Direction for Climate Action

The enormous expense to recover from fires, floods, powerful storms, and coastal erosion should be an incentive for government action to accelerate its phase-out of coal and greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

Emission Reduction Now

Recent articles in the press indicate proposals that will move us toward net zero emissions and take us further away from the benefits of achieving this goal.

Cloe Logan, writing for the National Observer, reports on Canada’s only underground coal mine coming back into production in Cape Breton.

After one full year, the mine is expected to produce enough coal to spew about eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it is burned. The three million tonnes of coal the mine will produce a year will create as many greenhouse gas emissions as the yearly energy use of over a million homes — more than the entire population of Nova Scotia. When Marshall hears those statistics, she thinks of the extraction of natural resources by large corporations coupled with the restriction of Indigenous Peoples’ access to traditional food sources, medicine and land. It’s the “continued poisoning of the people of Unama'ki, which is Cape Breton,” she said. (Logan, 2022)

A NS Government Press Release quotes Premier Tim Houston.“Setting this target sends a clear signal to the world that Nova Scotia is open for business and becoming an international leader in offshore wind and green hydrogen development.”

The most promising use for offshore wind energy is generating renewable electricity to produce green hydrogen for use in the province and for export. Green hydrogen is a clean alternative to fossil fuels because it does not create greenhouse gas emissions. Offshore wind is also another option to help Nova Scotia and Canada meet future clean electricity needs.

The Province also announced that it is developing a green hydrogen action plan to be released in 2023. The plan will outline the role green hydrogen can play in the transition to clean energy and the steps the government will take to build this industry, which will help Nova Scotia reach net-zero emissions by 2050. (Province Sets Offshore Wind Target, 2022)

Joan Baxter reports on EverWind Fuels’ 'green hydrogen' project that may depend on sketchy carbon calculations and an enormous public subsidy.

Ralph Torrie, research director at Corporate Knights, has co-authored two recent reports on how Nova Scotia can accelerate its phase-out of coal and greatly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions throughout its electricity and energy systems to tackle the climate emergency and reach net zero by 2050. Torrie prepared one report for the Ecology Action Centre in 2020, and the second was a white paper he co-authored with EfficiencyOne in 2021.

Both reports found that the most immediate and effective steps Nova Scotia could take on a “net-zero pathway” were in energy efficiency, electrification, and decarbonisation. They also stressed the importance of a just energy transition to eliminate energy poverty in the province. (Baxter, 2022)

Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United Nations, has recently expressed the opinion that our world is in big trouble. He urges the nations of the world to develop common solutions to common problems — grounded in goodwill, trust, and the rights shared by every human being.

Our world is in big trouble.

Let’s develop common solutions to common problems — grounded in goodwill, trust, and the rights shared by every human being.

Let’s work as one, as a coalition of the world. As united nations. pic.twitter.com/roRwCwUoay

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) September 20, 2022

This goal can be translated to action in Nova Scotia that addresses the climate change mitigation that we can begin now based on available technology for electrification, energy efficiency, and decarbonization.

References

Baxter, J. (2022, September 20). The 'hydrogen hyperbole epidemic' comes to Nova Scotia. Halifax Examiner. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/province-house/the-hydrogen-hyperbole-epidemic-comes-to-nova-scotia/ 

Logan, C. (2022, September 16). Canada's only underground coal mine is back in business — and emissions rules don't apply. National Observer. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/09/16/investigations/canadas-only-underground-coal-mine-back-business-emissions 

Province Sets Offshore Wind Target. (2022, September 20). Government of Nova Scotia. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://novascotia.ca/news/release/?id=20220920003 

Rapid Transition of Electricity Grid Needed Now

In response to the challenge to act quickly to reduce the GreenHouse Gas emissions that are increasing temperatures on the planet and increasing the intensity and frequency of  storms, wildfires and floods, we need to begin to engineer a transition of the grids that supply electricity.

Electricity Engineering and Decarbonization

A series of articles in the Economist indicate the ability to use renewables for the lion’s share of a grid’s supply, coupled with the fact that renewables have been made cheap and are getting yet cheaper, is the basis of a decarbonisation strategy all but universally accepted by those determined to stabilise the climate.

Make the power on electric grids emissions-free, cheap and copious. Start electrifying all processes that now require fossil fuels—such as powering cars, or heating homes and steel foundries—where electrification is clearly possible. It does not deliver everything that is needed. But it delivers a lot. (Electrifying Everything Does Not Solve the Climate Crisis, but It Is a Great Start, 2022)

 Lithium-ion batteries, the cost of which has crashed due to a mixture of innovation and economies of scale, have provided by far the greatest recent advances in “grid scale” electric storage.

After a 90% decline in the cost of battery packs between 2010 and 2021, reckons Citi, a bank, America is now seeing more megawatts of capacity added to its grid in the form of batteries than in the form of natural-gas combined-cycle turbines. Enormous banks of such batteries already provide up to four hours of dispatchable power to California’s grid operator on demand. When Californian utilities asked companies to come up with technologies for an eight-hour buffer the winning bids all used lithium. (Decarbonisation of Electric Grids Reliant on Renewables Requires Long-Duration Energy Storage, 2022)

Saul Griffith offers an optimistic—but realistic and feasible—action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment that is to electrify everything. His book, Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. Published by MIT Press, it makes the point that what we cannot afford are plans that make no progress because we are wasting time arguing over these issues before we begin, or because we are over-investing in technologies that can’t scale up sufficiently.

There will be trade-offs. More nuclear means fewer batteries but more public resistance and, most likely, higher costs. More solar and wind means more land use. What we cannot afford are plans that make no progress because we are wasting time arguing over these issues before we begin, or because we are over-investing in technologies that can’t scale up sufficiently. The real test, given the urgency of our climate situation, should be, “Is it ready to go to scale today?” We need to act now. (Griffith, 2021, p73) 

Fereidoon Sioshansi writes in a recent book, “Variable Generation, Flexible Demand” that “we need to automate things, essentially bypassing the customers.”

Solar Power and Storage

New der-enabled smart grids are an excellent way of doing this. Customers can set preferences as to what they need charged up and when.

as they do in a new scheme offered by Octopus Energy Group, a British provider. After that they let the system do as it wants—an approach the company says can, among other things, lower the cost of charging an electric vehicle (ev) by 75%. Such savings by consumers equate, at some point, with savings for the suppliers in terms of electricity they did not have to ship down congested transmission lines. (Getting the Most Out of Tomorrow's Grid Requires Digitisation and Demand Response, 2022)

Dr. Jonathan Foley, a climate & environmental scientist, writer, speaker, and the Executive Director of Project Drawdown, the world’s leading resource for climate solutions comments that “quick wins” can come from rapid and cost-effective improvements in efficiency.

Efficiency in Buildings

There are enormous opportunities to be more efficient with electricity.

(especially in buildings and industry), food (where ~30–40% is wasted globally), industrial processes, transportation (higher fuel efficiency, more alternative transportation), and buildings (improved building envelopes, building automation, and reduced refrigerant leaks). In addition, we will have to rapidly shut down fossil fuel energy sources and deploy renewable energy systems across the planet as quickly as possible. But given the enormous physical infrastructure and capital involved, this will inevitably take time. Even the most aggressive scenarios of this energy transition require the 2020s and 2030s to complete. (Foley, 2021)

Jackie Forrest, executive director of the ARC Energy Research Institute and co-host of the ARC Energy Ideas podcast comments that while the combined home solar and battery systems are still rare, sales are starting to increase in places such as Texas and California. These states have suffered from extended power outages from extreme weather. Instead of sitting in the dark, people with home solar and battery systems can reliably use their own electricity, day and night.

 While the two states have been experiencing most of the extreme weather-related power outages lately, climate change is expected to make these disruptive events more frequent and widespread over the coming decades. So to ensure safe, reliable and affordable power, it is likely that more homeowners will want to install solar panels and battery systems in the future. (Forrest, 2022)

ENGINEERING DESCRIPTION	ACRONYM
Distributed energy resources	PSH
electric vehicle .	TW and TWHrs
long-duration energy storage	DERS
pumped-storage hydropower	EV
The system needed to be able to deliver 1.5-2.5tw and store 85-140twhrs	LDES

 Can you Match the Description and the Acronym?

A quick look at the acronyms used in these articles indicates that the specialized knowledge of engineers, technologists, technicians, and trades people will be crucial to rapid implementation of these systems. 

References

Decarbonisation of electric grids reliant on renewables requires long-duration energy storage. (2022, June 23). The Economist. Retrieved July 2, 2022, from https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2022/06/23/decarbonisation-of-electric-grids-reliant-on-renewables-requires-long-duration-energy-storage 

Electrifying everything does not solve the climate crisis, but it is a great start. (2022, June 23). The Economist. Retrieved July 2, 2022, from https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2022/06/23/electrifying-everything-does-not-solve-the-climate-crisis-but-it-is-a-great-start 

Foley, J. (2021, February 20). To Stop Climate Change, Time is as Important as Tech. GlobalEcoGuy.org. Retrieved July 11, 2022, from https://globalecoguy.org/to-stop-climate-change-time-is-as-important-as-tech-1be4beb7094a 

Forrest, J. (2022, May 23). Opinion: Blackouts could drive a return to home solar. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-blackouts-solar-panels-electricity/#_=_ 

Getting the most out of tomorrow's grid requires digitisation and demand response. (2022, June 23). The Economist. Retrieved July 2, 2022, from https://www.economist.com/technology-quarterly/2022/06/23/getting-the-most-out-of-tomorrows-grid-requires-digitisation-and-demand-response 

Griffith, S. (2021). Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. MIT Press.

Engineering Calculation for Ready to Go Technology

This post continues a series of articles that present an optimistic playbook to combat the consequences of climate change being experienced by the world today.

Needed Engineering Analysis and Calculation

 

  Saul Griffith, inventor, entrepreneur, and engineer is the founder of Rewiring America, a nonprofit dedicated to decarbonizing America by electrifying everything. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant'' in 2007. He offers an optimistic plan to address climate change.

Engineering the Decarbonized Energy World

 

Some of the benefits of an engineering analysis of the climate crisis, like that offered by Saul Griffin in his 2021 book, Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future, include experience differentiating efficiency benefits and transformation benefits using calculations of energy use.

It’s not the 1970’s anymore and we are not facing a 70’s energy problem that can be solved with efficiency. We need transformation.

70’s thinking focuses on lots of small decisions and distracts us from the big picture.

70’s thinking muddles thermodynamic efficiency with energy saved through behavior change.

70’s thinking leads to a narrative of deprivation.

70’s thinking is about doing less bad, not about doing more good and building good into the way we do everything (Griffith, 2021, p47)

 Comparisons of electrical transportation and heating/cooling systems to existing fossil fuel technologies require engineering quality efficiency calculations.

In an electric car, we take electricity, store it in a battery, (approx 90% efficient), and then pass it through a drivetrain (approx 80% efficient).

Total efficiency = 1x0.9x0.8=0.72

We get 0.72 units of transportation for one unit of electricity.

If we use the same electricity to make hydrogen (via electrolysis, approx 65% efficient), then compress it into a tank and decompress it back out, (approx 75% efficient), then run it through a fuel cell (approx 50% efficient), 

Total efficiency = 1x0.65x0.75x0.5=0.24

We get only 0.24 units of transportation for the same one unit of electricity (Griffith, 2021, p52)

 Proposals to supply fossil fuel free energy and use innovative technology to capture and sequester carbon dioxide need to be assessed with the engineering calculation of EROI, Energy Returned on Energy Invested.

One unit of fossil fuel in gets you 7 or 8 units back… Estimates vary but wind and solar provide approximately twice the EROI of fossil fuel power plants. As manufacturers reduce the energy input of producing wind and solar technology, and as engineers extend the useful lifetime of this green machinery, the advantage will only improve. (Griffith, 2021, p59) 

Griffin estimates that when we add up all the energy savings of electrification we will find that we only need approximately 42% of the primary energy we use today.

Winning the war against the climate crisis will also mean a cleaner, more positive future. Our homes will be more comfortable when we shift to heat pumps and radiant heating systems that can also store energy. While it may be desirable to downsize our homes and cars, this isn’t absolutely necessary, at least in the US. Our cars can be sportier when they are electric. Household air quality will improve, as will public health, since gas stoves raise the risk of asthma and respiratory illnesses. We don’t need to switch to mass rail and public transit, nor mandate changing the settings on consumers' thermostats, nor ask all red-meat loving Americans to turn vegetarian… And if we successfully employ biofuels, we don’t have to ban flying. (Griffith, 2021, p61)

The engineering analysis of “Is it ready to go to scale today?” is crucial to avoid using resources on solutions that will come too late.

There will be trade-offs. More nuclear means fewer batteries but more public resistance and, most likely, higher costs. More solar and wind means more land use. What we cannot afford are plans that make no progress because we are wasting time arguing over these issues before we begin, or because we are over-investing in technologies that can’t scale up sufficiently. The real test, given the urgency of our climate situation, should be, “Is it ready to go to scale today?” We need to act now. (Griffith, 2021, p73)

Time to project completion is a key engineering parameter that must be considered in this decade for action to mitigate the worst impacts of climate emergency. 

References

Griffith, S. (2021). Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. MIT Press.

Electrify Now

This post begins a series of articles that present an optimistic playbook to combat the consequences of climate change being experienced by the world today.

A Playbook for Decarbonization

 

  Saul Griffith, inventor, entrepreneur, and engineer is the founder of Rewiring America, a nonprofit dedicated to decarbonizing America by electrifying everything. He was the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship “Genius Grant'' in 2007. He offers an optimistic plan to address climate change. 

Saul Griffith, an engineer and inventor, calls for grid neutrality, ensuring that households, businesses, and utilities operate as equals; we will have to rewrite regulations that were created for a fossil-fueled world, mobilize industry as we did in World War II, and offer low interest “climate loans.” Griffith’s plan doesn’t rely on big, not yet invented innovations, but on thousands of little inventions and cost reductions. We can still have our cars and our houses - but the cars will be electric and solar panels will cover our roofs. For a world trying to bounce back from a pandemic and economic crisis, there is no other project that would create as many jobs - up to 25 million, according to one economic analysis. Is this politically possible? We can change politics along with everything else. (Griffith #)

The cost of electrifying everything will be large but it will be less than the cost of mitigation of the effects of increasing temperature of the planet. A game plan that is based in science, engineering, and entrepreneurship connects with the disciplines that have improved life on the planet in modern history.

Work Cited

Griffith, Saul. Electrify: An Optimist's Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future. MIT Press, 2021.

Engineering Climate Change for a just transition

Engineering is a discipline, based on science, that works to achieve realistic outcomes for deploying technology to solve problems within boundaries set by deadlines and economic constraints.

Engineering Discipline and Climate Change

 

Following the science to the low carbon world is best implemented by engineering professionals.

Professor Susan Krumdieck, a New Zealand engineering academic, is currently Professor and Chair in Energy Transition at Heriot-Watt University, where she leads the academic programme of the Islands Centre for Net Zero. Her research and teaching since 2000 at Canterbury University in New Zealand focused on developing the engineering methods and innovative technologies for adaptation to reduced fossil fuel production and consumption.

Transition Engineering is an emerging field where engineers in all disciplines use a standard methodology to change unsustainable practices through innovating and carrying out “carbon shift projects” that achieve the deep 80% downshift in fossil fuel use, while increasing long-term real values, reliability and wellbeing… There are thousands of carbon shift changes that stop fossil carbon from being extracted and reduce the risk of runaway global warming..1

Six Areas where Transition Engineering can apply established methodology to determine the most suitable path to reduce fossil fuel production and consumption are:

1. OIL, GAS AND COAL PRODUCTION
2. TRANSPORT
3. ELECTRICITY
4. CAPTURING AND BALANCING EMISSIONS
5. AGRICULTURE
6. POPULATION

OIL, GAS AND COAL PRODUCTION

Deep and rapid reduction of emissions requires deep and rapid reduction of fossil fuel extraction and production and engineering analysis to inform international and national policy energy transition to low carbon.

 

TRANSPORT

Transport Transition Engineering is paramount for reduction of automobile production, decommissioning of fuel depots and service stations, growth of electric rail, urban trams and coastal shipping, and particularly in innovating ways to adapt for freight logistics and airline travel.

 

ELECTRICITY

Electric Power Engineering experts will work with Energy Managers, Energy Engineers, and Building Services to develop demand-side participation innovations that marry up the supply and demand. Engineers work with politicians and the public to determine the potential energy supply, costs and power grid stability.

 

CAPTURING AND BALANCING EMISSIONS

Engineers in coal and gas power generation, fertiliser production and steel production will be honest with politicians and the public about the possibility to engineer the transition to 80% less emissions with Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS), and begin immediately to either install such systems or engineer the transition in some other manner.

 

AGRICULTURE

Agricultural Transition Engineering to achieve economically effective downshifting of fertiliser use, water consumption, and ruminant stock numbers.

 

POPULATION

The Transition Engineering ethos of preventing what is preventable leads engineers to work on problems that have not previously been the purview of engineering.

 

The training and experience of engineers needs to be applied to the transitions required by climate change. In this way, expertise in the deployment of technology according to a plan that calculates the requirements for a just and economically feasible outcome, can result in career opportunities for technologists, technicians, and tradespeople in the low carbon world necessary for our best lives in the coming decades.

 

References

  

1 (2021, June 18). The Role of Engineering in Addressing Climate Change - Panmure .... Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.panmurehouse.org/perspectives/articles/the-role-of-engineering-in-addressing-climate-change/