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Battery manufacturing requires enormous amounts of energy and has important environmental implications. New research by Florian Degen and colleagues evaluates the energy consumption of current and future production of lithium-ion and post-lithium-ion batteries.
Hardware and non-hardware features affect the cost of technologies but evolve in different ways over time. Klemun et al. build a model to account for such evolution and analyse the case of photovoltaics.
Local zoning ordinances may impact wind and solar development in the United States. A new study finds that setbacks could reduce resource potential by up to 87% for wind and 38% for solar.
Emissions impacts of equitable energy demand reduction approaches are not well understood. A new study finds that capping energy use among top-quintile consumers in Europe achieves considerable emissions reductions.
Plugging and abandoning oil and gas wells is a growing priority. Here the authors estimate the associated costs for all oil and gas wells in US Gulf Coast offshore waters, coastal inland water and wetlands.
Russia has faced sanctions on its fossil energy exports since invading Ukraine, yet its nuclear industry has largely been overlooked. To explore Russia’s potential for influence through this sector, Szulecki and Overland analyse Russian nuclear power supplier Rosatom’s global project portfolio and the dependencies of countries on it.
Low-carbon energy technology startups play a role in accelerating decarbonization and form part of several countries’ development strategies. This study characterizes the landscape of such startups in India, finding that market-creation policy should be complemented with long-term measures to strengthen technological capability.
Micromobility solutions such as e-bikes or e-scooters are rapidly changing urban travel patterns and behaviours. Asensio et al. use travel data from the city of Atlanta, which introduced a No Ride Zone, and uncover trade-offs between public safety policy and traffic congestion.
Many countries are considering tax cuts on petrol and diesel in the wake of fuel price surges following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here, the authors find that such a tax cut in the EU would increase Russian oil profits, and model the impact a cash transfer to citizens would have instead.
Realizing the full potential of clean cooking transitions requires an understanding of fuel stacking in which multiple fuels and stoves are used. Towards this end, Perros et al. analyse the literature on clean cooking interventions through a behavioural model and identify underlying drivers of stacking.
Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising candidates to store hydrogen for transportation, but less focus has been on their potential for storage in large-scale, stationary applications. Here Peng et al. perform techno-economic analysis and process modelling to evaluate the prospects of MOFs for back-up power.
Providing reliable, sustainable and clean energy in humanitarian contexts is increasingly important but a lack of data on settlements impedes progress. Here, Baldi et al. present a database and analytical tools for 288 refugee settlements in sub-Saharan Africa that can support renewable energy deployment decisions.
As renewable energy technology costs fall, there are increasing calls to remove policy support. Pahle et al. examine the impacts of such a move combined with higher interest rates in the European Union, and find that resulting higher financing could double long-term carbon prices and halve the rate of capacity deployment in the next 15 years.
To decarbonise the shipping sector, a deeper understanding of the suitability of carbon-neutral fuels is required. Here, the authors assess the techno-economics of a variety of energy carriers in terms of their ability to power the bulk shipping fleet in Europe.
Policy effort has been put into pollution reduction from both coal-fired electricity and domestic solid fuel burning in China; however, the former has attracted greater research and funding. Li and colleagues now show that the more toxic pollution from residential combustion may be responsible for greater health impacts than coal electricity.
A just energy transition requires consideration of the needs of all people, yet disabled people are often overlooked. Ivanova and Middlemiss analyse the energy use of disabled households in the European Union, finding that on average they consume less energy and are more likely to experience energy poverty.
Billions of people still rely on polluting fuels like wood or charcoal for cooking, which impacts health and livelihoods, despite efforts to transition to cleaner fuels. This Analysis integrates a comparison of supply- and demand-side factors that determine cooking fuel use among peri-urban households in Cameroon, Kenya and Ghana.
Achieving ambitious climate goals requires the development of new technologies at rapid pace. Probst et al. analyse global patent data and find that a growth period of inventions from 1995 to 2012 was followed by a decline of ~6% annually, while invention remains concentrated in just a few countries.
Many socioeconomic growth and low-emission energy scenarios do not consider impacts on clean cooking access and have yet to account for the COVID pandemic. Pachauri et al. now examine how clean cooking access evolves under various scenarios post COVID and find the need for policy focused on increasing access more urgent.
Techno-economic studies of photovoltaic solar cells recycling and reuse often do not take into account the impact of social factors. Walzberg et al. use an agent-based model to estimate the quantitative impact of behavioural choices on photovoltaic recycling efficacy.