SnippETS for 14 June 2018

Welcome to our latest SnippETS new letter. This week we take a look at a NZ’s move to zero carbon. What we need to do and other countries that are already working towards the Paris goals. Electrification of just about everything will assist in the move towards zero carbon. EV vehicles will play a part in the move towards zero carbon but there are issues along the way. Shipping companies are now looking to lower carbon emissions, from simply travelling at a slower rate of knots through to new ship designs. Finally as Trump ratchets up the threat of a global trade war, why not look at alternatives to business as usual that could encourage a move to reducing carbon!

The age of carbon is upon us and we finally have a government that wishes to address climate change. Last week James Shaw, the Minister for Climate Change, kicked off the consultation phase for the Zero Carbon Act. The government would like people to submit their views for consideration, but do so soon because consultation ends on July 17th.

So the government has announced that NZ is aiming to be carbon free by 2050, but what does that mean and how do we get there? This article looks at some of the hurdles that we need to overcome, and some of the methods we may employ in getting there. It is by no means exhaustive, but gives a decent overview.

Since the signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015, it now appears the world is finally ready to face climate change. This is evidenced in the fact that more and more nations are announcing bold plans to tackle the behemoth. New Zealand recently joined other nations with banning oil exploration; while several countries have banned coal, protected forests and put timelines on the phase out of conventionally powered vehicles.

With most of the world’s nations looking to decarbonise over the next 30 years, experts are suggesting that most direct path toward a clean energy future is to replace technologies that still run on combustion — including gasoline vehicles and natural gas heating and cooling — with alternatives that run on electricity, such as electric vehicles and heat pumps, all tapping into renewable or low-carbon power sources. Read about the Electrification of everything here.

2017 marked a significant milestone for Electric Vehicles (EV) with global sales passing 1 million units. But beyond sales volumes, there are a number of different metrics that indicate the Global Electric-Vehicle Market is amped up and on the rise. Currently, China is leading the pack with its EV market expanding by 72% over the previous year. Learn why new models (and regulations) are likely to stoke the markets further.

With the aggressive global uptake of electric vehicles (EV) in the past 12 months, three surprising resource implications have arisen from the growth of the EV sales. The first is that surprisingly it is improvements of efficiencies of gasoline vehicles, not EV’s that will have the biggest impact on decreasing global oil demand. Second, the amount of land needed for the adequate number of EV charging stations which will likely become a serious resource constraint. Finally, EV growth has already begun to strain demand for cobalt and lithium and this may become a serious bottle neck to mass adoption of EVs. Read More...

Although Tesla gets most of its media attention due to its innovative vehicles, last year it provided a little less than half of all of the stationary energy storage deployed globally (a total of 2.3 GWh). With the recent success of the batteries in South Australia, Tesla expects exponential growth in the storage market which could be its saving grace if things go belly-up for the automotive division.

As with other forms of transportation, shipping too is being transformed, with the International Maritime Organisation agreeing to reduce GHG from shipping by at least 50% by 2050. This article examines a range of technological and operational options that could be deployed to improve efficiencies, such as deploying sails, painting hulls with lower friction coating, slimmer designs and simply travelling at slower speeds.

With the ever likely prospects of a global trade war involving fresh tariffs on steel and aluminium, our final article discusses whether the European Union might use the opportunity to respond by placing a universal tax on GHG emissions instead of a traditional tariff. By increasing the costs of steel and aluminium produced both within and outside the EU, may prompt the use of lower emission and more climate friendly products.