This week’s ten biggest climate innovation stories – 31 May
Could eating algae help reduce food emissions? Could coding help countries become more climate resilient? And, what will the EU’s future targets for renewables
This, and more, in the week’s ten biggest climate innovation stories.
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New tech could turn algae into the climate’s slimy saviour
The new hope for algae is that they could rebalance the global carbon equation as a food, not a fuel. Despite appearances, algae are an excellent source of protein. If meat-eaters started to eat more algae, the industry’s theory goes, that shift could slash carbon emissions by reducing demand for beef and pork.
News: New Tech Could Turn Algae Into the Climate’s Slimy Savior https://t.co/D6S2eqabza
— Mark Lemos (@AlgaeU) May 30, 2018
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This Power Plant Runs on CO2
Under just the right conditions, CO2 can also sustain combustion. That counterintuitive fact is at the heart of a new power plant being built in the US city of Houston. The natural-gas-fired plant’s novel design, uses a fuel mix that is 95 percent carbon dioxide at the point of combustion. What’s more, it captures and sequesters carbon dioxide at virtually no additional cost.
Supercritical CO2 can be pumped, compressed, and driven to spin a turbine with an efficiency that steam may never reach. Now, one company is building a power plant that will use it to burn fossil fuels without emitting carbon. https://t.co/cq4YkqlcPT #MiracleBlueprints #energy pic.twitter.com/sEswVTXec5
— IEEE Spectrum (@IEEESpectrum) May 31, 2018
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Europe is building more wind and solar without any subsidies
New renewable energy projects are expected to be profitable with little government support. The French electric utility Engie announced last week that it’s going to develop 300 megawatts of wind energy across nine wind farms in Spain, backed by $350 million (€300 million) in investment. Here’s the key: It’s doing all this without government support.
This is evidence that renewable energy might be able to grow without government subsidies. https://t.co/6CxIvPJMXd
— Vox (@voxdotcom) May 31, 2018
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Trilogue time for EU clean energy laws
EU Parliament, Council and Commission have been discussing renewable energy and energy efficiency. With a decision not reached as talks concluded on 31 May, another meeting is planned for 13 June. The compromise proposed may see a 32-33% target for renewables by 2030.
EU Parliament would have to make concessions on renewables self-consumption and a sub-target for renewables in the heating and cooling sector, as well as accepting the Council’s request for a 14% objective for renewables in transport, and freeze the share of 1st generation biofuels in transport in each member state at the level of production reached in 2020/21.
BREAKING: On #biofuels, the Commission declared it was not ready to consider the Parliament’s request for a ban on #PalmOil used as transport fuel. More soon on our live blog here: https://t.co/zh4jMtF3go
— Frédéric Simon (@FredSimonEU) May 31, 2018
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Europe’s Largest Asset Manager Sees ‘Tipping Point’ on Climate
The world’s deepest-pocketed investors are starting to take climate change seriously, according to Amundi SA.
“We are really observing a tipping point among the institutional investors on climate change”