In the discussions of renewable energy, much of the conversation usually revolves around wind and solar. Often overlooked is the energy beneath our feet, geothermal, so much so that it is sometimes called the “forgotten renewable”. Geothermal, however, is a vast, largely untapped resource capable of supplying our power needs; in fact, it is estimated […]
Greener skies: Part I: A jet fuel and sustainable aviation fuel market outlook
Aviation is one of the hard-to-abate industries when it comes to decarbonization. COVID-induced lockdowns and the recession that closely followed slashed global aviation demand by 42% in 2020 compared to 2019. This also resulted in the lowest CO2 emissions from the aviation industry in over two decades dropping from about a billion tons of CO2 […]
Hydrothermal liquefaction for renewable fuels
Rapid growth in the adoption of alternatives to fossil fuels is driven by the lower lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of alternative fuels. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), pyrolysis, photocatalysis, and gasification are some of the technologies to produce biofuels at various stages of technology advancement and commercialization today. HTL is one of the more promising technologies […]
2022 Energy Transition Outlook: Messiness as a Measure of Progress?
Energy transition advanced rapidly through the collective public consciousness in the past two years although starting this past summer, it has run into significant challenges. To a large extent though, both energy transition’s progress in 2020 and the challenges of 2021 were more conceptual than rooted in concrete form. Investor-led demand for a greater focus […]
2022 Upstream Outlook: Balancing growth and discipline
After the COVID-19 pandemic-related lockdown in 2020 that shook the global economy and shattered oil prices to record bottoms, the upstream oil and gas industry rebounded strongly throughout 2021 with oil prices reaching record levels not seen in past six years. Upstream oil and gas performed better than expected in 2021 and future trends will […]
Are hydrogen projects from major O&G players a sign of change?
As more countries continue to plan for a carbon-neutral world, many companies are beginning to invest in hydrogen. Hydrogen can support many decarbonization efforts by emerging as an alternative fuel in transportation, becoming a cleaner heat source in industrial applications. While we expect the demand for hydrogen to grow significantly in several large-scale applications, there […]
Using landfill gas for energy
Today, one of the largest infrastructure companies in North America Kinder Morgan has reached an agreement to acquire Kinetrex Energy, the largest supplier of liquified natural gas (LNG) in the midwestern region and a growing producer and supplier in the renewable natural gas (RNG) market. Kinder Morgan now joins a plethora of companies making their […]
Scope 3 emissions will challenge decarbonization goals of the chemical industry
We wrote in an earlier blog that the Paris Agreement’s goal to limit global warming to well below 2 °C compared to pre-industrial levels will be challenged by decarbonization of several hard-to-abate sectors. The chemical industry is both one of the largest consumers of energy globally and a hard-to-abate sector. A large portion of carbon […]
“Green premiums”: A new approach to energy transition investments
Nearly two-thirds of global greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to CO2 from fossil fuel combustion and industrial processes. A report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) outlines the potential for emissions to fall to 70% of the current levels over the next three decades but more needs to be done to limit […]
Energy transition: Faster and faster in 2021
Energy transition stood out for growth and opportunity in an otherwise difficult energy industry landscape in 2020. Consumer and investor appetite both grew voraciously in 2020 for a broad range of low-carbon, sustainable, resource-efficient, and environmentally-friendly offerings and technologies. Policy support also grew although most of it was in Europe and, to a certain extent, […]