The tide is turning against
the fossil fuel industry as countries and companies recognise the green
business boom of alternative energy.
January 27th, 2020, by Paul
Brown
LONDON, 27 January, 2020 − While
the news about the climate crisis worsens and some national leaders, notably
President Trump in the US, continue to champion the fossil fuel industry, there
are still reasons to be cheerful, notably the developing green business boom of
abandoning fossil fuels.
Fighting climate change has
become the world’s single biggest business opportunity. Investment in wind
power, solar, green
hydrogen, energy storage, biogas, electric cars, tidal and wave power is at
an all-time high.
Some countries, for example
Portugal, have both business and government working together. They can see that
that phasing out coal and replacing it with green hydrogen produced with
electricity from sunlight is the
road to national prosperity.
But even in countries like the
US, where the government champions the polluters, businesses seeking profits
are investing in wind and solar simply because they
are cheaper than coal.
Just one extraordinary
statistic: Texas, the US state most associated with oil, already has 26.9
gigawatts (GW) of installed wind power – the equivalent of 26 large coal-fired
power stations. That shows how the energy map of the US is changing.
The speed of transition
worldwide heralds a new industrial revolution. Three industries growing fast
and with enormous potential to make a difference to climate change are green
hydrogen, offshore wind, and electric cars.
There is a belief that green
hydrogen could become a
substitute for oil, both for transport and for heating. A study by energy
company Wood Mackenzie estimates that $365 million has already been invested in
green hydrogen, but that over
$3.6 billion is in the pipeline.
For example, the Portuguese
minister of environment and energy transition, João Pedro Matos
Fernandes, has revealed plans to develop 1 GW of solar power capacity to
be used for hydrogen production.
He was quoted as saying:
“Portugal is in a position to be the largest producer of green hydrogen –
which will allow the country to become the biggest producer of green
energy in Europe. Hydrogen produced will be supplied to local energy-intensive
industries, or could be exported using the deep-sea port of Sines.”
Cheaper off-shore wind
The key to the idea is that
solar power is now so cheap that using it to create green hydrogen makes the
hydrogen competitive with fossil fuels, as well as emission-free.
Apart from the continued
success of on-shore wind energy, now recognised worldwide as the cheapest way
to generate electricity, there is enormous interest in off-shore wind, where
the improved technology and sheer size of the turbines has brought production
costs tumbling.
The depth of the sea is also
no longer a problem because floating offshore wind farms have now been
successfully deployed in the North Sea and elsewhere in Europe. Electricity
production from off-shore wind, with the wind blowing more constantly and at
higher speeds, has exceeded predictions.
China is among the big
developers, but again it is the US which springs a surprise, because analysts
claim that investment in off-shore wind there will exceed that for oil and gas
within five years.
Capacity in the US could reach
20 GW (the equivalent of 20 coal-fired power stations) by 2030, with an annual
investment of $15 billion by 2025, according to Rystad Energy, a firm of independent
analysts.
Coal stumbles
While the renewable sector is
booming, the biggest polluter − the coal industry − is flagging. The US Federal
Energy Information Administration expects renewables (wind, solar, hydro,
geo-thermal and a small quantity of biomass) to reach 21.6 % of US electricity
production by 2021, ahead of coal at 20.8% and nuclear at 19.7%. Gas remains in
front at 37%.
In 2010 coal
accounted for 46% of the market and renewables only 10%, and most of that
was hydropower.
There is good news on the
investment front too, at least for the climate. The latest figures show that
for the second year running shares in the oil and gas sector of the stock
market have fared worse than any other group.
Although the dividends the oil
companies have paid out continue high to keep shareholders happy, the
combination of the disinvestment movement and fears for the long-term future of
the fossil fuel industry are keeping
the stock price low.
There are dozens of smaller
initiatives and investments too numerous to detail which amount to an avalanche
of change. It is a lot, and a cheering start to the decade, but sadly still a
long way from solving the climate crisis. − Climate News Network
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