What If We Could Ditch Hydrocarbons and Switch to Clean Energy Solutions?
Hydrocarbons are cheap and efficient in energy. They also emit lots of GHGs, so we need to find innovative and clean energies to replace fossil fuels in a scalable way. Three ways in which technology can help us to archive that goal.
There are numerous examples of how technology made our civilization better. Innovations in the medical field allowed us to live longer and more comfortably. Cars and planes let us move faster and to any place in the world. Electricity unlocked mass production. Food can grow on one side of the planet and be distributed anywhere just in time to be eaten. Humankind has never lived better. But at what cost?
The more we innovate, the worse the state of the world becomes. We have never emitted that many greenhouse gases (GHG) as nowadays and it is killing our planet.
Coal plays a vital role in electricity generation worldwide. Coal-fueled power plants currently fuel 38% of global electricity and, in some countries, the amount is even higher. Coal is also the most pollutant of the hydrocarbons used for power generation (hydrocarbons provide around 66% of global energy). For every ton of burned coal, it releases almost triple of that quantity in CO2. It’s cheap, easy to move in bulk, and stores a huge amount of energy that we can make use of. However, it is not a viable energy source if our goal is to achieve zero-emissions target to combat the effects of climate change and global warming.
The good news is coal power plants are being decommissioned all around the world and it’s just a matter of time until we live in a world powered without hydrocarbons. The greater news is renewable energies are rising at a surprising speed to fill the gap. It will help accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to a future of reliable and affordable carbon-free electricity. Some countries are close to being 100% clean! In 2015, Costa Rica was already close to reaching this goal (98% total for the year) and had 94 consecutive days of the year where renewable energy covered the total electricity. Today, five big geothermal plants, together with hydraulic energy, supply all the grid of Iceland.
Even so, there is still a challenge that is not so obvious: how do we supply the power grid with clean energy even during windless days, cloudy weather, and nighttime? You have also realized by now that, by shifting from combustion vehicles to electric and by fully controlling the agriculture environments, we will require a lot more power, making it more difficult to overcome this challenge.
Bill Gates estimates that, only in the US, the energy sector will have to double in size to support this increased demand for energy.
To keep up with the demand, humankind has to innovate on:
- Improved energy storage systems;
- Carbon-free alternatives;
- Carbon Capture and Storage;
Store now. Use later.
The sun is a great source of power. During its peak, it supplies entire cities and there is even energy left. But we require more energy at the end of the day when we arrive home and, by that time, solar energy can’t provide much since the sun is down already. Unfortunately, wind energy isn’t very reliable.
But what if we could store the exceeding energy for days, weeks, or months when we need it the most? Companies like Form Energy are creating a new class of batteries that would provide long-duration storage at a lower cost than lithium-ion batteries. Moreover, Tesla made big efficient batteries capable of storing enormous amounts of power. Tesla’s Battery Farm was a success in 2017 in Australia, when 1000 km away from the battery, a coal power plant failed to power the grid after a malfunction. The battery farm started to work in milliseconds and filled the energy gap by injecting 7.3 MW into the grid. It worked faster than any other coal generator around the area.
Quidnet Energy has a different approach to store hydro energy that is lower cost and can be built in flat areas while traditional ways have to pump water uphill to a reservoir and then release it from the reservoir through hydroelectric turbines to generate power again. Quidnet’s system uses renewable energy to pump water into underground wells, creating huge amounts of pressure. When that energy is needed, the pressure is released, pushing the water up the well and through a turbine, generating electricity.
Carbon-free complements
On another side, we can just fill the solar and wind gap with pulse loads to the grid when it’s required. It happens every day in response to the sudden loss of a power generator, reduced output from wind and solar sources, or spikes in demand. A recent assessment by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) demonstrated the need for significant pulse generation over two hours during the morning peak (8,000 MW) and the end of the workday (13,500 MW) to meet demand when solar and wind are not producing, as shown below. This is not a California’s specific challenge, it happens everywhere.
These pulse loads of energy are usually from hydrocarbons but what if we manage to shift them to carbon-free alternatives? Call me crazy but nuclear energy fits as a carbon-free alternative. MIT found that it would make carbon-free electricity up to 62 percent cheaper than using renewables alone.
Nuclear is dangerous, right? No. Nuclear power is by far the safest source of energy. It has the least deaths per TWh. A bad reputation has slowed the growth of nuclear power. With innovations in nuclear power, we can create a new generation of nuclear energy that would be safer, produce less waste, and be lower cost.
TerraPower developed a new approach called a traveling wave reactor that is safe, prevents proliferation, and creates very little waste. Nuclear waste is still an issue, but shifting from hydrocarbons to nuclear would be a huge improvement since nuclear power is a source of carbon-free electricity and would also serve as a very reliable source of clean energy to complement renewables.
Getting rid of CO2
Another alternative to get zero-carbon electricity is by capturing the same amount of carbon dioxide that is emitted by generating electricity. We can even capture more than we emit, slowing climate change. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) separate and permanently stores CO2 pollution from an energy plant’s exhaust to keep it out of the atmosphere. Carbon capture might work at its fullest in places where renewable energies aren’t viable (low wind speed, short days) or where it would be too expensive to tear down existing power plants.
Carbon Engineering is a company that uses direct air capture technology to separate CO2 from the air. Then it combines the CO2 with hydrogen from water to create fuel for vehicles. Importantly, this fuel can be used in the ships, planes, and trucks we operate today, providing a clean fuel source that can be used now.
Global Thermostat goes beyond fuel production! Its technology uses the CO2 it captures to make several products including biofertilizers, building materials, and plastics. It turns out the products and fuels we use can be made without sucking ancient carbon out of the ground. More importantly, we can lower atmospheric CO2 levels in the process.
Carbon capture technologies are the sidekick that clean energy needs in the battle against climate change. And this is just the beginning.
