Big methane savings a reality, building emissions’ AI potential and stretchy batteries
In this issue:
Simple win on methane
We all know agriculture is the biggest source of methane emissions with livestock being the biggest within agriculture. The second biggest methane emitter is the growing of rice. Rice is the staple diet of around 50% of the world’s population. Production is at an all time high and growing as the population expands. Rice growing accounts for around 33% of methane emissions in South East Asia. The traditional cultivation method is to flood fields, which helps prevent pests and weeds. This technique uses 200 litres of water to produce a single bowl of the grain. It also produces lots of methane from anaerobic organisms which flourish in those conditions. An alternative technique of a cycle of wetting and drying the ground has been shown to reduce water use by 20%, increase incomes by 30% (yields increase as the dry periods encourage root growth for the plants to flourish when wet) and reduce methane emissions by 35%.
AI and building efficiency
In a claim to be the first systematic study of the potential impact of AI on energy use and carbon emissions of commercial buildings, scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, CA, estimate energy consumption and emissions will be reduced by between 8% and 19% by 2050 as a result of widespread deployment of AI. Combined with lower carbon generation and supported by robust energy policy, energy savings could be as much as 40% and emissions savings as much as 90% compared with current practices.
Steel’s performance strengthening
Long cited as a hard to abate industry, the steel manufacturing sector is making good strides in acting to reduce emissions. The latest data from Global Energy Monitor tells us 49% of steel making capacity under development in 2023 was designed around electric arc furnaces rather than coal fired furnaces. This is up from 43% in 2023 and 33% in 2022. Meanwhile, a staggering 93% of announcements so far this year will be using electric arc technology. While a huge amount of legacy plant will ensure fossil fuels remain the dominant technology in steel making for many years to come, the trend does suggest attaining the IEA’s target of 37% of steel manufacturing be electric by 2030 may be achievable.
Cheap Ozzie power
Earlier this week, Sun Cable received environmental approval to build a 4,300km connector to transfer up to 2GW of cheap, Australian electricity to Singapore, around 15% of its total demand. The solar project will generate up to 20GW in total with much of the output being used onshore. However, the interesting point is that the generation economics are such that transfer over such distances is economically viable. For reference, Australia is just under 1,500km from NZ (Fjordland to Tasmania) and Auckland to Broken Hill (realistic generation and demand sites) is 3,000km. Could we see an NZ-AU connector at some point?
Our future world
The UN has been foresight scanning planetary health and has just published its Navigating New Horizons report. The report identifies eight specific areas for commentary, with several being severely impacted by climate change.
Stretchy batteries
It won’t be long before we see stretchy batteries on the market that can be used for powering small, personal devices and, more significantly, medical implants. Researchers at Nanjing University have developed a lithium based battery that can stretch 5000% of its original size and, on the same day, the University of Cambridge announced its jelly batteries made from hydrogels.
