13/08/2020

(AU) Fight For Planet A: The Team Behind War On Waste Want To Put Climate Crisis Back On The Agenda

The Guardian - 

Host Craig Reucassel uses balloons to give Australia’s emissions a visual representation and we’re left in no doubt there are too many of them

Craig Reucassel in Fight for Planet A. ‘We need a population that is knowledgeable and engaged.’ Photograph: Eren Sener/ABC TV

Fight For Planet A: Our Climate Challenge
Tuesdays 8.30pm on ABC + iview

Craig Reucassel tackles one of our planet's biggest challenges: climate change, exploring where our energy comes from, health effects of transport and travel emissions plus the carbon footprint of what we eat.
There’s a scene in Fight for Planet A that is both absurd and thrilling.

The host, Craig Reucassel, has tracked down the prime minister, Scott Morrison, at an event at a Sydney beach.

A pile of black balloons representing Australia’s carbon emissions have been attached to the back of his shirt and as he runs down the beach chasing Morrison, one really does wonder if he’ll just lift off and float away.

The prime minister’s minders stop Reucassel before he can tackle the prime minister who, in bare feet and boardshorts, is walking away as quick as you can in soft sand.

But the metaphor is obvious: Morrison does not want to engage with Australia’s outsized emissions problem.

Over three episodes, the team that made the ABC’s highly successful War on Waste delve into the more abstract but urgent issue of carbon emissions, and with it a vital question: how do you convince Australians that something they cannot see represents their greatest existential threat?

Fight for Planet A uses balloons to give Australia’s emissions a visual representation, and right from the first episode, we’re left in no doubt that there are too many of them. But what to do about it? And do we have the bandwidth to deal with the climate crisis now given everything else that’s going on in the world?

Fight for Planet A: Our Climate Challenge explores how we can all reduce our individual and collective carbon emissions. This three-part documentary aims to empower and motivate Australians to take action on climate change. 

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic initially meant the air date for the show, which was filmed last year, was pushed back from June to August. Stephen Oliver, manager of documentaries at the ABC, thinks that now is the time to get the climate back on the agenda.

“No one knew how long the pandemic would last, how serious it would be, how it would change people’s psychology. It’s still bad, but to some extent, with the exception of the situation in Melbourne, we have come to terms with it,” he says.

And although global lockdowns have caused emissions to plummet, it is long-term behaviour and policy change that will make a difference in the long term. So how do we make that happen?

Fight for Planet A is a solutions-based show that aims to empower viewers to cut their own emissions at home and in their communities.

By way of example, five Australian households were chosen to take on the show’s “climate challenge” to reduce the carbon emissions generated by the energy they used, their modes of transport and their food production.

Can the wealthy family with underfloor heating and a massive TV for their pets cut their electricity bill? Can the share house of five blokes use less hot water and skateboard to uni instead of driving an old banger?

Those strategies for individuals wanting to reduce their carbon footprint include everything from changing showerheads so less water is used, to ditching the car, to switching to solar panels. There’s a good segment on how easy it is to cut emissions in schools by turning off power points at the end of the day.

Craig Reucassel with members of the community of Oatlands public school. Photograph: ABC TV

Other solutions are more expensive and thus more difficult – such as trading in your old fossil-fuel-guzzling car for an electric vehicle (the cheapest in Australia starts at around $50,000).

When asked if a lot of the individual environmental fixes are geared towards the rich, Reucassel told Guardian Australia: “People who are wealthier – say, in the top 50% of income – have a larger carbon footprint. They travel more, their houses are bigger, they use more energy. We need to call on the rich people first – we shouldn’t be putting more of the burden on poorer people.”

But does all this community and individual empowerment let the government and big business off the hook?

Reucassel says: “I wouldn’t have done this show if it had only been about individual change. But people becoming involved and interested in an issue changes the political debate and more strongly influences the business debate. We can underestimate the role that the public can take in leading.”

Councils too have proven to be proactive when it comes to grassroots climate action, says Reucassel, “much more so than leadership at a federal level, which tends to be really depressing”.

“Unlike coronavirus, we know the solutions to climate change,” says Oliver. “We can actually do something about climate change, whereas with the pandemic we’re sitting there waiting for the experts to find a vaccine. We wear a mask and stay distant but we’re not actually solving the problem, we’re waiting for experts to solve the problem.

“But we can all solve the problem of climate change. This is empowering. We can give people solutions rather than just bunker down waiting for more horror to hit us.”

“The hardest part is getting people to visualise emissions,” says Reucassel. But knowledge is power. “In Australia, change is up against far more vested interests – that’s why we need a population that is knowledgeable and engaged.”

Oliver agrees. “It’s about getting people to be more engaged in the issue instead of feeling a bit angry and hopeless. If you only focus on the big corporations and the government you can get angry, frustrated and just kind of retreat from the conversation.”

Links
at No comments:

(AU) Don’t Rush Into A Hydrogen Economy Until We Know All The Risks To Our Climate

The Conversation -  | 

Alexander Kirch/Shutterstock. 

There is global interest in the potential for a hydrogen economy, in part driven by a concern over climate change and the need to move away from fossil fuels.

This month, for example, Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, released a report showing the use of clean hydrogen as a fuel could slash aviation emissions, including a complete transition from conventional jet fuel around 2050.

A hydrogen economy could tap Australia’s abundant solar and wind energy resources, and provides a way to store and transport energy.

But, to date, there has been little attention on the technology’s potential environmental challenges.

Using hydrogen as a fuel might make global warming worse by affecting chemical reactions in the atmosphere. We must know more about this risk before we dive headlong into the hydrogen transition.


Australia’s hydrogen dawn

Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe. On Earth, it’s found mostly in water, from which it can be extracted. When renewable energy is used to power this process, hydrogen can be produced, in principle, with no emissions.

Australia’s National Hydrogen Strategy, released last November, identified hydrogen export as a major economic opportunity.

Countries such as Germany, Japan and South Korea have large energy demands and commitments to emissions reduction. But they have limited opportunities to develop their own renewable resources. This creates a major opportunity for Australia to ship hydrogen to the world.

Hydrogen projects in Australia are gearing up. For example, the Queensland government recently announced A$4.2 million for a trial project to inject hydrogen into the gas network of Gladstone.

A similar project is also proposed for South Australia, supported by a A$4.9 million state government grant. In New South Wales, a proposal is afoot to blend hydrogen into the existing gas network.

But little consideration has been given to the possible environmental consequences of hydrogen as an energy source.

A hydrogen station for fuel-cell vehicles in Japan, which is a major export opportunity for hydrogen produced in Australia. Kydpl Kyodo/AP

Reactions in the atmosphere

In the atmosphere, ozone and water vapour react with sunlight to produce what are known as hydroxyl radicals.

These powerful oxidants react with and help remove other chemicals released into the atmosphere via natural and human processes, such as burning fossil fuels. One of these chemicals is methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

But hydrogen also reacts with hydroxyl radicals and, in doing so, reduces their concentration. Any hydrogen leaked into the atmosphere – such as during production, transport or at the point of use – could cause this reaction.

This would reduce the number of hydroxyl radicals available for their important cleansing function.

Hydrogen reacts with hydroxyl radicals in the atmosphere. Shutterstock

Hydrogen on the rise

Hydrogen concentrations in the atmosphere are monitored around the world. Collectively, the data show an increase over time. This includes in Ireland and at Cape Grim in Tasmania’s northwest, where hydrogen concentrations have increased by about 4% in the past 25 years.



With our current understanding of the hydrogen cycle, it’s not possible to say why this has occurred. Indeed, this is the challenge: improving understanding so we can anticipate any effects of hydrogen leakage and decide what acceptable leakage rates might be.

Based on what we do know, hydrogen may increase global warming by 20-30% that of methane if leaked into the atmosphere.

Our understanding so far suggests that if a hydrogen economy replaced the fossil fuel-based energy system and had a leakage rate of 1%, its climate impact would be 0.6% of the fossil fuel system.

But we need to better understand the hydrogen cycle, such as how land surfaces absorb hydrogen. In the meantime, we must try to minimise leakage of hydrogen in production, storage and use.

Lessons from methane

A commitment to a hydrogen economy must avoid pitfalls that accompanied the expansion of the natural gas economy.

Research published this year found emissions from our increased use of fossil methane is about 25% to 40% greater than previously estimated.

Other research shows methane emissions grew almost 10% from 2000-2006 to the most recent year of the study, 2017.

Coming to grips with methane leakage is difficult because of the many ways it occurs, including:
By contrast, hydrogen emissions will likely mainly occur during distribution and end use via faulty pipe fittings, given the absence of mining in the hydrogen economy.

Technicians examine pipes at a shale gas facility in China. Such operations are a source of methane emissions. Hu Qingming/AP



Looking ahead

 It’s possible the emission of hydrogen from reticulation and distribution systems will be low. But specifying how low this should be, and what engineering approaches are appropriate, should be part of the development process.

A hydrogen-based energy future may likely provide an attractive option in the quest for a zero-carbon economy. But all aspects of the hydrogen option should be considered in an holistic and evidence-based assessment.

This would ensure any transition to a hydrogen economy brings climate benefits far beyond fossil-fuel-based energy systems.

Links
at No comments:

(AU) Australia Aims To Become Renewable Energy Export Superpower

Financial Times - Jamie Smyth

Government backs megaprojects that hope to use undersea cables to power Asian economies

Australia is home to the world’s largest battery, which is backed by the government and electric car maker Tesla. © REUTERS/David Gray

Australia has shipped vast quantities of coal and gas to fuel Asia’s rapid growth for decades. But amid global concerns over climate change, investors and a previously sceptical conservative government are now backing plans to build a renewable energy export industry to help diversify its economy.

Last month the Australian government awarded “major project status” to Sun Cable, a A$22bn (US$16bn) solar power project in Northern Territory, a remote region more typically known as a source of liquefied natural gas.

The designation aims to fast track construction of the world’s largest battery, a solar farm and a 3,700km electricity cable to supply A$2bn a year of green energy to Singapore by 2027.

 “We are creating a new industry by building these high-voltage direct current submarine cable networks that enable the development of massive scale renewable energy, wherever the resource is most abundant,” said David Griffin, chief executive of Sun Cable.

“Ultimately we are looking at a network that extends from India to New Zealand.”

Despite a bruising decade-long political debate in Australia over the future of fossils fuels, the Liberal-National government has begun preparing for a future without its A$55bn-a-year coal industry.

Sun Cable is one of several green energy export projects planned in Australia, which is deploying solar and wind capacity at a rate four to five times faster than in the EU, US, Japan and China on a per capita basis, according to a report by Australian National University.

Macquarie Bank and energy groups Vestas, CWP Energy and InterContinental Energy are backing the Asian Renewable Energy Hub, a rival project, which aims to use wind and solar power in Western Australia state to make hydrogen products for export to Asian markets.

In Victoria, the government is co-funding a A$500m pilot project to generate hydrogen from coal and store the emissions produced in an undersea basin. “

As technologies change, we can capitalise on our strengths in renewables to continue to lead the world in energy exports,” said Angus Taylor, Australia’s energy minister, when announcing Canberra would support Sun Cable in gaining state and federal approvals.

Sun Cable's plan to supply renewable energy to Singapore


Sun Cable backers include two of Australia’s richest men: Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder of software company Atlassian, and Andrew Forrest, founder of mining group Fortescue. It aims to disrupt Asia’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels by making large amounts of renewable energy generated in Australia available at reasonable cost.

Proposals to export renewable energy across vast regions date back at least a century when German architect Herman Sörgel proposed building a hydroelectric dam across the Strait of Gibraltar.

Sharp falls in solar and wind costs and technical advances in cabling are turning this vision into reality. The UK, for example, is constructing the longest subsea power cable in the world — a €2bn electricity interconnector to Denmark, which stretches for 765km with a capacity of 1.4GW.

Sun Cable’s proposed cable is almost five times that length and double the capacity of the UK’s Viking Link, which would enable it to supply a fifth of Singapore’s total electricity demand. It must be laid at a depth of 1,700m below sea level — eight times that of the UK-Denmark interconnector — which will pose technical and financial challenges.

“For such long distances it is quite likely we have to go for multiple lines increasing the cost and complexity,” said Srinivas Siripurapu, chief R&D officer at Prysmian, a world leader in subsea cabling.

He said the deepest cable sits at depth of 1,600m, linking Sardinia to the Italian mainland but Prysmian is developing new technology that can go down to 3,000m.

The Asian Renewable Energy Hub initially planned to build a subsea cable to supply Indonesia with green power generated at massive 15GW solar and wind farms based in the Pilbara, a desert region in Western Australia. But it changed its approach about two years ago due to the estimated A$20bn-plus costs and because it limited the customers it could supply.

“We’ve pivoted our vision to exporting energy in chemical form primarily in the form of hydrogen derivatives including ammonia,” said Andrew Dickson, development manager. “Shipping product means we have a much wider range of potential customers.”

The hub plans to use low-cost renewable energy to make green hydrogen and ammonia, which can be stored and transported to energy hungry markets such as South Korea and Japan.

Mr Dickson said ammonia can already be used in coal-fired power plants to reduce emissions by a fifth and there were opportunities in multiple sectors from power generation to shipping fuels.

The hub plans to sell power to iron ore mines and LNG facilities in the Pilbara to “unlock electrification at a large scale” and provide extra revenue to help it realise its export potential, he added.

Both projects must still prove to investors they are bankable and the technical challenges are not insurmountable. But advocates believe Australia’s abundant wind and solar resources and the pace of technological development puts the nation in pole position to create a viable renewables export industry.

“We have a rich energy export history and renewables is our next big step,” said Mr Cannon-Brookes. “We have the technology. We have the economics. And we have an opportunity to become a renewable energy superpower.”

Links
at No comments: