Category: Circular Economy

The Latest in Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment, with Alex Gilbert 9/27/2022

The Latest in Nuclear Energy Innovation and Deployment, with Alex Gilbert

Payne Institute Fellow Alex Gilbert is featured on this podcast about the latest developments in nuclear energy innovation, policy, and deployment.  In the podcast, he discusses the types of nuclear technologies in the development pipeline, how they differ from older technologies, which technologies are being piloted, and how recent policies—especially the Inflation Reduction Act—are incentivizing the deployment of these technologies. September 27, 2022.

Without permits to build things, there will be no clean energy boom 9/15/2022

Without permits to build things, there will be no clean energy boom

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian and Communications Associate Simon Lomax write an opinion piece about how President Joe Biden’s landmark climate and clean energy bill.  American green groups have lauded the legislation, which was signed into law last month and provides $369bn in federal climate and clean energy incentives. But now comes the really hard part: turning hundreds of billions of dollars of incentives into real projects. September 15, 2022.  

EU official unveils proposals to address energy crisis amid Ukraine war 9/14/2022

EU official unveils proposals to address energy crisis amid Ukraine war

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this article about how the European Commission proposed emergency measures on Wednesday aimed at quelling a burgeoning energy crisis that is rattling the continent amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine. The plans — which individual EU member states must still approve — would serve to tackle soaring prices exacerbated by “a severe mismatch between energy demand and supply,” the commission said, attributing the circumstances to “the continued weaponization by Russia of its energy resources.” September 14, 2022.

Lithium mining’s water use sparks bitter conflicts and novel chemistry 9/13/2022

Lithium mining’s water use sparks bitter conflicts and novel chemistry

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jessica Smith is featured on this podcast exploring the impact of the world’s hunger for lithium-ion batteries, an important tool in the fight against climate change. Mining of lithium used to manufacture batteries in electric cars comes with a cost to the local environment and access to water. September 13, 2022.

Demand in the dark: Estimating the true scale of unmet electricity demand in Sub-Saharan Africa 9/11/2022

Demand in the dark: Estimating the true scale of unmet electricity demand in Sub-Saharan Africa

Mines Mineral and Energy Economics student researcher Sankalp Garg, Payne Institute Fellow Benjamin Attia, Payne Institute Program Manager Brad Handler, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how although the understanding the scale of energy poverty remains elusive, it is a key metric in the global effort to eradicate poverty.  This paper provides insights into the true scale and impacts of unreliable electricity service provision and introduces a simple and novel approach to quantifying the difference between electricity supply and demand, accounting for both met and unmet demand in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).  September 11, 2022.

Exploring acute weather resilience: Meeting resilience and renewable goals 8/29/2022

Exploring acute weather resilience: Meeting resilience and renewable goals

Colorado School of Mines and NREL Advanced Energy Systems PhD Candidate Madeline Macmillan, Caitlin A. Murphy (NREL), and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how the United States is affected by an average of almost seven severe weather events a year, often resulting in billions of dollars in physical and economic damages, a subset of which are related to grid outages. There is a need for power and energy system stakeholders to better understand and implement the strategies that help reduce net-economic and societal consequences associated with grid outages by improving the resilience of their systems.  This paper reviews qualitative definitions of resilience, quantitative approaches to resilience, recent examples of the inclusion of resilience in energy system models with respect to acute climatological threats, and the gaps in fully articulating resilience in current modeling tools. August 29, 2022. 

Completion Equipment Constraints 8/22/2022

COMPLETION EQUIPMENT CONSTRAINTS

Payne Institute Program Manager Brad Handler has prepared a quarterly report on how activity in the U.S. oil patch has reached the point of being supply constrained. Areas of tightness had been identified earlier in the year and include wellbore pipe known as Oil Country Tubular Goods, or OCTG), hydraulic fracturing (frac) services and frac sand. For now, the oilfield services providers are not yet focusing on adding meaningful amounts of capacity. They, like their oil company customers, have received clear messages from investors and lenders to prioritize financial returns over growth.  And for at least some services, it is only with further price increases — and confidence that demand will persist — that the providers can justify investing in new equipment.  August 22, 2022.  

Everything to know about the Biden administration’s new EV subsidies 8/19/2022

Everything to know about the Biden administration’s new EV subsidies

Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributes to this brief guide to buying an electric vehicle with Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.  The new law also includes tax credits for purchasing new and used electric vehicles, with several stipulations. Here’s a brief guide to buying an EV with IRA rebates.  August 19, 2022.  

How energy subsidy reform can drive the Iranian power sector towards a low-carbon future 8/11/2022

How energy subsidy reform can drive the Iranian power sector towards a low-carbon future

Vahid Aryanpur, Mahshid Fattahi, Siab Mamipour, Mahsa Ghahremani, Brian ÓGallachóir, Payne Institute Director Morgan D. Bazilian, and James Glynn write about how substantial energy subsidies are recognised as the leading cause of Iran’s inefficient electricity generation and consumption. This paper investigates the impacts of subsidy removal on future electricity demand and the required generation mix. A hybrid modelling framework is developed to analyse supply and demand sides under harmonised assumptions. August 11, 2022.