11 January 2018 Boomberg, Hype Meets Reality as Electric Car Dreams Run Into Metal Crunch. When BMW AG revealed it was designing electric versions of its X3 SUV and Mini, the going rate for 21 kilograms of cobalt—the amount of the metal needed to power typical car batteries—was under $600. Only 16 months later, the price tag is approaching $1,700 and climbing by the day. For carmakers vying to fill their fleets with electric vehicles, the spike has been a rude awakening as to how much their success is riding on the scarce silvery-blue mineral found predominantly in one of the world’s most corrupt and underdeveloped countries. “It’s gotten more hectic over the past year,” said Markus Duesmann, BMW’s head of procurement, who’s responsible for securing raw materials used in lithium-ion batteries, such as cobalt, manganese and nickel. “We need to keep a close eye, especially on lithium and cobalt, because of the danger of supply scarcity.” Like its competitors, BMW is angling for the lead in the biggest revolution in automobile transport since the invention of the internal combustion engine, with plans for 12 battery-powered models by 2025. What executives such as Duesmann hadn’t envisioned even two years ago, though, was that they’d suddenly need to become experts in metals prospecting. Automakers are finding themselves in unfamiliar—and uncomfortable—terrain, where miners such as Glencore Plc and China Molybdenum Co. for the first time have all the bargaining power to dictate supplies. Read More here
Tag Archives: consumption
19 December 2017, CSIRO-ECOS, Refining the accounts on canola emissions savings. BIOFUELS are about to work even harder to prove their renewable worth, under new European Union rules. From 2018 the European Commission’s Renewable Energy Directive mandates that biofuels must demonstrate a 50 per cent emissions saving compared to their fossil fuel companions (or a 60 per cent saving when produced in refineries constructed after October 2015), compared to a flat 35 per cent saving now. CSIRO was commissioned by the Australian Oilseed Federation and the Australian Export Grains Innovation Centre to assess the greenhouse gas emissions of growing canola in Australia, in order to continue exports to the European Union for use as a feedstock for biodiesel under the new rules. In 2016/17, more than 3.1 million tonnes of Australian canola was exported to the EU, worth around $1.8 billion. EU buyers can pay a $20-40 per tonne premium for non-genetically modified canola (which Australia primarily produces), making the EU export market one with a cool $100 million premium riding on it. The vast majority of this canola (91 per cent in 2015-16) is used to make biodiesel. To secure this important export market the Australian industry needed to demonstrate that canola can be grown at a low enough carbon footprint so that once all the other processes of shipping and refining are added, the final product can be deliver to the customer at the fuel bowser within the target saving of 50-60 per cent. We are happy to say it did. Read More here
30 November 2017, Renew Economy, Finkel’s frustration: Everyone else has a strategy, but not Australia. One senses that Chief scientist Alan Finkel is just a little frustrated. The center-piece of his land-mark Finkel Review, the clean energy target, has been left in the gutter by weak-kneed politicians, and his attempts to bring perspective to the issue of storage has been branded as “eco-evangelism” by the same forces that make policy makers tremble in their bed at night. Little surprise, then, that Finkel chose to focus his last energy speech of the year on the “Myths and Legends of the Australian electricity market”, delivered to the ANU on Wednesday afternoon. And in doing so, he delivers some major brick-bats to both the country’s policy makers (politicians) and its regulators. Finkel argues that Australia has managed a unique trifecta – high prices, high emissions, and high uncertainty – and fallen behind the rest of the world. And he has no doubt who is to blame. “Everyone else has a strategy,” says one of the key points of his presentation (see above). The next line is equally damming: “Regulatory system suffering 10 years of policy paralysis.” Energy insiders and observers know exactly what Finkel is referring to: the first is clear, the political impasse caused by the Far Right and its opposition to basic economics and science. The second offender would be interpreted as the Australian Energy Market Commission – the rule maker that has stood in the way of blindingly obvious reforms such as introducing environmental considerations into the National Electricity Objective, and which has resisted and delayed nearly every proposed change that would nudge Australia’s ageing, creaking energy infrastructure into the 21st Century. Read More here
13 November 2017, The Conversation, Fossil fuel emissions hit record high after unexpected growth: Global Carbon Budget 2017. Global greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels and industry are on track to grow by 2% in 2017, reaching a new record high of 37 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the 2017 Global Carbon Budget, released today. The rise follows a remarkable three-year period during which global CO₂ emissions barely grew, despite strong global economic growth. But this year’s figures suggest that the keenly anticipated global peak in emissions – after which greenhouse emissions would ultimately begin to decline – has yet to arrive. Read more: Fossil fuel emissions have stalled: Global Carbon Budget 2016 – The Global Carbon Budget, now in its 12th year, brings together scientists and climate data from around the world to develop the most complete picture available of global greenhouse gas emissions. In a series of three papers, the Global Carbon Project’s 2017 report card assesses changes in Earth’s sources and sinks of CO₂, both natural and human-induced. All excess CO₂ remaining in the atmosphere leads to global warming. We believe society is unlikely to return to the high emissions growth rates of recent decades, given continued improvements in energy efficiency and rapid growth in low-carbon energies. Nevertheless, our results are a reminder that there is no room for complacency if we are to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, which calls for temperatures to be stabilised at “well below 2℃ above pre-industrial levels”. This requires net zero global emissions soon after 2050. Read More here