The state of innovation, calculating avoided emissions and a man of great foresight
In this issue:
The state of innovation
The IEA has just published a report on The State of Energy Innovation. The report covers 150 innovation highlights and looks at trends in R&D spend, venture capital and patent applications. Based on patent applications and their trends, East Asia is emerging as the clear home of energy innovation.
Avoided emissions calculations get database and platform
Credible incorporation of avoided, or Scope 4, emissions has come a step closer with the launch of a new platform and database to facilitate calculating avoided emissions. The Avoided Emissions Platform (AEP) models the avoided emission factors for 65 climate solutions, including energy efficiency improvements and projects which replace fossil fuels with lower-carbon alternatives. More factors will be launched as they are evaluated.
Largest deforestation project for Indonesia
What is believed to be the world’s largest planned deforestation project has been tabled in Indonesia. The project of 20 million hectares – the size of Belgium – will clear native forest for the plantation of palm oil, sugar cane and rice for food and biofuel production. Since 1950, an area twice the size of Germany, around 74 million hectares, has been cleared across Indonesia.
AI demand to level off
Swimming against the tide of predictions of massive power demand spikes to fuel AI in coming years, Energy Intelligence has published a report suggesting the growth in demand, while strong for several years, will eventually level off as improvements in processor efficiency, cooling technologies and algorithm optimisation take hold. The report also highlights the risk of a trend among international oil companies to use AI to reveal new fossil fuel fields and prolong the lives of existing fields through efficiency.
Or is it?
Meanwhile the IEA has just published its latest update on expected AI energy demand which predicts demand from data centres will double by 2030 to reach the same level as Japan’s total energy demand now. Underpinning that increase will be demand from AI functionality which is expected to quadruple over the same period. However, the report does go on to conclude the benefits of AI in improving efficiency and accelerating innovation will more than outweigh the costs of the extra demand.
Small business actively reducing emissions
That’s the conclusion of a survey of 471 small businesses across 53 countries by the SME Climate Hub. The main drivers for action are reported as consumer demand, compliance and the desire to build resilience. The survey indicates 61% of companies are taking positive climate action, up from 40% over the last year. 58% are trying to improve their sustainability profile and 51% are expecting their actions to deliver more clients. Given the survey was undertaken amongst members of the SME Climate Hub, one has to be conscious of selection bias but the headline results are still an indicator of positive change.
First global carbon tax still alive despite US threats
What would be the world’s first global carbon tax is under debate in London. The International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the regulator for international shipping, is discussing the issue this week with expectations an agreement will be reached on the concept, first tabled in 2023. The main point of contention is whether a fixed price per tonne or a credit trading arrangement would better suit. Needless to say, the US is opposed to the concept entirely and has threatened reciprocal taxes on any charges imposed on US vessels.
Did you know …….
This week saw the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frenchman Augustin Mouchot who, back in 1873, predicted the demise of fossil fuels and the rise of renewables, saying: “The time will arrive when the industry of Europe will cease to find those natural resources, so necessary for it. Petroleum springs and coal mines are not inexhaustible but are rapidly diminishing in many places. Will man, then, return to the power of water and wind?” He was a researcher and advocate of solar energy and, in particular, solar steam engines. Many of his ideas and findings were published in 1869 in his book La Chaleur solaire et ses Applications industrielles (“Solar Heat and its Industrial Applications”).
