One of the persistent claims made by nuclear energy advocates is that nuclear power plants hold a critical advantage over wind and solar facilities due to their significantly longer operational lifespans. This argument frequently serves as justification for continued investment in nuclear, often at the expense of renewable options. News … [continued]
The Maersk McKinney Moller Institute published an analysis in late 2024 exploring the potential for battery-electric shipping. Their study rightly concluded that battery-powered ships are not only viable but increasingly competitive, driven by falling battery prices, rising energy density, and straightforward integration of battery containers onto vessels. They missed on … [continued]
The September 2024 pre-feasibility study from the Maersk McKinney Møller Center on battery-powered vessels that crossed my screen today provides a welcome and thoughtful addition to the critical discussion of maritime electrification. The report rightly identifies battery-hybrid propulsion as an essential part of shipping’s decarbonization toolkit. It demonstrates a clear … [continued]
In the wake of the International Maritime Organization’s vote to price carbon in shipping fuels, I had the opportunity to sit down with an insider and expert on maritime decarbonization, Tristan Smith. He’s the director of a maritime advisory services consultancy, UMAS, and professor at University College London. This is … [continued]
The shale industry is facing an entirely predictable consequence of its own making. Across major shale-producing basins, particularly East Texas and the Permian, excessive wastewater injection practices have created areas with extreme overpressure, driving up the cost of new drilling operations and threatening the economic viability of shale production in … [continued]
Hydrogen is often presented as the clean-energy solution capable of decarbonizing the trickiest sectors, including heavy industry, aviation, maritime shipping, and long-haul trucking. Yet, a growing body of evidence makes it clear that a hydrogen economy, at scale, would deliver a major setback to global climate goals rather than helping … [continued]
Mark Carney, Canada’s freshly minted Prime Minister, faces an early test of leadership courtesy of the country’s automotive old guard. Ford, GM, and Stellantis have banded together to ask his government to scrap Canada’s zero-emission vehicle mandate, pleading poverty and technological impossibility. Apparently, after a mere century of automotive innovation, … [continued]
For the past week I’ve been working with a team of deep and broad experts in decarbonization in the Netherlands. The transmission system operator TenneT invited me and other experts to assist them with their Target scenario for 2050 to enable them to plan for transmission upgrades and space requirements … [continued]
CATF recently published a report entitled Beyond LCOE: A Systems-Oriented Perspective for Evaluating Electricity Decarbonization Pathways advocating for a shift in how we evaluate energy technologies. At face value, their core criticism, that Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) alone does not capture the full economic complexity of integrating intermittent renewable … [continued]
Recently, while deeply engaged in energy transition scenario planning with TenneT for the Netherlands’ decarbonization by 2050, I found myself considering again the lessons of Jonathan Haidt’s 2012 book, The Righteous Mind, a book I recently read for the first time. Haidt’s insights into the moral foundations that underpin human … [continued]
