News

What Does Energy Transition Mean To You? 9/18/2023

What Does Energy Transition Mean To You?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jim Crompton is a co-host on this podcast hosting Dr. Ershaghi, Director of the Ershaghi Center for Energy Transition (E-CET), on the history of the energy transitions; where we stand in the race to net zero; the role that governments, private sector, and individuals play in the energy transition; and the importance of combating misinformation. Also featured, Mathew Davis, a Master’s student in petroleum engineering at USC, on how he defines energy transition and the role that petroleum engineering plays in the energy transition. September 18, 2023.

U.S. House debates which minerals should be considered “critical” 9/14/2023

U.S. House debates which minerals should be considered “critical”

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Dr. Roderick Eggert contributes to this article about how a recent U.S. House hearing that centered on a relatively unknown segment of federal energy policy quickly evolved into a discussion on how much the government should prioritize mining. The Committee on Natural Resources focused on the U.S. Geological Survey’s list of critical minerals. The tally list includes several dozen well-known elements like aluminum, platinum and titanium. It also has lesser-known minerals – like lithium, cobalt and neodymium – that are used in modern technologies such as cell phone batteries and semiconductors. September 14, 2023.

Mines faculty member testifies before U.S. House committee on critical minerals 9/13/2023

Mines faculty member testifies before U.S. House committee on critical minerals

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Dr. Roderick Eggert testified before the U.S. House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy & Mineral Resources on critical minerals and the structure and role of the U.S. Geological Survey’s critical minerals list. As the United States rapidly accelerates its transition to a clean energy future, there is a growing focus on the role of critical minerals, many of which are mined, processed, and transported around the globe through complex supply chains. September 13, 2023.

How Big Oil’s wastewater could fuel the EV revolution 9/12/2023

How Big Oil’s wastewater could fuel the EV revolution

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about how since oil and gas drilling began nearly 150 years ago, the salty wastewater it produces has been a nuisance for operators. Now, the electric vehicle revolution could turn the industry’s billions of barrels of brine into dollars. Oil and gas companies are eyeing their own byproduct — along with naturally occurring brine found deep underground — as a source of lithium, a highly sought-after metal needed to make EV batteries. September 12, 2023.

Mines, Lunar Outpost test lunar excavation rover in 15-day durability demonstration 9/11/2023

Mines, Lunar Outpost test lunar excavation rover in 15-day durability demonstration

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow George Sowers is featured in this article about how the Outpost Digger System is going to operate for 15 consecutive days at Colorado Air and Space Port starting Sept. 9. The 15-day test, part of NASA’s Break the Ice Lunar Challenge, began Sept. 9 at the Colorado Air and Space Port near Watkins. Under the terms of the challenge, the two-rover Outpost Digger System must excavate, transport and dump at least 12 metric tons of concrete-hard lunar regolith simulant over a continuous 15-day test period. The demonstration will be live streamed to NASA officials. September 11, 2023.

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE INFLUENCE OF INCUMBENT INDUSTRIES ON MISSION-ORIENTED INNOVATION POLICY TARGETING CARBON LOCK-IN 9/8/2023

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: THE INFLUENCE OF INCUMBENT INDUSTRIES ON MISSION-ORIENTED INNOVATION POLICY TARGETING CARBON LOCK-IN

Payne Institute Fellow Sara Hastings-Simon and Eliot Tretter write about how mission-oriented innovation to address climate change, a moonshot or Manhattan project for climate, is an approach that promises to address climate change by achieving net zero carbon emissions. However, even with significant technical advances, successfully reaching this goal would dramatically reduce the market for fossil fuels. This paper explores how mission-oriented innovation potentially impacts and is impacted
by incumbent industries and describes how in the case of Alberta’s fossil-fuel industry, regional incumbents influenced the establishment of a mission they saw as a direct threat to their market. September 8, 2023.

New Arizona mines unearth new conflicts: resist climate change or protect fragile landscapes? 9/7/2023

New Arizona mines unearth new conflicts: resist climate change or protect fragile landscapes?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Rod Eggert contributed to this article about how South32 is one of many prospective miners in the West in a position to capitalize on a national appetite for homegrown US sourced minerals. However, in Arizona, It also would change a landscape that many prize as a unique biological mixing zone in forested mountain ranges like the Patagonias. Arizona’s Sky Islands form an archipelago of oases above the desert, alive with migratory birds, bats and big cats. September 7, 2023.

Escaping the Dirty Side of Clean Energy? 9/6/2023

Escaping the Dirty Side of Clean Energy?

Payne Institute Advisory Board member Deborah Avant, Devin Finn, Tricia D. Olsen, and Alvin Camba write about how In an era where the fate of nations intertwines with the health of our planet, Western governments and enterprises stand at a crossroads that demands more than just the pursuit of critical minerals. Beyond the race to secure these essential resources lies a profound truth: The battle against climate change not only hinges on obtaining valuable minerals, but also on upholding the enduring sustainability embedded within democratic principles. September 6, 2023.

The African Climate Summit – Averting the Climate Crisis 9/5/2023

The African Climate Summit – Averting the Climate Crisis

Payne Institute Research Associate Juliet Akamboe and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how climate change poses a significant threat to Africa, a continent already grappling with challenges including poverty and a lack of access to basic human needs like clean water, healthcare, education, jobs and electricity. Africa is already witnessing severe environmental consequences with changing rainfall patterns, severe droughts and extreme weather conditions, which are stalling socio-economic development. The inaugural Africa Climate Summit (ACS) taking place in Nairobi, this week is a great forum to discuss the role Africa can play in bridging the gap between the Global North and South in addressing the climate crisis. September 5, 2023.

Will Mining the Moon and Asteroids Be Worth the Trouble? 9/5/2023

Will Mining the Moon and Asteroids Be Worth the Trouble?

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Angel Abbud-Madrid contributes to this article about how mining water, metals, and oxygen from the Moon and asteroids seems promising, but only if these space-based resources are reasonably accessible. The new era of space exploration is opening entirely new possibilities, including the tantalizing prospect of mining for resources on the Moon and asteroids. Sounds exciting—and potentially very profitable—but the reality of the situation is that space mining is completely uncharted territory. September 5, 2023.

NIGER, URANIUM, AND THE COUP D’ETAT 9/1/2023

NIGER, URANIUM, AND THE COUP D’ETAT

Payne Institute ESG Researcher Baba Freeman writes about how the recent coup d’etat in Niger, a key supplier of uranium, has created some level of anxiety in the market and brought forward new questions for stakeholders across the industry and the West African sub-region. The event calls for a fresh look at the potential market impact and the way forward to resolving the current disputation in a manner that preserves Niger’s development agenda, minimizes political risk to investors, and aids the emergence of a more resilient global critical minerals supply chain. September 1, 2023.

How Colorado’s oil and gas industry helps and hurts the economy 8/30/2023

How Colorado’s oil and gas industry helps and hurts the economy

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Ian Lange contributes to this article about how economic benefits, like jobs and tax revenue, weigh against costs, like clean-up of environmental damage. As Colorado’s oil and gas industry plans to drill hundreds of new wells along the Front Range in the coming years, residents want to know how the financial benefits and costs of those operations will affect their lives. The answer is complicated, and not all economists agree. August 30, 2023.

Proposed West Africa-Europe Gas Pipelines Will Fail Without a Radical Shift in Thinking

PROPOSED WEST AFRICA-EUROPE GAS PIPELINES WILL FAIL WITHOUT A RADICAL SHIFT IN THINKING

Payne Institute ESG Researcher Baba Freeman writes about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 injected a renewed urgency into Western European countries’ energy security concerns and led to an increase in demand for non-Russian sources of oil and gas. Consequently, Europe is expected to take a larger share of future LNG supplies even as greenfield pipeline projects are being conceived to supply West African gas to Western Europe. These projects include the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline (TSGP) and the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline (NMGP) but may not be able to adequately meet these projects’ future obligations. August 29, 2023.

The need for balance in the regulation of the oil and natural gas industry 8/29/2023

The need for balance in the regulation of the oil and natural gas industry

Payne Institute Faculty Fellows Jennifer Miskimins and Jim Crompton write about how to get the balance between environmental action and economic reality right, we all need more collaboration. Over the past several years, Colorado has implemented precedent-setting regulations, from baseline groundwater testing and monitoring, to air regulations targeting methane leak detection and repair. But we still have a long way to go, and while it’s not an easy road for regulators, it’s crucial we stay the course. August 29, 2023.

As Cop28 approaches, the world can learn from Emirati women 8/27/2023

As Cop28 approaches, the world can learn from Emirati women

Payne Institute Advisory Board Member Nawal Al-Hosany writes about how the collaborative efforts of Emirati women in critical fields epitomise the UAE’s approach to climate action. Emirati Women’s Day is not only an opportunity for us to celebrate the example set by our women and girls. It is also a chance to show the international community what we are capable of when we work together – especially when it comes to setting the energy transition and climate action agenda. August 27, 2023.

Faster permits alone won’t build a U.S. clean-energy supply chain 8/25/2023

Faster permits alone won’t build a U.S. clean-energy supply chain

Payne Institute Responsible Gas Program Manager Simon Lomax, Director Morgan Bazilian, and Elizabeth Wilson write about a faster permitting process for U.S. mining projects may be just around the corner, thanks to regulatory reforms that were wrapped into the debt-ceiling compromise between President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans. It’s a major breakthrough for climate action. Mines produce the raw materials used in electric cars, solar panels, power lines and other technologies that cut carbon emissions and slow the pace of climate change. A clean energy revolution is a minerals and mining revolution. August 25, 2023.

Contemporary ice sheet thinning drives subglacial groundwater exfiltration with potential feedbacks on glacier flow 8/18/2023

Contemporary ice sheet thinning drives subglacial groundwater exfiltration with potential feedbacks on glacier flow

Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Matthew Siegfried and Alexander A. Robel, Shi J. Sim, Colin Meyer, and Mines alum Chloe D. Gustafson write about how groundwater-laden sedimentary aquifers are extensive beneath large portions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. A reduction in the mechanical loading of aquifers is known to lead to groundwater exfiltration, a discharge of groundwater from the aquifer. Here, we provide a simple expression predicting exfiltration rates under a thinning ice sheet. August 18, 2023.

Discovering Hidden Offshore Lighting Structures with Multiyear Low-Light Imaging Satellite Data 8/18/2023

Discovering Hidden Offshore Lighting Structures with Multiyear Low-Light Imaging Satellite Data

Payne Institute Earth Observation Group Christopher Elvidge, Tilottama Ghosh, Namrata Chatterjee, Mikhail Zhizhin and Morgan Bazilian write about how in 2015, the Earth Observation Group developed the VIIRS Boat Detection (VBD) product and today several fishery agencies use VBD data to monitor fishing activity and compliance with closures. Recently EOG compiled the full record VBD detections as a 15 arc second global grid. The record spans 2012-2021 in Asia and 2017-2021 elsewhere. Upon reviewing the multiyear accumulation of VBD detections we were surprised to find a diversity of previously unseen lighting features. The additional features include lit platforms, transit lanes, and vessel anchorages associated with ports and passage straits. August 18, 2023.

INVESTORS IN AFRICAN MINING VENTURES MUST REFRESH THEIR RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESSES

Payne Institute Research Associate Baba Freeman writes about how the frequency of coup d’etats in the Sahel region is troubling and calls for mining investors to refresh their political risk assessment processes. The recent trend of militarization must surely prod investors to further assess the likelihood and possible impact of military interventions and incorporate key takeaways from current events into their risk management tools and processes. While the risk of a total loss of capital due to outright warfare can be assessed deterministically, subjective measures of political instability can substantially impact the “country risk” premium that mining investors must pay over and above the risk-free cost of capital. August 17, 2023.

Critical Minerals Outlooks Comparison 8/15/2023

Critical Minerals Outlooks Comparison

Payne Institute Research Associate Juliet Akamboe, student researchers Ebenezer Manful-Sam, Felix Ayaburi, Director Morgan Bazilian and IEF’s Mason Hamilton write a critical minerals report about how with the acceleration of energy transitions, clean energy technologies have rapidly emerged as the segment with the fastest growth in demand in critical minerals supply chains and markets. Highlighting key insights for critical minerals decisionmakers, the report analyses eleven publicly available reports from eight agencies and organizations across different geographies, spanning from 2019 to 2023. August 15, 2023.

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