Financial Benefits

Turning plastic waste into low-cost hydrogen fuels

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By Victoria Corless 
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A flash heating technique breaks down plastic waste and converts it to pure hydrogen and graphene with significantly less emissions and at a low cost.

As the impacts of the ongoing climate crisis and environmental challenges like pollution and ecosystem degradation become increasingly evident, the need for innovative solutions that address these complex issues on multiple fronts grows more urgent.

In a recent study published in Advanced Materials, researchers led by Boris Yakobson and James Tour from the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering at Rice University in the US are doing just this with a new technology that converts waste plastic into clean hydrogen gas and high-purity graphene without any carbon dioxide (CO2).

“What if we turned waste plastic into something much more valuable than recycled plastic while at the same time capturing the hydrogen that is locked inside?” asked Kevin Wyss, a chemist at SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger) who completed the project as part of his Ph.D. thesis.

This idea led to a transformative solution that not only mitigates environmental harm but also harnesses untapped value from problematic waste materials.

The desire for hydrogen

Hydrogen stands out as a clean and attractive fuel source due to its ability to yield substantial energy per unit weight while generating water as its sole byproduct.

“This is what makes it sustainable or ‘green’ compared to current gas, coal, or oil fuels, which emit lots of CO2,” said Wyss. “And unlike batteries or renewable power sources, hydrogen can be stored and re-fueled quickly without waiting hours to charge. For this reason, many automobile manufacturers are thinking about transitioning to hydrogen fuel.”

In 2021, the global consumption of hydrogen reached a staggering 94 million tonnes, and demand is projected to surge in the coming decade. However, the dilemma lies in the fact that, despite hydrogen’s reputation as a green fuel, the dominant method of hydrogen production still relies on fossil fuels through a process called steam-methane reforming, which is not only energy intensive, but results in CO2 emissions as a byproduct. “In fact, for every ton of hydrogen made industrially right now, 10-12 tons of CO2 are produced,” said Wyss.

An emerging alternative is to produce hydrogen gas through a process known as electrolysis, where water is split into its constituent elements using electricity. While the electricity source can be renewable, such as solar, wind, or geothermal energy, ensuring this remains a challenge. These processes also require additional materials, such as catalysts, and cost around $3-5 USD per kg of hydrogen, making it difficult to compete with the reforming process at ~$2 USD per kg.

“You can see why we need methods to produce hydrogen in an efficient and low-cost method that does not produce large amounts of CO2,” said Wyss.

The problem with plastics and hydrogen fuels

Wyss explained that the challenges posed by plastic waste pollution and low-carbon hydrogen production are problems that scientists have successfully addressed decades ago.

“In the case of plastic waste pollution, we know how to recycle plastics — the problem lies in the fact that recycling is so expensive, with the high costs of manually separating plastic types, washing the waste, and then re-melting the polymers,” he said. “As a result, recycled plastics often cost more than new plastics, so there is not an economic incentive to recycle and thus, pollution is still a problem decades later.

“In the case of hydrogen production, we know how to make hydrogen fuel without producing CO2, but is two to three times more expensive than methods that produce hydrogen with lots of CO2.”

Hence, the real challenge lies not in solving these problems, but rather finding ways to reduce the cost of their solutions — a challenge Wyss and his colleagues are tackling head on.

Flash Joule heating breaks down plastics

Their approach uses flash Joule heating, a cutting-edge technique for rapidly heating materials to extremely high temperatures. To achieve this, an electric current is run through a material that has electrical resistance, which swiftly converts the electricity into heat, achieving temperatures of thousands of Kelvins in mere seconds.

“We discharge current through the sample of plastic, with a small amount of added ash to make it conductive, and achieve temperatures up to 2,500°C within a tenth of a second, before the sample cools back down within a few seconds,” said Wyss. “This rapid heating reorganizes the chemical bonds in the plastic — the carbon atoms in the plastic convert to the [carbon-carbon] bonds of graphene, and the hydrogen atoms convert to H2 [gas].”

“This process upcycles the waste plastics with high efficiency using no catalyst or other solvents,” he continued. “Once our plastics have undergone the reaction, we also get pure, valuable graphene, used for strengthening cars, cement, or even making flexible electronics and touchscreens, and which currently has a value of $60,000-$200,000 per ton.”

Wyss says that his lab at Rice University has been working on flash Joule heating for the past five years, but their main focus was previously on making graphene from plastics. But he says that, after some time, they realized that many plastic polymers also contain atomic hydrogen. “If we end up with graphene, which is 100% pure carbon, where is all the atomic hydrogen locked in the plastic going?” he asked.

They therefore set about trapping and studying the volatile gases emitted during their flash Joule heating process, and to their surprise discovered they were liberating almost 93% of the atomic hydrogen and were able to recover up to 64% of it as pure hydrogen — yields that are comparable to current industrial methods that emit five to six times more CO2.

“Our method produces 84% less CO2 and greenhouse gases per ton of hydrogen produced, compared to the current popular industrial method of steam methane reforming, […] and uses less energy than current ‘green’ hydrogen production methods, such as electrolysis,” Wyss said.

Making an EarthShot

This aligns with the US Department of Energy’s EarthShot Initiative, modeled after the historic “Moonshot Challenge”, which aimed to put a man on the moon in the 1960s. Similarly, the EarthShot initiative seeks to mobilize resources and creativity to achieve ambitious environmental goals.

These goals are intended to be scalable, achievable, and designed to tackle critical issues related to climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, and other environmental crises. “The climate crisis calls for a different kind of moonshot,” they wrote on the website. “Energy Earthshots [such as the Hydrogen Shot] will accelerate breakthroughs of more abundant, affordable, and reliable clean energy solutions within the decade.”

The goal is to make 1kg of clean hydrogen cost $1 USD within the next decade, where clean hydrogen is defined as any that is produced with less then 4 kg of CO2 as a byproduct.

“Our research has shown that we can do that now, if the [flash Joule heating] process is scaled up, converting waste plastics into clean hydrogen and graphene,” said Wyss. “Currently, 95% of hydrogen produced globally results in 10-12 kg of CO2 being produced as a byproduct. Our process produces as little as 1.8 kg of CO2 per kg of hydrogen.”

Before this can happen, Wyss acknowledges that scale-up is still an issue. As hydrogen is a flammable gas, its safe capture and purification requires some careful planning and engineering. But Wyss is hopeful it can be done.

“A company named Universal Matter was started three years ago to scale-up the flash Joule heating process to make graphene,” Wyss said. “In that short time, [they have] scaled from gram-per-day levels to ton-per-day graphene production. So, we are very optimistic that this hydrogen production method can be similarly scaled successfully as the core principles are identical.”

Reference: Boris I. Yakobson, James M. Tour, et al., Synthesis of Clean Hydrogen Gas from Waste Plastic at Zero Net Cost, Advanced Materials (2023). DOI: 10.1002/adma.202306763

Feature image credit: tanvi sharma on Unsplash

Plastic to Power: Transforming Trash into World-Changing Hydrogen

Posted on by abrahamwien18

By Alicia Moore
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The Scale of the US Plastic Waste Problem

The United States is projected to generate 220 million tons of plastic waste in 2024, a 7.11% increase from 2021. Over a third of this waste is expected to be mishandled, contributing significantly to global plastic pollution. With only 19.8% of PET, HDPE, and PP plastics being recycled, the remainder often ends up in landfills, oceans, or incinerators.

The theoretical Plastic Overshoot Day for 2024 is set for this week, September 5, marking when plastic waste production surpasses the planet’s management capacity. A study by EA Earth Action identifies the top offenders in per capita waste generation:

  1. Michigan
  2. Indiana
  3. Illinois

The concept of converting plastic waste into hydrogen fuel offers a potential solution to both waste management and energy challenges. This process involves:

  • Collection
  • Sorting
  • Shredding
  • Pyrolysis
  • Steam reforming

Each step contributes to a cleaner planet while producing a valuable resource. Hydrogen fuel, a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, could aid in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that plastic waste is put to purposeful use.

Implementing such a system would require carefully designed infrastructure, stringent regulations, and public cooperation. While challenging, the impact on the environment, human health, and biodiversity warrants such an endeavor. Given that 94% of Americans are inclined to recycle plastics and limit single-use plastic, there is potential for such transformative systems to take root.1

Rice University Breakthrough

Researchers at Rice University have pioneered a easy to scale-up method to convert mixed plastic waste into high-yield hydrogen gas and graphene through rapid flash Joule heating. This breakthrough not only generates clean hydrogen but also creates valuable graphene.

Summary of How it Works and Benefits of Their Process:

  • Flash Joule heating is a process used to convert plastic waste into hydrogen gas and graphene.
  • The method rapidly heats plastic waste to high temperatures, causing hydrogen to vaporize and leaving behind graphene.
  • This process is scalable, low in complexity, and environmentally friendly.
  • The production of graphene helps offset the costs of hydrogen production, making it economically viable.
  • Flash Joule heating can produce high-value nanomaterials efficiently and at a low cost.
  • The process results in reduced carbon emissions compared to traditional methods.
  • It can synthesize various graphitic materials, such as holey and wrinkled graphene, which have increased surface areas for applications in energy storage and water purification.
  • The method demonstrates high yields of hydrogen gas from common consumer waste plastics.
  • Life-cycle assessments show this method releases less CO2 than most current hydrogen production methods.
  • The approach supports sustainable energy transitions and addresses plastic waste effectively.

Nanyang Technological University Innovation

NTU in Singapore has developed an energy-efficient method using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and a commercially available vanadium catalyst. This process operates at room temperature, drastically reducing the energy footprint compared to traditional heat-driven recycling methods.3

Combining these cutting-edge technologies into a unified system could yield significant environmental and economic benefits. By deploying LED-based pyrolysis followed by advanced steam reforming techniques, the process efficiency can be maximized while minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

“Integrating these technologies into a circular economy framework, where waste is treated as a resource rather than a disposal problem, will also drive market acceptance and investment.”

This approach reduces the plastic burden on landfills and oceans, and addresses energy security issues by providing an alternative, sustainable fuel source.

Environmental and Economic Impact

Upcycling plastic waste into hydrogen fuel offers significant environmental and economic benefits. By diverting plastic waste from landfills and oceans, this process can mitigate:

  • Soil contamination
  • Leachate production
  • Marine pollution

The reduction in microplastics entering the food chain would have positive implications for both marine life and human health.

Economic Benefits

Creating and operating hydrogen production facilities from plastic waste would generate new jobs across various sectors, from engineering to facility management. The demand for specialized skills in pyrolysis, steam reforming, and hydrogen purification would foster new educational and vocational opportunities.

The shift to hydrogen fuel derived from plastic waste can offer a competitive edge in the face of increasing regulatory pressures to reduce carbon footprints and fluctuating fossil fuel prices. Advancements in technology promise to reduce the cost and energy requirements of hydrogen production, enhancing the feasibility and affordability of scaling up these processes.

In Summary, converting plastic waste into hydrogen and graphene offers a multitude of environmental benefits. This innovative process drastically reduces the amount of plastic ending up in landfills and oceans, where it can leach harmful substances into the ground and marine ecosystems.

By transforming plastic waste, not only is pollution minimized, but valuable graphene is produced, which can be used across various industries, from electronics to materials science. Furthermore, the hydrogen generated serves as a clean energy source, as it emits only water when used as fuel, contributing to a sustainable energy future. This water emission is so clean that some consider it drinkable, showcasing the immense potential of this technology to support environmental and energy goals.

Exploring the full potential of upcycling plastic waste into hydrogen fuel allows the United States to address both environmental sustainability and economic viability. With strategic investments, supportive regulations, and public engagement, this approach can mitigate plastic pollution, foster a circular economy, and position the nation on a sustainable path towards energy transition and environmental stewardship.

  1. Geyer R, Jambeck JR, Law KL. Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Sci Adv. 2017;3(7):e1700782.
  2. Wyss B, Luong DX, Tour JM. Recycling plastic waste into graphene and clean hydrogen. Carbon Energy. 2021;3(3):475-485.
  3. Salehzadeh Einabad M, Dehghani H, Nagarajan D, et al. Light-driven plastic waste valorisation to hydrogen fuel and carbon nanomaterials. Nat Catal. 2022;5:706-716.

Addressing The E-Waste Crisis: Embrace Device Reuse Over Destruction

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Written By: Namrata Sengupta
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The global surge in electronic waste (e-waste) poses a critical environmental and health challenge. In fact, according to the UN’s recent Global E-Waste Monitor Report, “The world’s generation of electronic waste is rising five times faster than documented e-waste recycling.”

The report estimates that in “only 12 years, the amount of e-waste generated per year worldwide almost doubled, to 62 billion kilograms in 2022. It is projected to increase to 120 billion kilograms in 2030.” Most of the e-waste ends up in landfills, as currently, only 22.3% of e-waste is collected and recycled. The problem here is that e-waste is nonbiodegradable. It also poses a significant health hazard and pollutes land, water and air.

The primary factors behind e-waste growth are the ever-expanding global data sphere, rapidly evolving technology, shorter device refresh cycles, increased appetite for electronic devices and insufficient recycling of e-waste.

Businesses, in their bid to safeguard data privacy, also contribute significantly to the e-waste crisis by employing traditional physical device-destruction methods like shredding, degaussing or burning to protect data when retiring or disposing of IT assets.

Many of these devices could have been reused after repair and refurbishing. If we talk about e-waste generated due to the physical destruction of potentially usable drives, the numbers are astonishing.

Device reuse will be an important factor in mitigating the hazardous effects of e-waste on the environment and human health.

Device reuse is the practice of prolonging the life of IT devices by refurbishing and repairing them for reuse rather than disposing of them physically. It plays a major role in reducing the generation of e-waste and its impact on the environment.

Organizations should practice secure media sanitization over device destruction to promote device reuse. Global bodies like NIST with their Special Publication 800-88 and the IEEE with Standard for Sanitizing Storage have stated that media sanitization techniques like overwriting, cryptographic erasure, block erasure, etc., are sufficient for permanent data removal beyond the scope of recovery, eliminating the need for physical destruction. Erased devices can be reused without the fear of compromising data confidentiality.

There are several ways that device reuse addresses the e-waste crisis. Here are a few to consider:

• Reduction Of E-Waste In Landfills: Repairing and refurbishing increases the life span of IT devices, and they can be used for longer durations. This helps prevent operational devices from ending up in landfills and stops the leaching of hazardous material into soil and water resources.

• Reduction Of Dependency On Mining: When IT devices are used for longer, they reduce the dependency on mining for new raw materials. It helps reduce the ecological impact of mining, like deforestation, loss of natural habitat and environmental degradation.

• Energy Conservation And Reduction In Emission: A significant portion of the energy consumed by a laptop in its entire life cycle is used during the manufacturing process. Reusing devices significantly cut down on energy consumption and carbon emissions during manufacturing and transportation. It thereby reduces the carbon footprint of an organization and helps diminish the effects of e-waste.

• Promotes A Circular Economy: Reuse is a crucial component of a circular economy. It supports circularity by keeping devices and materials in use for longer durations, creating a sustainable business model that prioritizes refurbishment and recycling over physical destruction.

Ways To Implement Effective Device Reuse Strategies

As e-waste reaches alarming levels, the need for sustainable practices is more urgent than ever. Merely destroying devices worsens the crisis, endangering both the environment and human health. Embracing device reuse not only mitigates the adverse effects of e-waste but also fosters a circular economy, advocating sustainability and mindful consumption.

Implementing an effective device reuse strategy requires careful consideration. Based on the considerations above, organizations should adopt a holistic approach to ensure their strategies are in line with their organizational sustainability goals and that their device reuse practices can be easily integrated with their ongoing operations.

Here are a few ways that businesses can implement device reuse within their organization:

1. Create a device reuse policy. An organizational device reuse policy should establish clear parameters for selecting IT assets that can be reused. This policy should consider parameters like devices’ computing power, feasibility of repurposing, cost of repair, upgrades required, device refresh cycles, etc.

2. Perform data erasure. Removing sensitive data from the devices before they are reused is a must to ensure data confidentiality and comply with data privacy laws. Use a certified data wiping tool to ensure permanent data removal and also generate proof of destruction for audit purposes.

3. Repair or refurbish. Perform hardware diagnostics to get a real-time picture of the device’s health. Repair or replace the parts that are faulty and reuse the device to its fullest extent.

4. Repurpose devices. Older devices should be repurposed for different roles. For example, a laptop previously used by the R&D team for high computing tasks can be reassigned to the admin department, where only basic computing power is needed.

5. Recycle faulty parts. Computer components that have stopped working or are faulty should be responsibly recycled to ensure that they don’t end up in landfills. Recycling conserves resources and reduces the environmental impact of mining for new raw materials, reducing Scope 3 emissions and thereby promoting sustainability.

The time has come to prioritize reuse over destruction and proactively tackle the e-waste challenge. With these best practices, organizations can take the necessary proactive steps to help effectively address the e-waste crisis.

Top 10: Brands Embracing the Circular Economy

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By: Lucy Bucholz
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Credit: Getty Images

Brands are adopting a circular economy to promote sustainability and economic benefits, thus meeting consumer demand. Here, we pick out the top 10 of 2023

More brands have been embracing the concept of a circular economy over the past few years as a way of promoting sustainable development and reducing the impact of human activity on the environment. 

A circular economy is an economic model that emphasises the efficient use and reuse of resources, products and materials in order to minimise waste and pollution. By prioritising circular economies, brands are able to capitalise on economic benefits, while also meeting the ever-rising demand for sustainable strategists from consumers. 

That’s why, we’ve rounded up our top 10 brands embracing the circular economy in 2023.

1. Patagonia 

Patagonia has been at the forefront of the circular economy movement since first making a sustainability commitment in 1986. The apparel brand aims to reduce its environmental impact through a number of different initiatives, including The Worn Wear programme, which encourages customers to repair, reuse, and recycle their garments. The programme offers a repair service that addresses any damages to the clothing, as well as a trade-in option where customers are provided with store credits for used Patagonia clothing. Through this initiative, Patagonia has successfully prolonged the lifespan of its products while also minimising waste.

The brand also introduced a line of clothing that incorporates recycled materials and uses organic cotton and other sustainable fibres. By adopting sustainable materials, Patagonia is making strides to reduce the environmental impact of its products and promote a circular economy.

2. IKEA

Swedish home-retail conglomerate IKEA has made strides towards a circular economy and sustainability initiatives with three main commitments: The take-back programme, circular services and investing in sustainable materials. 

Firstly, the Take-Back programme allows IKEA customers to return their furniture to be either repurposed or recycled, helping to promote a circular economy. The company also allows customers to rent items or buy refurbished furniture to promote the reuse of products and encourage customers to practise sustainable shopping habits. Finally, many products are made from FSC-certified wood and recycled plastic to reduce the company’s impact.

3. Unilever

Unilever, a multinational consumer goods corporation, has prioritised sustainability and circular economy goals by undertaking various measures to advance its objectives. For example, all products use sustainable ingredients, such as ethically-sourced palm oil, to mitigate their environmental impact. The company has also pledged to reduce packaging waste by 2025 by 2025, while also establishing a recycling programme to increase education and enhance recycling rates. 

4. Accenture 

Accenture is a company that utilises advanced technologies and partners with leading organisations like Mastercard, Amazon Web Services, Everledger, and Mercy Corps to advance its circular supply chain capability. The aim of this capability is to enhance financial inclusion, promote sustainable practices, and empower consumers. With this approach, Accenture ensures that its clients achieve their corporate sustainability goals through better resource planning and utilisation.

5. H&M

Fashion giant H&M has made a significant commitment to its ESG initiatives, such as reducing waste and promoting sustainable practices. One of these initiatives is its garment collection programme, which enables customers to return used clothing for recycling or repurposing. Additionally, H&M is dedicated to utilising sustainable materials like organic cotton and recycled polyester in its products, which has reduced the environmental impact of its products while promoting the circular economy. 

6. Adidas 

Adidas is a prime example of how a big business can change and take responsibility for its role in the plastic problem and pledge to use its influence to make a positive impact. The sportswear giant launched the ‘Three Loop Strategy’ consisting of three interrelated initiatives. The first loop involves recycling plastic waste, the second involves designing shoes that can be remade and the third loop focuses on regeneration, where Adidas aims to use biodegradable materials that will disintegrate naturally into their surroundings. 

7. Interface

Flooring company Interface has taken a strong stance towards sustainability and promoting a circular economy by initiating various measures to achieve its goal. One of their significant approaches is adopting a closed-loop manufacturing process, using recycled materials to make their carpet tiles. When tiles have reached the end of their life, they are collected and recycled into new products, reducing waste and fostering a circular economy. 

8. HP 

HP has been incorporating circular practices into its operations for nearly two decades by collecting used ink cartridges. In recent years, the company has further intensified its recycling efforts, by launching the world’s first monitor and an entire PC made from ocean-bound plastics. The company’s overall goal is to become net-zero by 2040, with 100% renewable energy.

9. TrusTrace 

TrusTrace is on a mission to introduce transparency to both producers and consumers in the fashion industry, which accounts for 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions. With its cutting-edge digital platform, the company aims to raise awareness about individual responsibilities and promote best practices, having already attracted over 10,000 users. The company’s exceptional dedication to sustainability and circular economy has earned it the prestigious Solar Impulse label.

10. Mud Jean 

Mud Jean uses recycled denim to make new pairs of jeans, which customers can lease for just under €10 per month. This initiative allows customers to avoid buying jeans they will rarely wear, thus contributing to a closed-material loop. To participate in the Mud Jeans leasing programme, customers can send in an old pair of jeans and receive their first month of leasing for free. From there, customers can choose to continue their subscription and receive a new pair of Muds each month or end their subscription after the initial month.

Get Acquainted With the Core Principles of a Circular Economy

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By: Inogen Alliance
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Modern industry has long perpetuated a linear economy. This model relies on the continued extraction of new materials and ultimately leads to an accumulation of waste. A circular economy, on the other hand, strives to function in ways that reduce waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in circulation for longer.

Read on to learn more about the practices and principles of a circular economy, and its economic, environmental, and social benefits.

The 4 Rs That Underpin a Circular Economy

Before we examine the core principles of a circular economy, let’s first revisit the basics. It’s fair to say that most people are familiar with the concept of “reduce, reuse, recycle.” What is less commonly discussed – yet extremely important to developing a true circular economy – is the fourth R: recover.

Here is what each of these practices means when applied to business:

  • Reduce: Minimizing waste before it’s even created by engaging in design and production processes that prioritize lifespan and sustainability.
  • Reuse: Finding new ways to use products or materials, extending the functional lifespan of the item and enabling it to circulate within the economy for as long as possible.
  • Recycle: Breaking down products into their raw materials and manufacturing new items from them. While this is by far the most publicized, recycling is often seen as a last resort in the hierarchy of circular practices.
  • Recover: Reclaiming materials or energy from products that can no longer be reused or recycled. This can mean everything from composting organic materials to capturing energy from waste.

The 3 Core Principles of a Circular Economy

The following three principles are central to establishing a circular economy within your business.

Eliminating waste

This principle involves rethinking how resources are used at every stage of a product’s lifecycle, from design to disposal.

For businesses, this could mean:

  • Using recycled material in manufacturing rather than raw materials.
  • Designing products with modularity, allowing for easy repair or upgrade.
  • Choosing manufacturing processes that minimize offcuts and scrap.

Keeping materials in use

To break the cycle of the use-and-dispose economy, keeping materials in use as long as possible is crucial.

Here are examples of how you can apply this principle:

  • Developing take-back schemes or leasing models where products are returned to you after use, ensuring they are either reused, refurbished, or responsibly recycled.
  • Facilitating a secondary market for your products or materials, extending their lifecycle beyond initial use.

Regenerating natural systems

Engaging in the circular economy isn’t simply about reducing negative impacts on the environment – it focuses on using regenerative practices to restore natural systems and enhance biodiversity.

In practice, this may look like:

  • Investing in technologies or processes that restore soil health, clean water, and air quality through your business operations.
  • Partnering with organizations working towards reforestation or ocean clean-ups to offset the ecological footprint of your operations.

Circular Economy Benefits and Advantages

Embracing a circular economy presents many benefits that span environmental, economic, and social spheres.

Environmental benefits

Through engaging in the practices of reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover, your company can have a net-positive impact on the environment. In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, businesses can also contribute to better soil and water conditions by reducing waste across all product lifecycle touchpoints, such as material extraction, manufacturing and packaging.

In terms of regenerative efforts, businesses that proactively design campuses with restoration in mind can have a hand in expanding natural habitats, contributing to cleaner water sheds, and promoting soil health.

Economic benefits

Reducing material costs through reuse, recycling, and recovery can lead to significant financial savings. Additionally, circular economy models like product-as-a-service offer new revenue streams and financial incentives that challenge traditional business models.

Following the principles of a circular economy can also appeal to investors, who are continuing to prioritize sustainability. A recent report by Morgan Stanley found that “A majority of investors … believe that companies should address environmental and social issues.” These investors reported being motivated by the financial performance of sustainable investments and new climate science findings.

Social benefits

Circular economy initiatives often involve collaboration between businesses, local governments, and communities. These joint efforts help each party better understand the needs and challenges of the other, and can lead to stronger community relationships.

The principles of circular economy do not allow for planned obsolescence, meaning products are built to be more durable and long-lasting, offering consumers a break from having to replace important items every few years.

Implementing Circular Economy Principles

While organizational needs can vary greatly from industry to industry, there are some key steps that must be taken in order to effectively implement circular economy principles.

1. Conduct a thorough assessment

Begin by evaluating your current operations, supply chain, and products or services to identify areas where circular economy principles can be applied. This assessment will help you understand the potential impact and feasibility of implementing circular practices within your business. 

2. Set clear goals and targets

Establish specific, measurable, and achievable goals for your circular economy initiatives. Whether it’s reducing waste, increasing resource efficiency, or designing products for reuse and recycling, having clear targets will enable you to track progress and adjust goals as needed as well as promote your progress to customers.

3. Collaborate with stakeholders

Engage with suppliers, customers, industry partners, and other stakeholders to gain a broader perspective of your organization’s impact. Building partnerships can help overcome challenges, access resources, and drive innovation in implementing circular economy practices.

Embrace the Circular Economy: Begin a New Cycle

The benefits of a circular economy are clear – and the need is urgent. As the human and financial toll of climate change continues to grow around the world, governments, businesses, and social institutions are collaborating to reduce impact and improve well-being. The circular economy model is a significant step toward these goals.

A tech-powered approach to overcoming grid bottlenecks

Posted on by abrahamwien18

Transmission lines outside Houston, Texas (Courtesy: BFS Man/Flickr)

Contributed by Grzegorz Marecki, co-founder and CEO of Continuum Industries
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The expansion of electricity transmission infrastructure is crucial for meeting growing energy demands and accelerating the United States’ clean energy transition. However, spatial planning processes are struggling to keep pace with the speed of change required to tackle climate change. Building clean energy infrastructure today can take more than a decade, largely due to delays in planning and permitting. 

The root of this challenge lies in the complexity of infrastructure planning. Developers need to simultaneously meet the requirements of dozens of stakeholders, which demands a balance between technical and regulatory considerations, as well as the perspectives, priorities, and concerns of diverse stakeholders. Utilities, traditionally functioning as asset managers, are now faced with the need to become developers, driving the rapid expansion of America’s grid demands. However, their processes have not evolved at the pace required to meet this urgent need.

Additionally, as the volume of work increases, the industry grapples with insufficient resources to deliver at the speed required. Automation of repetitive tasks can help free up professionals, enabling them to focus on more complex challenges. The industry also faces constraints due to the limited number of specialists available for traditional tasks.

To overcome these challenges, the industry must embrace a technology-powered paradigm shift. A tech-enabled approach to planning processes, supported by professional oversight, has the potential to revolutionize the development of new energy networks.

Frontloading data for more predictable permitting

With the advancement of technology, governments and other key stakeholders now have access to unprecedented amounts of data. If harnessed effectively, this data can help infrastructure developers expedite decision-making processes and streamline the planning and permitting phases. 

New tools allow for a comprehensive data dive right at the project’s start, providing a full picture of constraints and opportunities. AI algorithms offer intelligent insights, guiding developers toward optimal decisions. These tools empower users by allowing them to configure assumptions, preferences, and project goals before the algorithm runs, ensuring a clear link between inputs and outputs. For example, easier access to spatial data makes it possible for developers to get a comprehensive view of the permits that would be required. Traditionally, they would have to wait a few months for a manually produced report from a consultant. This also allows the professionals to focus on the areas of highest risk. 

Automated routing for unbiased solutions 

By automating routine processes, developers can assess more alternatives than was ever possible without automation and remove decision biases. Algorithms can explore and optimize different solutions for infrastructure assets, simultaneously considering factors such as cost, technical feasibility, and environmental and community impact. 

While still in its early stages of adoption in the US, automated routing is already demonstrating its potential, and it might pay to look across the pond for an example to follow. The UK is slightly ahead of the US when it comes to grid expansion, and more than just encouraging is now expecting transmission companies to standardize and automate routing. The government has adopted a package of 19 measures to slash the project development timeline from 14 to 7 years, but utilities that have adopted a heavily automated approach say that they’ve been able to kick-start their projects and complete 12 months’ worth of work in as little as 8 weeks.

As the energy sector transforms and projects become increasingly complex, automated tools will empower developers to respond swiftly to changing requirements, market dynamics, and regulatory landscapes.

Transparency and accountability through comprehensive decision-making

In the past, manual record-keeping and documentation processes left room for ambiguity and potential oversights. However, technology can establish a reliable audit trail, ensuring that every decision is logged, timestamped, and linked to the specific dataset or analysis that influenced it. This record enables project teams to revisit and refine decisions, supporting external regulatory approvals and fostering accountability throughout the process.

Breaking silos with cross-department collaboration

Technology can also bridge the divide between internal teams, fostering smooth collaboration and streamlining decision-making processes. Providing a shared platform for data and insights ensures that everyone involved in the project is working from the same information, reducing miscommunication and delays.

Through leveraging technology, traditionally siloed disciplines can replace slow email communication channels with rapid feedback based on standard criteria. For example, when engineers move a tower to avoid difficult ground conditions closer to a water body, they receive automatic feedback on whether the new position meets the requirements for setbacks from the water based on environmental protection policies.

Public engagement and transparent project narratives

Beyond internal teams, technology plays a crucial role in engaging the public and garnering support for critical infrastructure projects. Presenting decisions backed by solid evidence and interactive visualizations makes complex data digestible and addresses concerns head-on. This transparency builds trust and fosters a sense of shared ownership, crucial for navigating the permitting process and ensuring community buy-in. 

Stakeholder engagement is also changing thanks to technology. Dynamic maps and immersive 3D visualizations now allow project teams to collaboratively iterate with stakeholders, demonstrating the project’s evolution over time and minimizing impacts. This interactive approach, coupled with routing and siting automation, eliminates the traditional time constraints associated with manual rerouting.

The submission of documents, particularly environmental baseline schedules and reports, has also evolved. Algorithms can now identify potential impacts, presenting them to professionals for screening and defining mitigation strategies. This not only speeds up the process but also frees up professionals for more strategic tasks.

The Linear Infrastructure Planning Panel provides a noteworthy example of the efforts made towards more transparent and dynamic project planning. The Panel’s purpose is to engage key public interest stakeholders, including social and environmental groups, in the development of good practices and ethical approaches in the use of new techniques, such as algorithms and advanced software tools, for infrastructure planning. By actively involving various stakeholders, the Panel contributes to shaping responsible and inclusive technology integration in the planning process, setting a precedent for the industry.

Looking ahead

The American Council on Renewable Energy emphasizes that a $1.5 trillion investment in new transmission infrastructure by 2030 is not just a financial commitment, but an investment in a clean energy future. In this landscape, technology is not a silver bullet, but still a powerful catalyst for change. It facilitates efficiency, transparency, and collaboration, enabling informed decision-making and accelerating the development of a robust and resilient grid.

By embracing a tech-powered approach, the US can overcome the bottlenecks plaguing the current system and realize the full potential of clean energy. This transformation isn’t about replacing human expertise; it’s about empowering and augmenting it, fostering a synergy that paves the way for a more efficient and sustainable future.

What’s ‘Greenwashing’ and How Can I Avoid It?

Posted on by abrahamwien18

By:  Jacqueline Poh
View the original article here

Over the last decade, companies and investors have come to pay more attention to environmental concerns, often with a goal of offering “green” products or making “green” investments. But the companion of green is often what’s known as greenwashing. In some countries, regulators are trying to clean up the field, launching investigations and levying fines. They have the backing of some advocates of environmentally minded investing worried that greenwashing’s taint may undermine the field.

1. What is greenwashing?

It’s the use of misleading labels or advertising to create an undeserved image of environmental responsibility. Here are some eamples:

  • In December, the UK’s antitrust regulator began an investigation of Unilever Plc, the maker of Dove soap and Cif cleaner, for allegedly overstating the environmental qualities of certain products.
  • Fashion companies Asos and Boohoo and airlines such as Air France-KLM, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG were told by regulators to discontinue misleading ads that made air travel seem more eco-friendly than it is.
  • In investing, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority rolled out a framework in November designed to protect retail investors from misleading claims by firms with so-called ESG funds — where investment decisions are shaped by environmental, social or governance factors.
  • In the US, Deutsche Bank AG’s DWS asset management arm agreed in September to pay a total of $25 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission probes into alleged greenwashing and anti-money laundering lapses. The penalties included $19 million for “materially misleading statements” about how the bank incorporated ESG factors into research and investment recommendations.

2. What’s the incentive for greenwashing?

The ultimate attraction is the favorable image companies project across to clients, investors, shareholders, lenders and even potential employees. But different players have different reasons for exaggeration. When companies fudge on something they’re selling, it’s because they want environmentally minded consumers to be drawn to their products. When they’re borrowing money, they may be chasing a “greenium” — the money they can save by qualifying for the better terms lenders might extend to green or social projects or to ones with ESG goals. Brazil raised $2 billion in the bond market in November 2023 with proceeds earmarked for green and social work, and the debt was priced lower than initial guidance – meaning the Amazon forest nation is paying lower interest rates, compared with a conventional bond. And investment managers might put a greener label than is warranted on a fund to draw in more assets.

3. How big a problem is it?

In 2022, Bloomberg News analyzed more than 100 bonds worth almost $70 billion tied to issuers’ ESG credentials that were sold by global companies to investors in Europe. The analysis found that the majority were tied to climate targets that were weak, irrelevant or even already achieved. Some companies promised to do no more than maintain their existing ESG ratings. And some of the fastest-growing areas of ESG financing involve so-called sustainability-linked loans (SLL) (and similar bonds) in which the connection between environmental labels and environmental goals can be tenuous.

4. How does sustainability-linked debt work?

Sustainability-linked bonds and sustainability-linked loans are signed with commitments from borrowers to achieve certain environmental or social targets, but those goals may be changed in an increasing number of cases. The more flexible agreements even allow issuers to adjust those targets under certain conditions without incurring a penalty. Issuers argue that they have to look for ways to cope with increasingly volatile markets in which key ESG parameters such as energy prices become harder to predict. Then there’s the “sleeping” sustainability-linked debt where financing has an ESG label but with no immediate sustainability targets. Other approaches push responsibility even further out: Bank of China Ltd.’s so-called re-linked bond sold in 2021 is tied to the performance of a pool of sustainability-linked loans made to its clients — that is, not to anything BOC is or isn’t doing in ESG terms, but to the ESG performance of the clients who have taken out those loans.

5. Who’s checking up?

There are dozens of ESG rating and data providers globally, which can provide some assurance that companies and debt issuers are doing their part in sustainability. But private ratings systems can be unreliable and corporate reporting is spotty and hard to compare. All of this greenwashing detective work would be easier if investors and the public had a standardized approach and a robust set of data to compare. Here’s some of what governments and other organizations are doing:

  • Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, the UK and EU have issued or proposed rules for ESG score providers, though the rules are only mandatory in the EU and India. The UK Financial Conduct Authority, meanwhile, has unveiled its Sustainability Disclosure Requirement ensuring investment products are accurately labeled or presented.
  • The US SEC is working on getting companies to report on their greenhouse gas emissions and other climate matters.
  • The EU enforced the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive in January 2023 which requires companies to disclose risks and opportunities arising from social and environmental issues. For the debt markets, the European Council adopted a green bond standard in October 2023 that specifies where proceeds will be invested and which activities are aligned with the EU taxonomy.
  • Financial bodies, including the International Capital Market Association which oversees the international debt capital markets, and global loan associations have drafted guidelines for ESG debt such as sustainability-linked instruments, green and social financing.

6. Is it just environmental misconduct that’s considered greenwashing?

No. Social and governance aspects have grown to be just as crucial as companies’ environmental efforts, especially since the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements began making an impact on consumers’ spending. Many corporations are using their annual sustainability reports to showcase how fair they are in equality employment or what they did to improve employee wellbeing. Given that some of these goals are hard to measure in areas where little data is available, there’s a risk in overstating the results. Of the $1.4 trillion of sustainability-linked debt with disclosed ESG goals, only $352 billion was tied to social objectives, according to BloombergNEF data.

7. How can I avoid investing in greenwashing?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • How ambitious are a company’s goals? Are they integral to its core business, or just superficial commitments? Is the company just promising to do something it would be doing anyway?
  • How specific is the timeframe? Are the goals set annually, or in a way that allows for easy monitoring?
  • Are companies looking at the full “scope” of their emissions, including the carbon released when customers use their products?
  • How much do their plans rely on the kinds of carbon “offsets” that have come under fire for not living up to their promises of environmental benefits?
  • Is there a way to check on companies’ claims, such as in an evaluation by an impartial ESG data- or ratings-provider?
  • Is a company making information about their sustainability goals accessible in a transparent and timely way?

The Importance of Energy Storage in Future Energy Supply

Posted on by abrahamwien18

Reviewed by: Olivia Frost
View the original article here

Energy is vital in the modern world, powering everything from transportation and production to communication and daily services.

Image Credit: Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions

As energy consumption continues to rise with digitalization, changes in mobility, and globalization, sophisticated grids have been developed to provide energy wherever and whenever needed. However, current and past energy consumption has come at a price.

The intensive use of fossil fuels and other limited resources has led to negative impacts, and the need for a more sustainable energy supply has become one of the biggest challenges facing humankind.

Renewable Energy Production on the Rise

Issues related to health, environment, economies, geopolitical risks, dependencies on limited resources, and advancements in sustainable energy production have prompted a reevaluation of energy policy.

According to the EMBER Global Electricity Review 2022, wind and solar reached a record 10% of global electricity in 2021, with all clean power totaling about 38% of the supply.

Renewable energy supply is an important step in reducing the CO2 footprint and mitigating climate change and the consequences caused by the phenomenon. Tapes are essential in helping wind and solar energy supply get into pole position in renewable energy production and grow even further.

Using these tapes in composite molding for wind turbine blades enables manufacturers to protect molds, tool surfaces, and blades, and also helps to reduce cost, effort, and labor time.

Saint-Gobain’s special PET or PTFE tapes, such as the CHR® M-Series or CHR 2255, are designed to withstand high temperatures and can be re-used multiple times, making them an efficient and sustainable solution for large-scale wind turbine production.

These continuous process improvements are crucial to making renewable energy production more efficient and cost-effective.

Using tapes with low CoF can help reduce the rework needed and improve downstream processes’ quality, making wind turbine manufacturing more efficient. The production of larger and more efficient wind turbines will play a significant role in increasing renewable energy capacity and reducing the reliance on fossil fuels.

Figure 1. Wind and solar energy production as part of modern energy supply. 
Image Credit: ShutterStock/liyuhan

Renewable energy production is just one piece of the puzzle. To be consumed, renewable energy often needs to be transformed and transported.

Saint Gobain’s Kapton® and Nomex® tapes with high mechanical, electrical, temperature, and chemical resistance are crucial in ensuring a trouble-free energy supply through new generations of transformers and generators.

UL-recognized Kapton® and Nomex® tapes offer excellent oil compatibility, which is crucial for boosting the performance and longevity of transformers and generators. As a result, maintenance efforts in electro-mechanical applications can be minimized, and the equipment can operate at peak efficiency for longer periods.

Renewable energy sources may not be available around the clock, which creates intermittency.

Renewable electricity generation does not always align with peak demand hours, causing grid stress due to fluctuations and power peaks. Unpredictable weather events can disrupt these technologies.

The current infrastructure is mainly designed to support regional fossil fuel and nuclear plants. As a result, renewable energy often needs to be transported over long distances from the remote areas where it is produced to the regions it is consumed.

Renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, can be unpredictable and generate surplus energy. Efficient storage systems are needed to store excess energy during low demand and release it when demand is high.

Image Credit: Saint-Gobain Tape Solutions

The Importance of Energy Storage in Future Energy Supply

Sustainability is a crucial factor for economic growth, and it will continue to be an important consideration in the future.

Demand for clean energy drives sustainable technology development that will impact future energy and the environment.

Stationary energy storage is essential in transitioning to a sustainable energy system with higher shares of renewable energy.

Energy storage has become a ubiquitous component of the electricity grid, leading to a boom in storage capacity worldwide as electricity is expected to make up half of the final energy consumption by 2050.

Figure 2. Global cumulative energy storage installations 2015-30, trends and forecast. Image Credit: BloombergNEF website, accessed July 2022.

Efficient and Safe Energy Supply with Stationary Energy Storage

Figure 3. Energy storage system in power grids.
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Dorothy Chiron

Optimized energy storage systems ensure grid stability and on-demand availability, preventing blackouts. They are essential in modern smart grids, meeting changing energy demands, such as electric mobility.

Energy storage provides flexibility and opportunities for remote areas using various technologies, including electro-mechanical, chemical, thermal, and electrochemical (batteries).

Advancements in battery technologies and their decreasing costs have enabled the growth of stationary energy storage. Improved energy density, cycle life, and safety have made batteries more efficient and reliable, while lower costs have made them more accessible.

Hydroelectric dams store bulk energy in the long term, while short-term energy storage is achieved through various technologies, such as electric batteries, flow batteries, flywheel energy storage, and supercapacitors.

These technologies offer different characteristics and are suitable for various applications, providing flexibility, stability, and reliability to the energy system.

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries are the most widely used technology for grid-oriented rechargeable electrochemical battery energy storage systems (BESS). Sodium-ion batteries, although less common, are being developed as a potential alternative.

Sodium-ion batteries for BESS are a promising option due to the abundance of sodium resources but are still in the early stages of development. They have the potential as a cost-effective alternative to Li-ion batteries, with lower power density.

Lithium-ion batteries are well-established in the automotive industry, with higher energy density than sodium-ion batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries require high-end materials and thermal protection but are a good solution for the short-duration range. They have the potential for optimization in terms of energy density, safety, loading cycles, and cost.

As battery technology advances, materials are evolving to improve the energy density, cycle life, safety, and cost of Li-ion batteries.

Compression Pads That Combine Increased Loading Cycles and Energy Density

Compression pads with a low compression force deflection (CFD) curve can improve the lifetime, durability, and performance of Li-ion batteries in energy storage systems.

They distribute forces evenly, prevent internal damage, and reduce the risk of thermal runaway. Optimal pressure on cells can maximize loading cycles and extend battery life.

Micro-cellular polyurethane foams, such as Norseal® PF100 or PF47 Series, are designed for high energy density and optimal thickness.

They enable more cells to be packed into a single unit, increasing performance and allowing for the creation of battery energy storage systems with maximized energy density and minimized space requirements.

Maintaining a sealed environment for batteries is crucial to protect them from outside elements. Saint Gobain provides a range of battery pack housing options that include foam-in-place gasketing, silicone foam rubbers, butyl-coated PVC, and micro-cellular PUR foams.

Maximize Safety to Enhance Battery Pack Performance

Safety is critical in Li-ion battery-based energy storage as flammable materials are used to maximize performance.

Thermal Runaway Protection materials enhance the safety and reliability of battery modules and packs for BESS systems by providing thermal insulation, fire-blocking characteristics, and excellent compression set resistance.

The Norseal TRP Series prevents adjacent cells from experiencing exothermic reactions and stops thermal runaway propagation, protecting battery systems. This technology plays a crucial role in enhancing the safety and reliability of battery energy storage systems.

To regulate battery temperature, improve functionality, and extend battery life in Li-ion batteries, it is important to control heat. The ThermaCool® R10404 Series Thermal Interface Materials effectively remove excess heat, ensuring the safe and efficient operation of battery energy storage systems under demanding conditions.

The thermally conductive gap fillers act as heat sinks, allowing heat to flow away from batteries.

High-End Materials to Create Cost-Effective BESS Solutions

These solutions enable customers to design large BESS systems that are safe and reliable for long-term operation in harsh conditions. By reducing the risk of thermal runaway, this technology enhances the safety and efficiency of battery energy storage systems.

More cells in a battery pack can boost performance and longevity by offering higher energy storage capacity in a smaller space, though this can increase the risk of cell imbalance and failure.

This battery combination is ideal for decentralized and cost-effective energy production and storage in industrial buildings and private households with solar collectors.

Solutions, Know-How, and Capabilities for Next-Level BESS

Tailored materials cater to energy storage systems of various sizes and types by fulfilling their specific cushioning, compression, protection, and insulation needs. This supports the transition to a sustainable energy supply.

Specialized materials and expertise in high-performance battery pack development can aid in designing Li-ion BESS for stationary grid energy storage

Could sand be the next lithium?

Posted on by abrahamwien18

By:  Shira Rubin
View the original article here

A cadre of start-ups are building batteries that can store renewable energy in natural materials such as sand, salt and rock.

(Illustration by Emily Sabens/The Washington Post; iStock)

TAMPERE, Finland — When Russia halted gas and oil exports to Europe following its invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of millions of citizens agonized over the prospect of a winter without enough heating and a summer without enough air conditioning.

But the Kremlin’s wartime strategy to shut the taps on its fossil fuels has coincided with, and also catalyzed, a critical sector for the clean energy transition — batteries made from inexpensive and abundant natural materials that store heat.

The use of sand, salt, heat, air and other elements as energy banks dates back centuries. The walls of ancient Egyptian homes captured solar heat during the day and released it during cool desert nights. Indigenous peoples across the Americas valued adobe — a composite of earth, water, and other organic materials like straw or dung — as a preferred construction material for its ability to do the same.

For modern civilizations whose industrial development has been powered by the combustion of fossil fuels, these materials offer a revolutionary premise: “Nothing is burned,” said Tommi Eronen, chief executive of Polar Night Energy, a Finnish start-up running the world’s first commercial-scale sand battery.

Natural batteries are meant to enable countries to take advantage of prodigious supplies coming from wind turbines and solar panels, when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. The price of renewables remains below the cost for fossil fuels —especially after a Russian fuel pullback drove prices across Europe to record highs — but the green energy revolution still faces a hugeobstacle: a lack of long-term, cost-efficient renewable storage.

At Polar Night Energy’s facilities in the city of Tampere and the nearby town of Kankaanpää, hulking steel vats hold heaps of sand, heated to around 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That stored energyhelps to smooth out power grid spikes and back up district heating networks, keeping homes, offices, saunas and swimming pools warm. The heat keeps flowing, even in remote areas, even as Russian fossil fuel supplies dwindle.

“Sand has almost no limits,” said Ville Kivioja, Polar Night Energy’s lead scientist, speaking over the whirring sound of the substance circulating. “And it’s everywhere.”

A Polar Night Energy sand battery. (Martti Tikka)

How natural batteries work

The sensors and valves that monitor the sand battery’s performance are relatively high-tech, said Kivioja, but, by design, the battery itself is simple.

The sand is trucked in from anywhere nearby — a demolished building site or sand dunes, for example — and costs less than a euro per ton. It is dumped into a giant vat, or “battery,” which is consistently kept hot, or “charged.”

The renewable energy from solar panels and wind turbines is converted into heat by a resistance heater, which also heats the air that swirls through the sand. A fan circulates the flow of heat continuously, until it’s ready to use. Like a boulder in the sun, the sand remains hot even after sundown — except unlike the boulder, the sand never gets cold because it’s insulated by the enormous vat. Even when the battery level is low, the temperature remains above 200 degrees Fahrenheit; when it is full, it can surpass 1,000 degrees.

The sand can hold onto the power for weeks or months at a time — a clear advantage over the lithium ion battery, the giant of today’s battery market, which usually can hold energy for only a number of hours.

Polar Night Energy prefers to use sand or sand-like materials that are not suitable for construction industry. This enables the usage of materials that are locally and commonly available or even considered as waste. (Polar Night Energy)

A natural battery rush

Unlike fossil fuels, which can be easily transported and stored, solar and wind supplies fluctuate. Most of the renewable power that isn’t used immediately is lost.

The solution is storage innovation, many industry experts agree. In addition to their limited capacity, lithium ionbatteries, which are used to power everything from mobile phones to laptops to electric vehicles, tend to fade with every recharge and are highly flammable, resulting in a growing number of deadly fires across the world.

The extraction of cobalt, the lucrative raw material used in lithium ion batteries, also relies on child labor. U.N. agencies have estimated that 40,000 boys and girls work in the industry, with few safety measures and paltry compensation.

These serious environmental and human rights challenges pose a problem for the electric vehicle industry, which requires a huge supply of critical minerals.

So investors are now pouring money into even bigger battery ventures. More than $900 million has been invested in clean storage technologies since 2021, up from $360 million the year before, according to the Long Duration Energy Storage Council, an organization launched after that year’s U.N. climate conference to oversee the world’s decarbonization. The group predicts that by 2040, large-scale,renewable energy storage investments could reach $3 trillion.

That includes efforts to turn natural materials into batteries.Once-obscure start-ups, experimenting with once-humble commodities, are suddenly receiving millions in government and private funding. There’s the multi-megawatt CO2 battery in Sardinia, a rock-based storage system in Tuscany, and a Swiss company that’s moving massive bricks along a 230-foot tall building to store and generate renewable energy. One Danish battery start-up, which stores energy from molten salt, is sketching out plans to deploy power plants in decommissioned coal mines across three continents.

“In some ways, these are some of the oldest technologies we have,” said Kurt Engelbrecht, an associate professor who specializes in energy storage at the Danish Tech University.

He and his colleagues have long been advocating for national decarbonization programs to integrate simple, natural based storage solutions,he said, but clean batteries only began receiving real market attention as a result of energy crises of recent years.

The war in Ukraine and the subsequent political crisis over Russian oil and gas exports, was the final “tipping point,” Engelbrecht said.

The geopolitical benefits of natural batteries

Natural batteries will help renewables eclipse fossil fuels and free countries from geopolitical challenges, such as Russia’s Ukraine invasion, said Claudio Spadacini, founder of Italian company Energy Dome. The company has been considering selling a version of its CO2-based battery to clients in the United States.

“Renewables are democratic,” he said. “The sun shines everywhere and the wind blows everywhere, and if we can exploit those sources locally, using components that already exist, that will be the missing piece of the puzzle.”

But in order to succeed, natural batteries will need to provide the same kind of steady power as fossil fuels, at scale.Whether that can be achieved remains to be seen, say energy experts.

And the industry may be subject to the same pitfalls that loom over the renewables energy sector at large: Projects will need to be constructed from scratch, and they might only be adopted in developed countries that can afford such experimentation.

Lovschall-Jensen, the CEO of a Danish molten salt-based storage start-up called Hyme, says the challenge will be maintaining the same standards to which the modern world has become accustomed: receiving power, on demand, with the flip of a switch. He believes that natural batteries, though still in their infancy, can serve that goal.

“As a society that’s going away from fossil fuels, we still need something that’s just as flexible,” he said. “There’s really no other option.”

Hubs and spokes: Extending the reach of hydrogen hubs through clean transportation corridors

Posted on by abrahamwien18

Written by: Jonathan Lewis and Anna Menke
View the original article here

Low-emissions hydrogen is a critical component of the climate change solution set, and it is likely to play a significant role in affordably achieving full, economy-wide decarbonization by midcentury. Electrification will achieve much of the decarbonization needed, but more than 80% of final energy use in the U.S. comes from fuels. Many existing fuel uses can be electrified, but electrifying some hard-to-abate sectors of the economy (such as long-haul heavy-duty trucking, marine shipping, and ironmaking) may be either commercially impossible or prohibitively expensive. For these sectors, we will need zero-carbon fuels, namely hydrogen and ammonia, to reach full decarbonization. Accordingly, the International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that the world’s demand for hydrogen could increase by almost 500% between 2020 and 2050.

To catapult the United States on a path towards commercial scale clean hydrogen production, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) allocated $8 billion for the Department of Energy (DOE) to fund at least four Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs — or H2 Hubs — across the country. The program is designed to demonstrate viability of new production and end-use technologies for clean hydrogen, and to drastically bring the cost of production down.  

A clean hydrogen hub is a co-located network of infrastructure needed to produce, transport, store, and use clean hydrogen in a functional regional market. The program intends to demonstrate localized production and end use of hydrogen and to create a connected synergistic hydrogen economy across the United States.

In parallel to DOE’s H2 Hubs program, DOE and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are pursuing several additional measures to promote the deployment of hydrogen-fueled trucks and ammonia-powered marine vessels, including the IIJA’s National Alternative Fuel Corridors Program — a piece of the $2.5 billion Charging and Fueling Infrastructure competitive grant program that is designed to support the build-out of clean charging and fueling infrastructure projects along designated alternative fuel corridors of the National Highway System.  

Clean transportation corridors include routes for heavy-duty trucks that run on hydrogen to transport their freight across multiple states, provinces, or even countries, as well as transoceanic shipping routes for vessels that run on ammonia. In the future, clean corridors will also include airline routes serviced by aircraft that are powered by hydrogen or other zero-carbon fuels. Clean transportation corridors will be necessary to turn H2 Hubs from islands into a network, allowing hydrogen and other resources to move between hubs and simultaneously creating a steady demand base for hydrogen to fuel the transportation corridors themselves.  

Moving from competition to connection between H2 Hubs  

CATF has previously written about the elements that individual hubs should prioritize as they develop their proposals to DOE, including low-carbon production pathways, hard-to-decarbonize end uses, the creation of community and local environmental benefits, and long-term economic viability.  

On April 7, 2023, final applications were submitted from hub developers across the country hopeful to receive funding from the Department of Energy. The application process for the DOE Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program is long and applicants have recently entered a new phase – the waiting period between application submission and award negotiations and selections. Until this point in the process, the focus and feel between hub hopefuls has been competitive with more than 20 known hub efforts competing for $8B in funding to be spread amongst the 4 to 10 hubs that will be selected by DOE. As award selections and negotiations evolve over the spring, summer, and into the fall, we expect to see more tangible production proposals, off-taker agreements, robust community engagement efforts, and greater collaboration and coordination between the various hub efforts.  

In addition to getting specific within each hub proposal, this phase of the program creates an opportunity for hub developers and the Department of Energy to start thinking collaboratively.  Proactive planning to connect hubs can strengthen individual proposals and improve the likelihood of long-term success for the collective H2 Hubs program. As the Department of Energy’s Clean Hydrogen Liftoff report points out, the development of ‘midstream infrastructure’ will be crucial to getting hydrogen to commercial scale. For the H2 Hubs program, this midstream infrastructure will include hydrogen storage, carbon storage, and transportation infrastructure. The ability to move hydrogen efficiently and safely between hubs — while minimizing hydrogen leaks throughout the process — will be an essential part of the H2 Hubs program. There is the potential to create a national network that simultaneously allows for distribution and hydrogen refueling across the country while bolstering demand for hydrogen and creating benefits for communities.  

The importance of linking clean transportation corridors and H2 Hubs 

Clean transportation corridors have the potential to bolster the economic viability of H2 Hubs and create benefits to communities. To date, Congress and the U.S. DOE have focused primarily on supply-side policies for hydrogen; including the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program and the Hydrogen Production Tax credit (45V). Recently, focus has begun to shift to demand-side measures that could help give certainty to hub developers that off takers will be there for the hydrogen they produce. DOE and DOT’s investments in and development of clean, hydrogen-fueled transportation corridors will aid in demand-side certainty for H2 Hubs in two ways:  

  1. Clean transportation corridors that support trucks and marine vessels that run on hydrogen or hydrogen-based fuels will broaden the market for low-carbon hydrogen by increasing demand beyond the industrial off takers that are typically located next door to hydrogen production sites. 
  2. The corridors will also expand the geographic reach of H2 Hubs by extending demand for decarbonized hydrogen along spokes — i.e., highways and/or marine shipping routes — that connect each hub region to other cities and ports.     

Additionally, clean transportation corridors have an important role not only in curbing harmful CO2 emissions but also in curbing conventional air pollutants from diesel powered trucking which disproportionately affect environmental justice communities across the country. As H2 Hubs evaluate the benefits they may be able to create for communities near and far, they should consider the transportation routes stemming from their hubs that could transition to be hydrogen-fueled clean transportation corridors and should begin benchmarking the public health benefits that may accrue to communities as a result.  

The first awardees of the DOE and DOT clean transportation corridors grant program were announced in February and include several awardees focused on developing hydrogen-fueled clean transportation corridors:  

  • CALSTART: East Coast Commercial ZEV Corridor along the I-95 freight corridor from Georgia to New Jersey.  
  • Cummins Inc.: MD-HD ZEV Infrastructure Planning with Focus on I-80 Midwest Corridor serving Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.  
  • GTI Energy: Houston to Los Angeles (H2LA)–I-10 Hydrogen Corridor Project.  
  • Utah State University: Wasatch Front Multi-Modal Corridor Electrification Plan for the Greater Salt Lake City Region.  

CATF sees a key opportunity for H2 Hubs and clean corridors grant recipients to coordinate to develop an interconnected hydrogen network across the United States.  

Imagining hubs connected via clean transportation corridors  

Given that around half of the hydrogen production in the United States currently takes place in the Gulf Coast, let’s assume the example of a hydrogen hub depicted in the graphic above is in the Houston region. If a Houston-based hub were to be selected, there would be at least three and at most nine other hydrogen hubs under development in the United States per the requirements of IIJA’s Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub provision. Meaning, the hypothetical hub in Houston isn’t the only one of its kind, and a hydrogen-powered truck that fuels up in Houston isn’t limited to conducting only local deliveries. There are other places it could carry its freight to, if those places — and the routes along the way — also have hydrogen fueling capacity.  

If a hub in Chicago and the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes region was also selected, the ability to move goods between Houston and Chicago and points in between would improve the use-case for hydrogen trucks purchased in those regions — which in turn would benefit hydrogen truck manufacturers, producers of low-carbon hydrogen, and, most pertinently, air quality and the climate. 

The success of this Houston-Chicago clean hydrogen corridor could be replicated with corridors that connect those regions to other potential hosts of federally backed regional clean hydrogen hubs. Once there are hydrogen production facilities in places like Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York, along with hydrogen fueling stations along the interstate highways that connect them, the viability of hydrogen-fueled trucks would improve dramatically, the market for low-emissions hydrogen would increase, and both sectors would benefit from growing economies of scale. 

The success of this Houston-Chicago clean hydrogen corridor could be replicated with corridors that connect those regions to other potential hosts of federally backed regional clean hydrogen hubs. Once there are hydrogen production facilities in places like Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York, along with hydrogen fueling stations along the interstate highways that connect them, the viability of hydrogen-fueled trucks would improve dramatically, the market for low-emissions hydrogen would increase, and both sectors would benefit from growing economies of scale. 

Concluding: How DOE and hub developers can support the development of clean transportation corridors  

Building synergistic linkages between H2 Hubs and clean trucking and shipping corridors requires multi-market investments by fuel providers, fleet owners, and other market participants; support and coordination from federal and state agencies; and constructive input and oversight from communities, NGOs, and universities. 

As discussed above, DOE, DOT, and other U.S. government agencies are working on multiple fronts to implement key provisions in the IIJA and the Inflation Reduction Act that will support the deployment of clean energy production and utilization technologies including hydrogen and zero emissions vehicles. More can be done, however, to ensure that the H2 Hubs and clean corridors programs are well coordinated. The seven grant recipients of DOE and DOT’s program “to accelerate the creation zero-emission vehicle corridors” cover highway systems across the country and meanwhile, nearly every state in the U.S. is represented in the hub projects proposed to DOE’s H2 Hubs program. The extent to which the seven funded corridor efforts match up geographically with regional hydrogen hub efforts is not yet known, because the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs program funding recipients will not be announced until later this year. 

may proceed irrespective of DOE funding decisions. Accordingly, CATF is connecting with DOE, hydrogen hub developers, trucking companies, and others to spotlight the opportunities for constructively linking clean corridor development and H2 Hub development. We’re encouraging H2 Hub project developers to look for ways to integrate clean corridor plans into their strategy, in part by involving entities like Cummins, GTI Energy, CALSTART, and Utah State University that received initial clean corridor grants from DOE and plan to support hydrogen refueling infrastructure as part of their projects.    

Given the likely importance of hydrogen to the decarbonization of long-haul heavy-duty trucks, DOE and DOT should account for H2 Hub development when determining when and how to expand the clean corridors program, and the agencies should prioritize the development of hydrogen fueling infrastructure along routes that span between H2 Hub regions. Additionally, H2 Hub applicants and DOE should consider how clean corridors can be leveraged to improve demand-side certainty and to create meaningful benefits for communities. As selections are announced later this fall, CATF looks forward to collaborating with clean corridor grant recipients, H2 Hub awardees, and other stakeholders to support the development of a connected clean hydrogen ecosystem across the United States.