Climate and Energy最新文献

As one of the world's largest economies and a developing nation with significant vulnerabilities to a changing climate, India has taken efforts to address climate change through various policies and initiatives. Climate finance policies play a crucial role in supporting developing countries in their transition to low-carbon and climate-resilient pathways. However, despite India's commitment to climate action, there have been instances where certain climate finance policies have failed to achieve their intended objectives. This article examines the failure of a specific climate finance policy in India and analyses the factors contributing to its shortcomings.

The transition to sustainable energy sources is crucial to achieving the 2015 Paris Agreement of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the impacts on the environment and climate, while providing access to affordable, secure, modern, and sustainable energy by 2030—Sustainable Development Goal 7 of the Agreement. Countries around the world are increasingly making diverse and ambitious commitments and taking actions to achieve these goals. The United Kingdom (UK) had a previous goal of reducing GHG emissions by 80 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2050, but in 2019 the country became the first major economy to vow to reach net-zero by 2050. In 2021, the government under the now extinct Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), published the Net Zero Strategy: Build Back Greener, containing policies and proposals to achieve this goal in all sectors of the UK economy.

Previously in this column I have focused on the critical need for the oil and natural gas industry to succeed in reducing methane emissions if the industry is to secure a long-term place in the climate-friendly energy economy. By now, everyone in or around the oil and natural gas industry is aware of—and has been affected by—ongoing efforts to do so. However, that does not mean that everyone within the industry is on the same page.

The phrase “energy transition” is a fairly recent term of Climate and Energy articles, and columns make frequent reference to the subject. Most generally, the term refers to a period of shifting to renewable and low-carbon energy sources, such as wind and solar, from traditional fossil fuels, such as oil, natural gas, and coal.

Taken at face value, peak load management involves controlling or influencing the time of day when electricity is used in homes, businesses, and public facilities. The desire to reduce peak electricity use has been based on the availability of generation resources and their associated costs. During periods of high electricity demand, retail energy providers, including distribution utilities, purchase power from generation sources that are less efficient than baseload generation resources such as hydro, nuclear, or coal. Operating the electrical grid has never been simple, but today the balance of supply and demand is getting more complex. On the supply side, the increasing penetration of renewable and distributed energy sources, such as solar and wind power, makes peak load management more complex. These sources are inherently intermittent, meaning that power generation cannot always be scheduled to meet demand. Additionally, electrification of the buildings and transportation sectors is changing the load profiles of customers and the regions of a distribution utility's service area. Yet, the rise of distributed energy resources (DERs), such as rooftop solar and battery storage, has created both opportunities and challenges for grid operators. Peak load management is rapidly evolving from past practices, with new use cases, economic drivers, hardware and software, and information technologies playing an increasingly important role. A cleaner energy future, while critical to our society and the environment, is not without increasing cost pressures, economic risks, and reliability challenges from extreme weather events. While we know where we are going, it is not exactly clear how we will get there. Nonetheless, the emphasis on peak load management will only increase in scale and sophistication. To better predict and prepare for the rapidly changing energy landscape, this editorial discusses the past and present state of peak load management and how it might be evolving into more flexible load management.

In general, utilities are consistently investing in their electric systems to deliver power with increased reliability, safety, and an improved customer experience. A resilient and high-performing electric system remains the backbone of our society and economic prosperity. While attempting to maintain reliability, improve safety, and also manage costs, distribution utilities find themselves working to meet decarbonation goals mandated by executive branches at both the state and federal level, congress and state legislatures, and regulators. In order to meet these goals efficiently and effectively, which can often be in conflict with one another, utilities are investing in technologies to digitize their enterprise and create a digital experience for employees and customers. Severe weather events are the most common cause of prolonged power outages and electric infrastructure disruptions. Between 2000 and 2001, approximately 83 percent of reported major outages in the US were attributed to weather-related events. The average annual number of weather-related power outages increased by roughly 78 percent during 2011–2021, compared to 2000–2010.

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) brings together nearly 200 parties for an annual meeting to assess progress against global climate objectives and determine if, and what, additional actions are required to achieve them. For two weeks in November 2022, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) was held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law on August 16, 2022, authorizes $500 billion in new spending and tax breaks for the clean energy and healthcare industries. Clean energy funding, totaling approximately $370 billion, is allocated to help achieve the Biden Administration's near-term goal of reducing carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2030. The clean energy funding focuses on deploying readily available technologies that developers, companies, and consumers can adopt immediately to help achieve these goals. Investment tax credits and production tax credits exist across the energy efficiency value chain to maximize impact. On the energy production side, the IRA extends existing tax credits and introduces new credits for renewable energy production. Tax credits for consumers and businesses are intended to increase efficiency of energy use and as a result decrease carbon emissions.

Indian Railways (IR), the fourth largest railway network in the world, has the vision to become a green transporter by reducing its carbon footprint. The energy consumption of IR in 2020 was approximately 18,410 million units for traction and 2,338 million units for non-traction load. IR has taken significant steps to reduce its carbon footprint and fuel costs and India is committed to becoming a “net-zero” carbon emission country by 2030. Some of its key initiatives toward decarbonization are 100 percent electrification of the railways broad gauge network, reductions in energy consumption, and meeting energy demand through renewable energy. IR currently has 220 MW of renewable energy capacity, with nearly 3,450 MW of renewable energy capacity in the development pipeline. It is also anticipated that with the use of renewable energy in the transportation sector, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be reduced by approximately 40 percent. Asia's largest railway network with 115,000 track kilometers, 8,500 stations, and operating approximately 12,000 trains every day, IR is considered one of the largest consumers of fossil fuels in India—consuming approximately 2.7 billion liters of diesel annually.

History shows that innovations in technology and the businesses that bring them to market radically change economies, societies, and cultures. New businesses and industries form around the innovations to commercialize and scale innovations—making them commonplace. New businesses and business models and supply chains supporting commercialization of innovative technologies have revolutionized the way we live, work, and play. And with technological breakthroughs new products and services are created, requiring new ecosystems to support them.