Notices by Jan Rosenow (janrosenow@mastodon.energy)

Heat pumps are the most efficient heating technology ever invented.

They provide 4x more heat for the same energy input.

That’s because they use the energy input to compress and transport pre-existing renewable heat rather than burn a fossil fuel.

Cold climate heat pumps have arrived.

Even down to -25C some models still deliver heat with an efficiency superior to fossil fuel heating systems.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2024/11/14/cold-climate-heat-pump-winter/

Crazy fact:

Even if you just installed a new gas boiler ripping it out and replacing it with a heat pump makes sense from a carbon perspective.

Carbon emissions associated with manufacturing the boiler and the heat pump are offset in less than 2 years.

After that the heat pump will save carbon year on year.

More here 👇

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-18-misleading-myths-about-heat-pumps/

Most people don’t know this.

Heat pumps REDUCE gas consumption even if running 100% on electricity from a gas fired power plant.

More here in my article 👇

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-18-misleading-myths-about-heat-pumps/

Already today with the current electricity mix in the UK heat pumps reduce fossil fuel consumption 4x compared to gas boilers.

Nice visual from @emberclimate

No we don’t have to replace all fossil primary energy.

We only have to replace the useful energy with clean energy using much more efficient technologies.

We don’t need to replace the wasted fossil energy. We can avoid the inefficiency in the first place.

BloombergNEF and Energy Transitions Commission anticipate that more sectors will decarbonise via electrification rather than hydrogen.

That’s because electrification costs are falling faster and hydrogen costs are not dropping as expected previously.

https://www.hydrogeninsight.com/production/we-overestimated-how-much-hydrogen-the-world-would-need-to-reach-net-zero-analysts-admit/2-1-1728262

The world's grid-scale battery storage capacity grew by 120.8% from 2022 to 2023, which puts us on track to reach the International Energy Agency (IEA)’s target of 1300 GW of battery storage by 2030.

China now has nearly half the world's battery storage capacity, growing 249.1% from 2022-2023. The U.S. comes in second place with 28.3% of the world's capacity, which grew by 70% from the previous year.

Cold-climate heat pumps are coming.

8 manufacturers that took part in DOE Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump Challenge now take new products to market.

These heat pumps reliably delivered heat even during coldest winter months, with some units operating down to -26C still meeting energy efficiency requirements.

https://electrek.co/2024/10/24/seriously-good-cold-climate-heat-pumps-are-headed-to-the-us-market/

HOT OFF THE PRESS: Grids, grids, grids – how ready are European power networks for the energy transition?

GLOBSEC releases its first grids transition index.

Of course any index is subjective and incomplete but hopefully this analysis will stimulate productive discussions to resolve the challenges we face.

For full disclosure: I’m on GLOBSEC’s Energy Advisory Committee but have not been part of the team writing the report.

Full report here: https://www.globsec.org/what-we-do/publications/globsec-grid-transition-index-2024

The EU's grid just keeps getting greener and greener.

The grid is now significantly cleaner than a decade ago.

Data @emberclimate

It’s done.

This is the moment Britains last remaining coal power station came off the electricity system for the final time, marking the end of 142 years of coal generating electricity in Great Britain.

HT National Grid ESO

Fun fact: There are >10,000x more public EV chargers in the UK than hydrogen refuelling stations.

Only 6 hydrogen refuelling stations remain with almost 70,000 public EV chargers covering the country.

Most of the energy debate is focused on the tip of the iceberg - electricity.

But almost 80% of our energy use is for heat and transport relying heavily on fossil fuels.

Decarbonisation requires an all-sector approach.

In about 200 hours the final coal power plant in the UK, Ratcliffe-on-Soar, shuts down for good.

Not that long ago coal provided 40% of UK electricity.

Global wind power installations reached a new high in 2023, increasing renewable energy’s share of total power generation to 30%.

Who are the leading countries?

This graphic highlights the top 15 countries by total installed wind turbine capacity, based on data from the Energy Institute’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2024 report.

After years and years of media reports that coal is having a comeback in the UK the last coal plant will go offline in just 2 weeks.

Coal in the UK is no more.

Credit for graph to Ketan Joshi.

After years and years of media reports that coal is having a comeback in the UK the last coal plant will go offline in just 2 weeks.

Coal in the UK is no more.

Credit for graph to @ketan

The use of gas will decline dramatically as part of the transition to net zero. Modelling at European level shows that by 2050 about 70% less gaseous fuels will be used.

But if fewer and fewer people use gas, how is the decline of the system managed, who pays for it and how does this work support a rapid energy transition?

Sign up for my talk at the University of Oxford here 👇

https://www.energy.ox.ac.uk/events/event/energy-seminar-week-8-gas-in-decline-what-to-do-with-the-gas-grid-when-we-no-longer-need-it/

THIS IS A HUGE ACHIEVEMENT:

The EU now generates more electricity from wind and solar than from fossil fuels.

Graph from Nat Bullard and data from Ember.