#PowerToX Part VI: What is likely to happen next and how can I contribute personally
As we’re slowly coming to an end of our conversation — can you briefly sum up what we’ve learned about different fuel possibilities and the underlying energy needs?
Of Course! First of all, we need a lot of energy for all kinds of different demands in our life — power supply, mobility, industrial efforts, etc. Most of this energy is currently produces by firing up fossil fuels like oil, coal and natural gas. All these fossils contain carbon and the burning leads to an add up of CO2 and other greenhouse gases which provenly lead to a temperature rise in our atmosphere (compare PART II).
This is why we need to stop our fossil fuel consumption for good.
For the case of mobility, we have shown several alternatives which can be carbon-neutral in their daily use — meaning that you leave out the production processes. We all have heard about battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and might even know about some of their disadvantages, such as charging time, distance or rare material availability.
Additionally, we have talked about hydrogen powered mobility through fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) which provide greater flexibility through quicker charging, greater distance and potential use in heavy weight transport such as trucks, vessels and planes. Furthermore, they can be used as energy storage which will be very important.
However, there are also big disadvantages such as a certain danger through the highly explosive hydrogen or the pretty bad energy efficiency through the fuel production process. (compare PART III and PART IV).
And we’ve also discussed a further derivative of that: mobility powered by hydrocarbons. In order for them to be carbon-neutral, we need to fetch CO2 from the atmosphere at the beginning. While this leads to an even worse efficiency factor, they also provide a more secure way of storage and have the big advantage of being able to be implemented in our existing infrastructure of petrol stations, cooking and heating devices in households or even industrial processes.
Roger that — more or less. I understand that there are different possibilities. But what does that mean exactly now and how will our future look like?
That is a very good question, indeed. We are convinced that we’ll need a solid mix of all the different technologies. Short distance traffic in cities should be managed through BEVs — also noise wise — but we need to rely on alternatives for longer travels or larger vehicles. While batteries simply become too heavy for big trucks or ships, hydrogen or hydrocarbon-based fuels provide solutions for theses cases. These new technologies are even advanced enough that there have even been first working tests with planes.
So, in comparison with e.g. fuel and diesel in modern passenger transport, there is not going to be the one predominant technology but rather all different kinds of. Depending on your goal, your load, your time, your speed and different factors, you will need to choose the right and fitting energy mode. The ever-growing form of shared mobility will make quick changes possible.
What definitely stands at the beginning though, is the energy production needed for all the different forms. Every BEV only runs climate neutral if the power in the battery was produced from renewable sources such as wind, solar and geothermal sources. Obviously, this also holds up for the other alternatives which need even more energy for production and transformation of the different materials.
Therefore, we need a massive scale up of renewable energy production in the following years.
And here we have another very handy connection with hydrogen and hydrocarbons. You probably know about the disadvantages of e.g. wind and solar in comparison to coal or nuclear power — they are intermitted. This means that you obviously do not produce energy while there is no sun (at night) or no wind.
But when you use the massive potential of renewables when they’re available, you can produce hydrogen and hydrocarbons and simply store them for whenever they are needed. This way, you could kill two birds with one stone.
Well, this would make sense in every way I can think of. Isn’t there a huge business potential if all of this needs to be realized in the following years?
We strongly believe so, yes. To reach the goals of the Paris climate agreement, only in Germany, there is a need for 20GW photovoltaic capacity — each year! This would secure around 200.000 jobs and you can imagine how much revenue. The same obviously goes for the installation of wind or geothermal power plants around the globe.
It is safe to say that we will need all that renewable power and it is going to be installed. It would be a great and profitable move for everyone to be part of the industry’s growth and do good for climate and humanity at the same time.
Further down the road there are many other possibilities for existing corporates to engage. Let me give you three very brief examples for respective sectors:
1. Logistics
In case you’re operating a fleet of logistics trucks or vessels, it is your turn to act now. In an MVP manner, you can start transforming your vehicles to e.g. hydrogen mobility. Promising lorry startups (Nikola) are growing rapidly and you promote your image with partners, employees and customers with these futuristic vehicles.
Additionally, you usually own massive warehouses. Have you plastered them with solar panels already? In one of two steps, you could be even producing your own hydrogen, making your trucks run for free — a massive cost reduction!
2. Energy-heavy industry
There are several very energy-heavy industries we cannot give up, such as e.g. the production of cement and concrete. Naturally, they use big amounts of fossils and thereby generate a huge carbon footprint.
Promoting and fostering carbon capturing technologies should be an absolute must for these companies, especially as their plant’s surrounding air has a higher concentration of CO2E which makes the capturing process easier. Our recommendation is to definitely collaborate and partner with existing startups or even invest in that kind of technologies with own development teams. The captured CO2 could additionally generate new revenue streams, e.g. through example three.
3. Aviation
Through the current pandemic we’ve experienced a sudden and immense decrease of air flight activity. And although waiving as many flights as possible is necessary, we still cannot entirely stop the use of planes — let alone medical or political emergencies. As the German company Lufthansa shows, it is possible to act as a role model and work together with swiss startups Climeworks and Synhelion in order to produce, test and finally switch to “sustainable aviation fuels”. Every aviation company could be a frontrunner through actions like these, use their capital or subventions to be innovation leader and subsequently attract more customers.
Do you think, your company is ready for the power-to-x shift which is happening for sure? Sharkbite is full of innovative concepts and creative business model ideas to help your industry prepare. If you’re interested in that — let’s get in touch!
Final question from my side: What can I do as an individual to promote that very important development?
This is a pretty nice one to end with, as we all know that the end-user is the most important key to success for modern, customer-centric enterprises. With our choices and purchases, we can pressurize companies to innovate. And as soon as we’re all working together, we have an enormous power. So right you are, what are the things you could do as an individual?
In the graphic underneath you see your action’s contribution to the CO2E emission reduction. Especially with the highest column at the very right, I think, we must be careful. What is probably not taken into account in the calculation is the potential positive impact your child might have on society and the planet.
However, I would like to speak about some other of the factors:
1. Mobility
You can see, as always, it would be best to quit even having a car. But in case of so many, this is simply not feasible. I would recommend, you consider the discussed alternative of (fuel-cell) electric vehicles. If you’ve ever tried a Tesla, I bet I do not have to convince you. And I understand that hydrogen sounds a bit more futuristic right now.
But do you remember how many people talked about e-mobility let’s say 20 years ago? Practically no one. So, stay informed and be ready as soon as the technology is at your doorstep.
2. Power
You can see that green or renewable energy is also quite at the top of actions. Other than buying energy from your provider, you might also be able to become a so-called prosumer yourself. If you have a roof, balcony, garage or similar, consider putting up solar panels and generate your own energy. This way, you can save money and promote the renewable transformation yourself.
3. Others
In case you do not have a roof, you can try and invest — also small amounts of money — into the right things. Search for green investments and crowdfunding. You can invest your money in solar or wind parks which aren’t necessarily close to your home. The effect will be the same. Similarly, you can buy shares of accelerating startups in e.g. carbon capturing or e-fuel industries. This way, you can profit from the sustainable development in businesses and do good at the same time while at the same time gain financial benefit on your investment.
Of course, these are rather individual options. However, we developed a Sustainability Guideline at Sharkbite to promote individual choices at work as well. If you’re interested in that — let’s get in touch!
This blog is a part of a six part series highlighting a possible solution for fighting climate change and still meeting our energy demand.
The series is based on known scientific facts and is broken down as follows:
1. Why climate change is real, and why it matters
2. How greenhouse gases get into the atmosphere and who is responsible
3. An exemplary sector use case: Mobility could be run on non-fossil fuels
4. The disadvantages of hydrogen mobility and how we solve those
5. What are the consequences if we could transfer global energy supply to Power-to-X
6. What is likely to happen next and how can I contribute personally
