[GWSG] EU renewables top; 2% put climate first; 1.5C, 2C not plausible; CCS storage plausible; EU follow Biden?; paths to 100%; H power storage

[Tilley, Al]

1. In 2022 wind and solar power combined were the top energy source in the European Union for the first time. Fossil fuel energy production could drop by 20% in the EU in 2023. https://www.carbonbrief.org/wind-and-solar-were-eus-top-electricity-source-in-2022-for-first-time-ever/?utm_source=cbnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2023-01-31&utm_campaign=Daily+Briefing+31+01+2023

2. One in fifty US voters consider climate the single most important issue. (98% do not grasp the gravity of the situation.) Other figures from the Yale Climate Change Communication program are more hopeful. 52% say climate should be a high/very high priority for the national government. Almost 2/3 say that developing clean energy should be a priority. Of course, the gas and oil industry have inveigled many into believing that commercial methane is clean, and some of those are in the administration. (“Clean coal” seems to have discovered a limit to gullibility.) 2/3 support solar and wind farms.  https://mailchi.mp/yale/call-for-applications-the-2021-public-voices-fellowship-on-the-climate-crisis-2622875?e=4dee1d8b35

3. A second annual study from the U of Hamburg concludes that achieving a limit of 1.5C heating is not plausible (though “not impossible”), but limiting heating to well below 2C by 2050 “can become plausible if ambition, implementation, and knowledge gaps are closed.” The 62 authors of the Hamburg Climate Futures Outlook integrate insights from the sciences, including social sciences, to identify the drivers of climate action and to assess their current potency for achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement. Among the creative features of the study is the integration of adaptation strategies in a framework of climate action (Chapter 4). The PhysOrg article links to a page from the U of Hamburg which allows free access to the 234 page article. (References begin on page 164.)  https://phys.org/news/2023-02-degree-goal-plausible-social-important.html
The report is at a high level of generalization. While lengthy, it is accessible and supplies frequent insights and useful judgments. Sometimes, as with the AMOC alterations and the destabilization of the polar ice sheets, they glanced at recent work, but their usual reference is IPCC AR6, which is by design years out of date. However, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is frequently addressed, and the general discussion does not seem dated. I am grateful that the series intends to be an annual assessment of our chances of coping with the effects of fossil fuel industry.

4. Significant quantities of CO2 may be safely confined underground in appropriate rock strata for millions of years, even when the containing rock is fractured. The study was conducted by two Spanish agencies in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and the U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-carbon-dioxide-underground-safe-solution.html
The security of underground CO2 storage has been a major question for Carbon Capture and Sequestration from fossil fuels. Other questions are capture efficiency and cost compared with other sources of energy.

5. Lorenzo Marsili argues that it is time for the EU to follow the lead of Joe Biden’s climate strategy. Right now the most constructive voice in Europe seems to be Giorgia Meloni, the (at least) formerly fascist Prime Minister of Italy. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/03/joe-biden-green-deal-eu-joint-climate-fund

6. The Biden administration intends to generate 80% of the nation’s energy renewably by 2030 and 100% five years later. Here’s how. https://www.nrel.gov/analysis/100-percent-clean-electricity-by-2035-study.html
NPR interviews 4 energy experts on the carbon-free energy target. (The nuclear administrator does not really deal with the problems of relative cost and the disposal/storage of radioactive waste products. Of course.) The interviews offer much more info than the summaries indicate.  https://www.npr.org/2023/02/02/1148370220/biden-renewable-energy-goals

7. One problem to be solved on the way to 100% renewable energy is storing energy at a scale to cope with weeks with cloud cover or little wind. South Australia is building a 250MW hydrogen electrolyser using solar energy to produce the H to run a 200MW power plant. The H will act as power storage. https://reneweconomy.com.au/the-radical-plan-to-build-worlds-biggest-green-electrolyser-and-hydrogen-power-plant/

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