About this Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis that has major implications for world economies, energy use and CO2 emissions. According to the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2020 report, the immediate effects of the pandemic on the energy system shows expected falls in 2020 of 5% in global energy demand, 7% in energy-related CO2 emissions and 18% in energy investment. Oil consumption is anticipated to decline by 8% and coal use by 7%. However, as with previous crises, the rebound in emissions may be larger than the decline, unless the wave of investments to restart economies is dedicated to cleaner and more resilient energy infrastructure.
Decarbonizing energy use in time to avert catastrophic climate change requires increased international cooperation. Recovery measures following COVID-19 pandemic could include flexible power grids, efficiency solutions, electric vehicle charging, energy storage, interconnected hydropower, green hydrogen and other technology investments consistent with long-term energy and climate sustainability.

In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), there is a global movement to address these challenges by substantially increasing investment in renewable energy technologies and implementation, doubling the rate of improvement to energy efficiency, and changing user behaviours, with the aim to achieve absolute decoupling between energy consumption and economic growth.

Energy

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AI4Cities

AI4Cities, an EU-funded Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP), has launched its Request for Tenders (RfT). Read More

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7 Things to Know About Renewable Natural Gas

To minimize any risk of projects doing more harm than good, renewable natural gas should be evaluated case by case. Important questions to ask include:
- Does the production of renewable natural gas capture methane emissions that would otherwise have been emitted into the atmosphere?
- Does RNG production solve waste management problems, or yield co-benefits alongside emissions benefits?
- What are competing uses or management practices for the waste streams used, and does renewable natural gas complement solutions such as composting, animal feed or soil fertilizer?
- Does the project avoid building new fossil fuel-based infrastructure?
To address these questions, WRI's paper (https://www.wri.org/publication/renewable-natural-gas-guidance) walks readers through common approaches, evaluation metrics and considerations by feedstock that they can use to conduct a local assessment.

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https://www.wri.org/blog/2020/12/about-renewable-natural-gas-us

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Hydrogen produced with renewable electricity could compete on costs with fossil fuel alternatives by 2030, shows IRENA's new report

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https://www.irena.org/newsroom/pressreleases/2020/Dec/Making-Green-Hydrogen-a-Cost-Competitive-Clima...

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Check out the Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable Energy - a global inventory of policies and regulations to achieve SDG7. The report measures country-level adoption of policies: electricity access, clean cooking, energy efficiency, and renewable energy during 2017-19.

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https://rise.esmap.org/

Created a Post in Energy

El Salvador has prioritised renewable energy projects to reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels and improve energy security. This Renewables Readiness Assessment (RRA) highlights key actions for the short and medium-term that could create more conductive conditions for renewable energy development.

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https://irena.org/publications/2020/Dec/Renewables-Readiness-Assessment-El-Salvador
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRIn-RTUSpk&feature=emb_logo
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Created a Post in Energy

Renewables bring deflation to the energy sector

With the US poised to rejoin the Paris Agreement under the incoming Biden administration and the proliferation of net-zero commitments from various governments, the romance between equity markets and renewable-energy goes from strength to strength.

But in all the excitement about the future of renewables, a bigger truth is being overlooked: the underlying reason for the astonishing transformation of renewables over the past decade from niche to mainstream competing head-to-head with fossil fuels is economic rather than environmental.

Wind and solar are intrinsically deflationary, whereas fossil fuels are intrinsically inflationary. This has huge implications for the distribution of value across the global energy system over the next three decades. 

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https://www.ft.com/content/f2a27ddb-ea88-46cc-a265-ef84bd50946b
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Created a Post in Energy

New report out from RMI -- 'Coming Back Stronger: A City-Driven Infrastructure Agenda for a Cleaner, More Resilient, More Equitable America'. Much more needs to be done in cities across the US, but there's some really interesting case studies in this report, covering a wide range of sectors, including mobility in Seattle, water in Newark, energy in Cincinnati, and more!

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https://rmi.org/insight/coming-back-stronger