International Energy Technology Transfersfor Climate Change Mitigation - What, who, how, why, when, where, how much … and the Implications for International Institutional Architecture

The goal of the paper is to expand and refine the international technology transfer negotiating and analytic agendas and to reframe the issues. The paper presents concepts, indicators, illustrations and data that identify and measure international transfers of energy technologies that can be used to mitigate climate change. Among the questions on that agenda are how much technology transfer there has been to date, and how much will be needed in the future, especially to assist non-Annex I developing countries in their efforts to mitigate climate change. Before the how much questions can be answered, however, there are several prior questions, and hence the many other elements of the subtitle of the paper: what, who, how, why, when, where. These aspects of international technology transfer vary significantly among three existing institutional settings and among the associated analytic paradigms: North-South Official Development Assistance, Global Private International Investment and Trade, and International Public-Private Cooperation Agreements. The principal sections of the paper focus on features of international technology transfers in these institutional settings and on illustrations drawn from the biodiesel industry, especially the use of jatropha tree as the source of the feedstock. The conclusions are summarized as follows: (i) Technologies include intangible know-how and services, as well as tangible goods in the form of production process equipment and finished products. (ii) International transfers of some types of technology are much easier to measure than others. (iii) International technology transfers are highly industry-specific. (iv) Even for individual industries, it is necessary to use multiple indicators of technology transfers. (v) Patterns in the types of technology and methods of transfer vary across the three institutional settings examined in the paper. (vi) All three of the institutional arrangements are probably under-performing and inadequa

The new steel map: reconfiguring supply chains around renewable resources

Steel is an indispensable component of our physical environment and the most consumed metal on earth at 2 billion tonnes per annum. Continuance of this consumption and production pattern is incongruent with climate change mitigation; steel production is deeply dependent on fossil fuels with the sector emitting about one-tenth of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions. Decarbonisation must commence immediately to reach near zero-emissions by 2050 and not exceed the allocated 30-year carbon budget aligned to a 1.5°C global warming trajectory. This presents a hefty challenge given the fundamental change in energy inputs required, consequent modification of metallurgical processes, and restructuring of the supporting supply chains. Yet, a significant opportunity lies in transitioning the industrial sector towards electrification with zero-carbon electricity inputs. In terms of physical pathways to near zero-emissions, the current literature body focuses on process level improvements, whilst supply chain assessments from raw materials to markets are largely absent. The energy paradigm shift introduces multiple novel supply chain elements worth exploring, including green hydrogen and iron trade, matching variable renewables with processes of varying flexibility, and opening of green markets under carbon policies. This literature gap is addressed in this thesis through mathematical modelling and geospatial analysis at multiple scales, spanning individual processes to the complete supply chain, and applied in local, regional, and global contexts. The systems-based, locational research agenda allows exploration and evaluation of novel configurations for renewables-based steel supply chains. The technological focus is on hydrogen-based direct reduction of iron followed by the electric arc furnace, which reduces emissions to near zero and is rapidly reaching commerciality. The most significant tangible contributions of this thesis are the facility-level and supply chain optimisation models, which can be applied in any locality or region of interest. However, only through the meaningful case study analyses did critical insights emerge, of particular interest: (i) it is economically and energetically rational to reconfigure steel supply chains around high-quality renewables and iron ore deposits; (ii) co-locating hydrogen and iron production, and dislocating iron and steel production through green iron trade, introduces a valuable trade paradigm that takes advantage of upstream renewables whilst maintaining downstream market strongholds, (iii) iron ore producers have an integral part to play in the green steel transition, and a significant opportunity exists for these nations to transition from predominantly extractive to manufacturing economies, (iv) regional trade alliances and carbon policies are critical to green steel transitions, and (v) sectorial decoupling from fossil fuels requires well-timed investments and low-carbon energy system integration. Resource reallocation in the steel industry calls for supply chain restructuring; carrying over of fossil-based legacies will be a lost opportunity

Identifying the Burdens and Opportunities for Tribes and Communities in Federal Facility Cleanup Activities: Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix For Tribal and Community Decision-Makers

The cleanup of this country's federal facilities can affect a wide range of tribal and community interests and concerns. The technologies now in use, or being proposed by the Department of Energy, Department of Defense and other federal agencies can affect tribal treaty protected fishing, hunting and other rights, affect air and water quality thereby requiring the tribe to bear the burden of increased environmental regulation. The International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management developed a tribal and community decision-maker's Environmental Remediation Technology Assessment Matrix that will permit tribes and communities to array technical information about environmental remediation technologies against a backdrop of tribal and community environmental, health and safety, cultural, religious, treaty and other concerns and interests. Ultimately, the matrix will allow tribes and communities to assess the impact of proposed technologies on the wide range of tribal and community interests and will promote more informed participation in federal facility cleanup activities

Energy demand and savings opportunities in the supply of limestone and olivine-rich rocks for geochemical carbon dioxide removal

The large-scale implementation of geochemical Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) approaches such as Enhanced Weathering (EW) and Ocean Liming (OL) will require the extraction and processing of large amounts of limestone and olivine-rich rocks. Based on a literature review, surface mining, comminution, their related sub-stages, and long-haul transportation have carefully been surveyed to elucidate the order of magnitude of the energy demand, the technical challenges posed by each operation, and the potential energy-savings achievable by applying opportune strategies. This work confirms the significant energy-saving opportunities in fine and ultrafine grinding (one of the most energy-consuming activities along the raw material supply chain) as underlined by previous studies, and, in addition, it focuses on limestone and olivine-rich rocks providing new outcomes, it analyses data from a climate change perspective and extends calculations and discussion to transportation. The results show that the implementation of energy-saving strategies (cutting-edge energy efficiency solutions and best practices) to comminute such materials for OL and EW purposes in the near-medium term (2025-2050) would reduce the average electricity demand by 33%-65% in case of low carbon removal target (up to 27 MtC yr-1) and substantial energy efficiency improvement, and by 33%-36% in case of high carbon removal target (up to 69 MtC yr-1) and poor energy efficiency improvement

Accelerating the deployment of Solid State Lighting (SSL) in Europe

Solid State Lighting, in particular the use of LEDs and OLEDs for general lighting, is a promising technology with high growth potential in Europe. The path for the development of SSL in Europe is sketched out in the Green Paper on SSL of the European Commission. The current study supports the direction taken in the green paper towards deployment of SSL. This paper sketches the lighting consumptions and various applications of SSL, from fully-mature applications till the general lighting sector when mass adoption is expected from 2015, first in the retrofit market then in the new lighting fixtures and luminaires. It focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the European market for SSL. Distinction can be made between the outdoor lighting sector, where LEDs are more present, and indoor lighting, where the growth rate is still low. The LED industry is rather fragmented. It is usually divided into five segments: materials, equipment, finished lamps and components, luminaires and systems, and finally lighting services and solutions. One of the vulnerability areas is the fact Europe is dependent from China for a variety of semiconductor materials, including various rare earth elements (REE), that are used in the production of LEDs. The European manufacturing base is strong in the downstream segments of the value chain close to the application (40%) but it is weaker in the upstream segments (LED packaging, chips, wafers). Product design and marketing and sales are managed in Europe whereas product manufacturing takes place in Asia. R&D takes place mainly in Japan, the US and Europe. Through patent cross-licensing however the research base becomes broader, including China, Taiwan and South Korea. Europe is suffering from fragmented funding. Asian countries have a high budget for R&D. LED commercialisation channels might face a reshuffle, in particular when the industry will be moving to lighting services. For LEDs to penetrate the market more, end-user information and training, as well as training for installers, would be necessary. LED is still a costly product, in particular in the general lighting segment where alternatives remain cheaper. The price needed for mass adoption has not yet been reached. It is estimated that a price of $8 would allow a 25% market share for LEDs. In Europe, a price of €10 would allow to reach, after some time, a 50% market share for LEDs versus 50% for CFLs in the residential sector. It is to be noted that the price for LED bulbs differs from one country to another, e.g. LED bulbs are cheaper in Japan than they are in the US or Europe. Despite the potential of SSL for energy efficiency and also better lighting, many obstacles to its development remain. Cost and consequently payback time are not yet in the advantage of LED-based general illumination, compared to conventional lighting technologies. Quality is an issue, particularly in the absence of standards, both for testing and for final products. Luminous efficacy and lifetime can still be improved. Last but not least, educational barriers remain, that could be overcome by training of all players in the market, from the designer to the user. As far as the environment is concerned, LEDs do not contain mercury. Life cycle analysis seems to be quite favourable for SSL but further research into environment and health benefits will be required to confirm this. Some of the obstacles to mass adoption in the general lighting segment will disappear as technology evolves to cheaper products with better light quality. But price and energy efficiency might not be the only selling elements for LEDs. Innovation might be an important asset when designing new lighting products. Further legislation and policy initiatives addressing SSL will need to be designed in such a way to reinforce Europe's strategic strengths in the lighting sector, as proposed in the Green paper on SSL of the European Commission.JRC.F.7-Renewable Energ

Renewable energy jobs: future growth in Australia

The physical implications of a move towards greater renewable electricity – new generating capacity, significant investment, reduced greenhouse gas emissions – have been explored for a range of scenarios in many countries. However, employment associated with the electricity sector, and the impact of an accelerated uptake of renewables on employment in the sector, has received considerably less attention. As in other economic and technology shifts, jobs will be lost and new jobs will be created. Some jobs will be easy to replace, while others may require re-training, upskilling or relocation, or may disappear. &nbsp

1995 BRAC Commission

Naval Research Lab, Washington Site: Data Call. Tabular data, memos, documents. Box 178, L-110