects, of which around 10 gigawatts are expected to flood South Korea’s energy market by 2025, would qualify for green bond and loan financing if the draft K-Taxonomy is finalized without changes.

Emissions-wary ESG investors should be on alert

South Korean green debt amounted to US$42.8 billion on 30 September 2021, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. A third of it, around US$14.22 billion, funded power and energy companies.

If the current draft of the K-Taxonomy proceeds as is, ESG investors may find themselves inadvertently backing gas.

Gas is a fossil fuel that contributes carbon and methane to the atmosphere through its combustion, with lifecycle emissions that are dangerous and significant. Moreover, methane from gas has a warming effect up to 80 or 90 times more powerful than carbon over a 20-year period, making gas worse for the climate than coal in the short term.

The tension around the limited role for gas in energy transition is evident in the taxonomy work playing out in all global markets.

After much controversy, the European Union (EU) accepted gas-powered generation as a ‘transitional’ asset class under its Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, provided that a project’s lifecycle carbon emissions are limited to 100g CO2 per kWh.

At this specification, gas-powered projects in the EU will likely require the use of carbon capture technology (CCS), which is yet to be proven economically or technically viable at scale anywhere in the world. Under these conditions, gas is unlikely to be funded in the short to medium, or even the long term, under the EU’s taxonomy.

The K-Taxonomy is expected to be finalized by the end of 2021, and with its current draft not consistent with the gold-standard EU Taxonomy, investors are right to be wary.

The Moon administration risks missing out on new pools of global capital

With the inclusion of gas in the K-Taxonomy, Korean policymakers have effectively signaled they aren’t up to the task of leading market development with a green taxonomy.

Instead, they are showing a preference for remaining in lock-step with emerging market Southeast Asian counterparts who have flagged their intention to recognize gas-powered generation as “green”.

This puts South Korea at risk of deterring serious ESG investors who typically prefer “dark green” assets—solar, wind and geothermal for example.

The United Kingdom’s (UK) inaugural sovereign green bond issued in September 2021 demonstrated that risk when it provided a mixed portfolio of green and controversial assets like “blue hydrogen”, which uses methane gas in its production. Several leading debt investors immediately expressed criticism over the sovereign’s opportunistic ‘green’ bond and avoided it entirely.

China is working with the EU to harmonize their respective taxonomies

By contrast, China—the largest green debt market in the region—took a different and much more strategic approach, learning from market trends and adapting.

Its first green taxonomy in 2015 categorized “clean coal” as a green project that qualified for the issuance of green bonds, drawing widespread criticism, particularly from foreign investors.

Recognizing the significance of a truly green taxonomy, in mid-2021, China removed fossil fuel-related projects and the new Green Bond Endorsed Project Catalogue—its equivalent green taxonomy—now excludes gas, LNG and coal-fired power activities.

Like South Korea, China relies on burning fossil fuels to power the country. However, President Xi Jinping’s pledge to accelerate the country’s transformation to a green and low carbon economy, and to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060, has opened the door to a much more strategic view on how China’s green finance market should develop, and which technologies should be incentivized.

China is also working with the EU to harmonize their respective taxonomies by the end of 2021. This is a positive initiative between jurisdictions in response to investor requests for a common standard on green or sustainable projects. The move also indicates that the Asian giant is ready to compete for global green capital.

China understands that ESG-focussed investors have become more forensic in their research and decision-making on what the different taxonomies recognize.

More notably, China’s mindset for justifying green energy activities appears to be unfazed, at least for now, by its need to finance new coal and gas-related projects, said to be required to see them through the energy transition phase—reasoning that its Asian counterparts, including South Korea, have defended and used to classify their own gas-powered projects as green.

But fossil fuel projects have a long history of being successfully financed. The existence of a green or sustainable finance taxonomy does not prevent assets or projects that the taxonomy excludes from being funded through conventional sources of finance. As in the past, fossil fuel power projects will continue to raise funds through traditional non-labeled debt market instruments.

Investors want green taxonomies

Meanwhile, investors around the world are urging governments to step up and commit to clear, strong and investable policies that will unlock the capital needed to transition to a net-zero economy.

Despite its now hollow new emissions pledge, the Moon administration appears unprepared to rise to the occasion. It risks missing out on new pools of global capital if it does not get the policy settings right, and instead chooses to pander to the fossil fuel industry.

_____________________________________________________________________

Christina Ng is a Research and Stakeholder Engagement Leader – Fixed Income, Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

carbon supply chain
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, International Trade

What Would a Post-Carbon Supply Chain Look Like?

Leave a comment

Businesses worldwide are pushing for more sustainable practices. As the threat of climate change has worsened, it’s become clear that industry as a whole must move away from carbon emission-generating practices. This movement has significant implications for supply chains.

Today’s supply chains are far from carbon-free. An organization’s supply chain often accounts for 90% of its greenhouse gas emissions when taking overall climate impacts into account. From diesel-powered trucks to natural gas-generated warehouse power, these networks rely heavily on fossil fuels.

It can be hard to imagine supply chains without these resources, but it’s not impossible. Here’s what a post-carbon supply chain would look like and how companies could achieve it.

Electric Vehicles

The most obvious difference between today’s supply chains and a post-carbon one is their vehicles. Transportation accounts for 21% of total global emissions, and freight constitutes a considerable portion of that figure. Almost all trucks that move freight today use fossil fuels, but post-carbon transport will be electric.

Electric trucks will likely be the first type of carbon-free vehicles to appear in supply chains. General Motors has already established goals to produce zero emissions, and electric road vehicles are increasingly common. Post-carbon supply chains will bring electrification to more than just trucks, though.

Ships and airplanes will also be electric. Their longer routes will require more efficiency, so they may rely on technologies like fuel cells or solar power instead of batteries. Regardless of the specifics, every vehicle in the post-carbon supply chain will be electric.

Green Power Sources

While vehicles may be the easiest culprit to pinpoint, they’re not the only source of emissions. Supply chains consume a considerable amount of energy, most of which comes from fossil fuels. In fact, if 125 multinational companies increased their supply chain renewable energy by 20%, they would save more than 1 billion metric tons of carbon emissions.

In a post-carbon supply chain, all energy would come from renewable sources. That would likely mean using various technologies, as sustainable power has varying effectiveness in different applications. Solar, wind and hydroelectric power would all play a part in the transition to zero-carbon operations.

A truly zero-carbon supply chain would also use renewables to generate power for its electric vehicles. Creating batteries or hydrogen for fuel cells requires energy, and this too must be green for supply chains to be truly sustainable.

Sustainable Sourcing

A more easily overlooked aspect of post-carbon supply chains is how sustainability plays into their corporate partnerships. A truly zero-emissions supply chain must ensure its suppliers are also carbon-free. Otherwise, it would still be investing in emissions-producing activity, albeit indirectly.

Industrial sectors like manufacturing are responsible for 29.6% of total emissions in the U.S. If a supply chain moved products from a company with such a significant carbon footprint, one could hardly consider it carbon-free. In a truly post-carbon supply chain, all connected sources are also zero emissions.

Ensuring these connections are sustainable requires a considerable amount of transparency. As such, post-carbon supply chains will require regular audits from involved parties to verify their sustainability. They’ll likely also employ technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) trackers and blockchains to keep operations transparent.

How Can the World Move Toward Post-Carbon Supply Chains?

These factors may seem like lofty goals right now. Today’s supply chains have a long way to go before they can say they’re truly carbon-free. Thankfully, however far-off these sustainability targets may seem, they are achievable. Companies can start acting now to move toward them.

Recognizing the business incentives for removing carbon from the supply chain can help encourage further action. According to one study, 84% of global consumers are more likely to make purchase decisions based on a company’s sustainability practices. Similarly, 61% are willing to wait for longer delivery times if they know it’s better for the environment.

Interest in sustainable supply chains will grow when more organizations realize these benefits. As this trend gains momentum, here are a few ways supply chains can start moving toward zero-carbon goals.

Improve Visibility

The first step in moving away from carbon is improving supply chain visibility. Companies can’t effectively become more sustainable if they don’t know the extent of their current unsustainable practices. Audits and studies can reveal where carbon emissions come from in a supply chain, guiding further action.

Organizations must also ensure their emissions monitoring is an ongoing process. Without continuous checking, they won’t be able to tell how different actions impact their overall goals. Periodic audits and implementing IoT sensors to track carbon emissions can ensure ongoing transparency.

In that spirit, supply chains should start improving visibility between partners. Asking for suppliers to offer proof of their sustainability initiatives will encourage broader action and help reduce emissions on all fronts.

Invest in Green Technologies

Some aspects of the post-carbon supply chain, like electric vehicles, aren’t applicable right now. While options may be limited today, more investment in these technologies will speed their development, making sustainability more viable quicker.

Many companies have already begun to invest in green technologies. Maserati has invested more than $867 million to refurbish its production hub to produce electric cars. As more money flows into these innovations, efficient, low-cost, carbon-free technologies will become available sooner, aiding a faster transition.

Green energy is a technology, not a resource. As such, it will only become cheaper and more efficient over time. Consequently, while some of these technologies may not be viable business choices now, they will be eventually, especially with more funding.

Collaborate

Since supply chains are so interconnected, it will take increased collaboration to push them away from carbon. Decarbonization is also a considerable undertaking. The transition will be far easier and faster if companies can work together toward a common goal.

Collaboration can mitigate the financial burden of decarbonization. Similarly, it can help some companies overcome any qualms they may have about the risks of going green. Climate action experts highlight that shared responsibility translates into reduced risk, at least in people’s perception of it.

In addition to collaborating with other related companies, supply chains can partner with environmental organizations. They can help show where improvements can be made, guiding more effective action.

Supply Chains Must Become More Sustainable

Supply chains are essential to virtually every industry, and they often produce some of the most emissions. As such, these operations must move away from fossil fuels as companies seek to become more sustainable.

The post-carbon supply chain seems like a lofty goal, but it’s attainable. When organizations realize these things are possible, they can start moving toward a better future.

fossil fuels
Archives, Global Trade Daily, State Spotlight, Utilities

U.S. States Most Dependent on Fossil Fuels

Leave a comment

With the effects of global climate change becoming increasingly apparent, policymakers across the U.S. are moving to reduce the nation’s reliance on carbon-based fossil fuels.

At the beginning of his term, President Joe Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, and in April, the Biden Administration announced aggressive new greenhouse gas reduction goals, including an overall aim to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas pollution to half of 2005 levels by 2030. Meanwhile, nearly 40 states have adopted renewable portfolio standards to facilitate a transition away from fossil fuels for energy production to renewables.

Despite these efforts, however, fossil fuel consumption remains deeply entrenched in the U.S. economy, and it could take years to transition away from fossil fuels as the country’s primary energy source.

Petroleum remains the leading source of energy in the U.S., accounting for approximately one-third of energy consumed. Energy consumption from natural gas expanded over the last decade as the rise of hydraulic fracturing made it less costly to extract. Most of that growth has come at the expense of coal, which represented 22.7% of the energy consumed in 2008 but just 13.1% a decade later. And while nuclear has held steady and renewables have continued to grow with improved technology and greater scale, fossil fuels still represent more than 80% of total energy consumption in the U.S. each year.

One example of the difficulties of shifting away from fossil fuels is consumers’ relationship to gasoline and car travel. Recently, gasoline prices have been on the rise again: prices dropped sharply in 2020, as many travelers and commuters stayed off the roads during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with many public health restrictions being relaxed as cases decline and more people get vaccinated, prices have topped $3 per gallon nationally for the first time since 2014. But despite what the laws of supply and demand might suggest, rising prices do not strongly affect driver behavior: research shows they tend to purchase the same amount of gasoline regardless of how much it costs. Instead, breaking drivers’ reliance on fossil fuels will depend on auto manufacturers providing more hybrid and electric options, whether by choice or by policy, like California’s zero-emission vehicle regulations.

State-level data reinforces that there is a long way to go before the transition away from fossil fuels is complete. Every single U.S. state derives at least 50% of its energy from fossil fuels, and a total of nine states derive more than 90% of their energy from fossil fuels. Among the most dependent are small states like Delaware and Rhode Island, which import most of their energy from elsewhere, and states with rich stores of fossil fuels, like Alaska, West Virginia, and Kentucky. At the other end of the spectrum are states like Washington, Oregon, and New Hampshire, which rely more on nuclear and renewables like hydroelectric power and derive less than 60% of their energy from fossil fuels.

To find the states most dependent on fossil fuels, researchers at Commodity.com used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to calculate the percentage of total primary energy consumption from coal, natural gas, and petroleum in 2018 (the most recent available data). Researchers also calculated the percentage of total primary energy consumption derived from renewable sources, as well as the largest fossil fuel source.

Here are the states most dependent on fossil fuels.

State Rank Percentage of energy derived from fossil fuels Percentage of energy derived from renewables Total energy consumed from fossil fuels (trillion BTU) Total energy consumed from renewables (trillion BTU) Largest fossil fuel source

 
Delaware     1     96.4% 3.6% 213.1 8.0 Petroleum
Alaska     2     95.9% 4.1% 584.8 25.0 Natural Gas
West Virginia     3     95.4% 4.6% 1,103.3 53.7 Coal
Rhode Island     4     95.0% 5.0% 189.1 10.0 Natural Gas
Kentucky     5     94.1% 5.9% 1,616.5 102.1 Coal
Wyoming     6     93.5% 6.5% 793.2 54.9 Coal
Indiana     7     93.4% 6.6% 2,617.2 185.9 Coal
Utah     8     93.1% 6.9% 830.0 61.3 Petroleum
Louisiana     9     92.1% 3.7% 3,895.5 155.0 Petroleum
Texas     10     89.9% 7.1% 12,752.3 1,009.0 Petroleum
Ohio     11     89.7% 4.7% 3,040.2 158.6 Natural Gas
Hawaii     12     89.4% 10.6% 261.8 31.1 Petroleum
Colorado     13     88.8% 11.2% 1,305.1 164.6 Natural Gas
Mississippi     14     88.2% 6.1% 1,116.6 76.8 Natural Gas
Missouri     15     88.0% 5.9% 1,608.7 108.5 Coal
United States     –     80.5% 11.2% 81,238.0 11,281.6 Petroleum

 

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Commodity.com’s website: https://commodity.com/blog/states-fossil-fuels/

renewable energy
Archives, Global Trade Daily, Utilities

Best Renewable Energy Stocks in 2021: A Survey by Paul Harmaan

Leave a comment

The global economy nowadays is pivoting towards renewable energy, leaving fossil fuels behind. According to Paul Haarman, the economy is evolving and finding ways to adapt to modern technology, changing the whole world and making it more efficient. The various green energy sources that it was planning to adopt vary from solar energy to geothermal energy, from wind to biomass, and many more.

For the economy to convert to clean renewable, there will be a need for a strong financial back which is possible only when we use the economic prowess of renewable energy, and this is only possible through their stocks. So let us go in-depth to understand a few of those energy stocks.

Stocks for Top Renewable Energy

According to Paul Harmaan, various energy stocks like biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, etc., are present, which could support fast-forwarding the clean energy conversion for the economy. First, however, we will look for two of the best stocks where you should invest your money to get the best returns

First Solar

First Solar is one of the top leaders responsible for developing efficient thin-film solar panels. The company produces low-cost electricity per watt compared to the traditional silicon-based panels. Their solar panels are efficient mainly because they work well in extreme hotness and humidity conditions and work efficiently in shedding snow and debris quickly. These few features make them the most ideally used solar panels for utility-scale applications.

Moreover, the panel manufacturing sector of the first solar acts like a strong balance sheet responsible for making First Solar the number one choice and making it stand out.

NextEra Energy

NextEra Energy is responsible for two businesses which it runs efficiently. One business shows the efficient use of the competitive energy segment and is responsible for generating electricity. Besides this, it also transports natural gas under fix-free agreements that are beneficial for the long run. At the same time, the other one revolves around the rate-regulated electric utilities that NextEra Energy takes responsibility for and distributes that power to various businesses and consumers.

One of the highest credit ratings with the support of the largest electric utilities makes the NextEra Energy-efficient in working its stable operations responsibly. The two efficient businesses conducted by NextEra Energy are solely credited, and why shouldn’t they? The combined powers of both businesses help produce extra units of energy from natural resources like that of the wind and the sun, which any other company in the world is incapable of, making it a unique company.

Future of the Top Renewable Energy stocks

The effective and efficient shift by the world economy from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources or clean energy sources has created a massive opportunity for a variety of investors to look into the profits. At the same time, they understand the concept of how these sources can change the world and turn it into a better place. Suppose there is a need to find the future of these top renewable energy stocks. In that case, the most important thing to look for is the balance sheet of the company and the solar energy-focused growth profile, as these two main factors are highly responsible for generating higher returns in the future both for the world and the investors.

renewable energy
Archives, Commentary, Global Trade Daily

States With the Largest Increase in Renewable Energy Production

Leave a comment

One of the most significant trends over the last decade for the economy, society, geopolitics, and the environment has been the rise of renewable energy. Fossil fuels have been the basis of the industrial economy for generations, powering tremendous economic growth but with dangerous consequences for the environment and public health. With the dramatic expansion of renewable energy technologies over the last decade, power sources like wind, solar, and geothermal have offered a more sustainable—and increasingly more affordable—path forward.

Several factors contribute to the expansion of clean energy. For one, technological advancement in renewables has made energy production and storage more efficient than ever before. The renewables industry has also received a boost from public policies and investments enacted by governments worldwide seeking to decarbonize in response to the threat of climate change. These developments have helped bring down renewable energy production costs over time, allowing market forces to spur continued growth in the sector. In all, electric power generated from renewables in the U.S. has grown by more than 70 percent since 2010.

And although growth is occurring across many renewable sources, wind and solar have been the most prominent success stories of recent years. In 2007, wind accounted for about 35 million Megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity produced in the U.S.; since then, wind production has increased by an average of around 20 million MWh per year, rising to nearly 295 million in 2019. Meanwhile, solar is the fastest-growing of all renewables. Solar production constituted less than 1 percent of renewable energy until around 2010, but experts now project that by 2050, solar and photovoltaic energy will account for nearly half of all renewable electricity production.


Growth in renewable energy production in the U.S. is widespread, but unique features of each region mean that the transition to renewables looks different from state to state. Measured by the proportion of total electricity generated from renewable sources, states in New England and the Western U.S. surpass the rest of the country, largely as a result of renewable-friendly state policies. Vermont generates a remarkable 99.9 percent of its electricity from renewables.

In terms of total electricity produced from renewables, California (97 million MWh), Texas (91 million MWh), and Washington (74 million MWh) are the national leaders. Physical geography explains much of these three states’ strength in renewables. California is the largest producer of geothermal (with the world’s largest geothermal field) and solar (due in part to large installations in the Mojave Desert). With plenty of cheap land and strong wind in many of its regions, Texas dominates the U.S. in wind production. And in Washington, major water features like the Columbia and Snake Rivers provide the basis for the nation’s strongest hydropower sector.

To identify the states with the fastest-growing renewable energy sector, researchers at FilterBuy used data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration to calculate the percentage change in renewable electricity production between 2010 and 2019. The researchers also calculated what percentage of total electricity production is accounted for by renewables, as well as the largest renewable energy source currently.

Here are the states with the largest increase in renewable energy production.

State Rank Percentage change in renewable energy production (2010-2019) Total renewable energy production 2019 (MWh) Total renewable energy production 2010 (MWh) Renewable energy share of total production 2019 Renewable energy share of total production 2010 Largest renewable energy source

 

 
Kansas     1      511.0% 21,218,058 3,472,565 41.7% 7.2% Wind
Nebraska     2      379.7% 8,667,568 1,807,009 23.2% 4.9% Wind
Oklahoma     3      377.6% 33,281,621 6,968,743 39.1% 9.6% Wind
New Mexico     4      310.1% 8,496,851 2,071,802 24.2% 5.7% Wind
Rhode Island     5      228.5% 472,344 143,779 6.2% 1.9% Biomass
Texas     6      213.9% 90,922,198 28,966,660 18.8% 7.0% Wind
Ohio     7      189.8% 3,272,411 1,129,113 2.7% 0.8% Wind
Utah     8      188.6% 4,261,269 1,476,479 10.9% 3.5% Solar
Illinois     9      186.4% 15,057,518 5,256,702 8.2% 2.6% Wind
Colorado     10      173.6% 14,043,640 5,132,797 24.9% 10.1% Wind
Iowa     11      155.7% 26,356,275 10,308,651 42.7% 17.9% Wind
Nevada     12      155.3% 11,345,373 4,443,943 28.4% 12.6% Solar
North Carolina     13      144.3% 16,709,383 6,839,691 12.7% 5.3% Solar
Michigan     14      143.3% 9,932,713 4,083,005 8.5% 3.7% Wind
North Dakota     15      134.0% 14,392,502 6,150,146 35.0% 17.7% Wind
United States     –      70.3% 727,696,543 427,376,077 17.6% 10.4% Wind

 

For more information, a detailed methodology, and complete results, you can find the original report on Filterbuy’s website: https://filterbuy.com/resources/states-largest-increase-renewable-energy/

carbon capture
Archives, Global Logistics, Global Trade Daily, Trucking

Four Ways Carbon Capture Will Be A Game-Changer for Climate Change

Leave a comment

Climate change is real, and carbon plays a significant role. According to the EPA, about 65 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and other industrial processes. This doesn’t even include other sources of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions such as methane and nitrous oxide.

Carbon and other greenhouse gasses retain radiant heat from the sun, which causes an insulating effect that raises the atmospheric temperature. This overall temperature increase, also referred to as global warming, has been shown to be a direct cause of numerous negative climate events including the melting of polar ice caps, rising ocean levels, devastating and in some cases irreparable damage to ocean coral reefs, as well as unstable and harsh weather and storm patterns that cause catastrophic damage and loss of life. The use of technology such as carbon capture could be part of a global solution to the world’s carbon emission problem.

What is carbon capture?

Simply put, carbon capture is a means of collecting carbon from exhaust flues when it is produced as a biproduct of fossil fuel combustion (primarily CO and CO2). This carbon is released into the air from sources such as powerplants, manufacturing plants, or various modes of transportation that use carbon-based fuels including coal, natural gas, biomass, oil, and other fuel sources. The idea is to collect the carbon before it is released into the environment, thereby reducing its environmental impact.

Four ways in which carbon capture will be a game-changer

By reducing carbon emissions released into the atmosphere from industrial sources, we can make a significant impact on climate change. Carbon capture has encouraging potential and could radically alter the energy landscape because:

1. It allows the continued use of highly energy-dense and efficient carbon-based fuels (coal, natural gas and oil) without contributing additional carbon gasses to the atmosphere.

2. When applied to biomass-fueled combustion power plants, carbon capture has the potential to result in negative carbon emissions. Since the biomass sources—in the form of forest and agricultural waste—absorb and store carbon dioxide as part of natural lifecycles, capturing and sequestering the carbon dioxide after it is released effectively removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

3. It sustains healthy global economic growth through abundant and affordable energy.

4. It retains billions of dollars in sunk costs in existing carbon-based generation infrastructure by sequestering carbon emissions.

What are the challenges of implementing carbon capture technology?

While carbon capture is incredibly promising, it does come with its own challenges. To date, the technologies that have shown potential have not been demonstrated at scale. By and large, they have only been verified in test environments. More tests in real-life carbon capture situations need to take place to prove that it is truly a viable option. Additionally, the economic tipping point has not been reached to allow carbon capture to compete with traditional thermal, nuclear, or renewable generation due to the intensive capital cost of installation.

Additional innovation and investment would need to take place to develop more cost-effective options, thereby reducing the cost and incentivizing manufacturing and transportation providers to install carbon capture systems. Finally, there exists a reputational barrier as carbon-based fuel combustion has become a target of environmental activists, who may not be receptive to the idea of “clean carbon” or “carbon neutral” initiatives. If we can both scale carbon capture and make it affordable, we can then show positive results that prove the system works. This scientific data is needed to help change the minds of environmental activists and politicians who are making environmental protection laws, to help them see substantial evidence that this type of technology will reduce carbon in the atmosphere.

The future of carbon capture

As carbon capture technology matures and closes scalability and commercial hurdles, it could result in a significant resurgence in carbon-based power generation. This will require time and money to navigate any barriers to entry both technically and politically. The bottom line is that carbon capture is incredibly promising, and as innovators in this area can show that it is good for the environment as well as for industry, it will be more likely to be adopted and supported.

As the goal of carbon reduction remains at the forefront of global concerns, IHI Power Services Corp is deeply interested in the potential advantages of carbon capture. Environmental stewardship and support services are part of its values and it is looking to new and innovative ways to protect the environment while supporting the power industry.

________________________________________________________________

Dan Consie has 30 years of experience in the power generation industry with skills in business and contract management, engineering, operation and maintenance, and rotating equipment vibration diagnostics and balancing. Consie has held plant engineer, plant manager and asset manager positions and is currently serving as vice president of strategic initiatives at IHI Power Services Corp. (IPSC).

biogas
Archives, Global Trade Daily, News

Biogas Market – Tremendous Potential of Landfill Gas will Fuel the Adoption of Renewable Energy

Leave a comment

Biogas consumption has gained steady momentum due to the growing development of biogas plants in rural areas, as they are known to be a free source of renewable energy. Besides providing energy, biogas plants help in the improvement of public hygiene, curbing pollution, and recycling of waste materials. The biogas produced can be used to generate electricity and act as a substitute for gasoline and other fuels.

Rising environmental concerns regarding climate change and the steadily depleting natural resources has forced an extensive use of biogas products worldwide, propelling biogas market trends and the emergence of compatible technologies. Using this renewable energy source curbs the release of methane into the atmosphere and reduces the dependency on fossil fuels.

Mitigating the effects of emissions from transportation

After having used every potential biogas in the U.S., the total methane emissions reduced will be equal to the yearly emission of around 800,000 to 11 million passenger vehicles. Moreover, anaerobic digestion can be advantageous to both climate and the local economies. Developing about 13,500 biogas systems in the U.S. would lead to adding more than 335,000 temporary jobs in construction as well as 23,000 permanent jobs.

There has been a widespread insistence on the use of renewable energy sources leading to the massive penetration of biofuel in the transportation sector. For instance, conventional biofuels held nearly 4% of the total world transport fuel in the year 2016. Numerous biofuel projects have been introduced in countries like India, Thailand, and China. Various nations importing petroleum products are backed by improved policy support for biofuels that are produced domestically and has influenced the market for ethanol and biodiesel.

Widespread production of LFG gas in the United States

Landfills have been considered the third-largest source of methane emissions related to humans in the U.S. These landfills have anaerobic bacteria content similar to a digester which breaks down different organic materials to be able to produce biogas, and in this case, it is called landfill gas (LFG). The LFG gas can be collected and used as a form of energy instead of letting the gas out into the atmosphere.

An average home in the U.S. would use nearly 10,812 kilowatt-hours of electricity every year in 2015, while the LFG projects across the U.S. produce electricity of around 17 billion kilowatt-hours as well as deliver LFG of about 98 billion cubic feet into natural gas pipelines or even to the end-users directly every year.

Favorable government policies to foster the biogas industry

Government policies regarding the use of biogas in numerous developing countries have been the prime factor driving global biogas industry forecasts. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in India, for instance, will be implementing the National Biogas and Manure Management Program (NBMMP) across every state as well as the Union territories. India had witnessed an installation of nearly 4.75 million biogas plants as of March 31, 2014.

The government had set a target of setting up about 110,000 biogas plants in India which has been considered as the best option for households that have feed material, as it helps them to become self-dependent for cooking gas as well as obtain a highly organic-rich bio-manure.

Similar efforts will also assist households by protecting them from air pollution indoor and also saving the cost of constantly refilling LPG cylinders. The ministry is also known to provide subsidy for biogas plants that suitable are for families, which has resulted in the rise in general awareness regarding the biogas industry and its potential contribution towards environmental upliftment.

Source: https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/biogas-market