Singapore - Photo credit, Monikawl1999 & Free Images - Pixabay

Welcome to the thirty-fourth edition of my weekly blog where I take a closer look at the policies adopted by individual countries in their efforts to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Particular attention is paid to the role that Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) research and technologies are playing in the drive to meet these requirements.

Introduction
Singapore ranks 14th highest under Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and has been in and out of the top 20 ranked countries in this biennial index since its inception in January 2006. ‘Water and Sanitation’, ‘Water Resources’ and ‘Climate and Energy’ were the sub-categories where Singapore’s performance was best.

Paris Agreement Targets
As part of its signup to the Paris climate accord, Singapore pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions by 36% of 2005 levels by 2030. In June 2017, the US announced that they were withdrawing from the Paris climate accord. Following this news, Singapore moved swiftly to re-confirm the country’s commitment to its Paris Agreement target.

Electricity Generation
We mentioned in the introduction that Singapore scored highest in three sub-categories of the EPI index in 2016, including ‘Climate and Energy. Zooming in further within this sub-category reveals that Singapore scored highest in ‘Access to Electricity’ within this area. Access to electricity is always of strategic importance to a high performing economy, the question is what are the sources of this electricity?

In 2003 the fuel mix for electricity generation in Singapore was 61% natural gas, 36% petroleum, and 3% other. Since then, the natural gas proportion of the overall mix has climbed steadily and for the three most recent years 2014 – 2016 it was 95% of the overall figure. This helps explain Singapore’s relatively low carbon intensity levels as natural gas is almost twice as clean as coal and roughly 40% cleaner than diesel fuel.

National Climate Change Secretariat (NCCS)
In 2011, Singapore’s NCCS in partnership with the National Research Foundation (NRF) developed ‘Technology Primers’ in areas such as CCUS, smart grid, solar energy etc. in order to develop an understanding of how these technologies could enable a more efficient and cleaner delivery of energy to the economy.
Following on from the identification of “Technology Primers’, NCCS and NRF built technology roadmaps to help tackle climate change and energy problems. These roadmaps will inform government funding and planning up to 2030 in the following areas:

• CCUS;
• Solar Photovoltaic;
• Green Data Centre;
• Building Energy Efficiency;
• Industry Energy Efficiency;
• Waste Management; and
• E-Mobility.

The CCUS roadmap found that Singapore does not have suitable sites for the storage of carbon. Because of this and the fact that 95% of electricity is generated at gas-fueled power plants, carbon utilisation appears to be a more viable and practical option. Converting carbon into liquid fuels was identified as an area where Singapore can find a market demand for any fuels produced by this method.

Summary
Singapore is one the highest ranked countries in Yale’s EPI index and more specifically in the area of ‘Climate and Energy’. The country’s government has reiterated its commitment to the Paris climate accord following the withdrawal of the US from the agreement. The country has put a lot of thought and money into the development of technology primers and roadmaps that provide a clear path towards reducing its GhG emissions by 36% of 2005 levels over the next dozen years or so. Because electricity is almost exclusively generated by natural gas, opportunities in the area of CCUS are limited because of the use of cleaner fuels.

Next week’s blog will take a look at how companies are capturing CO2 and converting it into Urea.

​If you liked this article you might enjoy reading some recent articles in the series:
Week 33 New Zealand: Cows and cars could cost Kiwi economy NZ$14.2b in carbon credits
Week 32 Polymers: creating plastic out of thin air
Week 31 France: The electricity generation dilemma, retrofits and politics

Lake Wakatipu, Otago, New Zealand - Photo credit, Barni1 & Free Images - Pixabay
Welcome to the thirty-third edition of my weekly blog where I take a closer look at the policies adopted by individual countries in their efforts to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Particular attention is paid to the role that Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) research and technologies are playing in the drive to meet these requirements.
Introduction
Having examined how CO2 emissions can be converted into polymers last week, I’m returning to my country-by-country analysis and this week is the turn of New Zealand.
New Zealand ranks 11th highest under Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and has consistently being a top 20 ranking country in this biennial index since its inception in January 2006.
Paris Agreement Targets
New Zealand’s Paris Agreement target is to reduce greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions by 11% of 1990 levels by 2030. In 2015, GhG emissions were over 24% higher compared with 1990 levels. New Zealand has longer-term aspirations to be a ‘zero-carbon nation’ by 2050.
However, the climate action tracker is less optimistic about New Zealand reaching its 2020 targets and rates their goal of reducing GhG by 11% of 1990 levels by 2030 as insufficient. It cited among other things the target itself not doing enough to help contribute to the Paris Agreement’s overall objective of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius. It highlighted a reliance on the purchase of carbon credits, and that emissions from transport and agriculture are expected to rise. It also pointed to the inclusion of forestry sector data if allowed as a way to artificially reduce the overall emissions figures.
GhG Emissions by Sector
According to environmental statistics published by the New Zealand government, gross GhG emissions increased by 24% between 1990 – 2015. New Zealand emitted 80 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2015, the highest emitting sectors were agriculture and transport with 48% and 41% of the total amount.
New Zealand is one the largest milk producing countries in the world and is home to Fonterra a global dairy company with NZ$19.2 Billion in turnover in 2017. Between 1990 and 2015, New Zealand’s national dairy herd (methane emissions) increased by almost 90% and grass fertilising increased five-fold (nitrogen emissions).
2015 Road vehicle emissions were 80% higher compared with 1990 levels and accounted for 37% of CO2 emissions from the energy sector. The use of fossil fuels in the manufacturing and construction industry represented a further 19% of energy sector emissions in 2015 with 11% of emissions coming from the generation of electricity. Over 85% of electricity generated in 2016 was sourced from renewable energy such as hydro.
CCUS
In 2013, the University of Waikato published a research report entitled “Carbon Capture and Storage: Designing the Legal and Regulatory Framework for New Zealand”. The focus of the report was primarily on the injection phase of carbon capture and storage (CCS) and the adequacy of existing laws. The report found that the existing laws did not sufficiently deal with long-term events, post-closure of CCS sites. The new act that the report proposed addressed the failings in existing legislation and recommended the provision of permits for CCS activities offshore and onshore. The permits would be both site-specific and performance-based.
Summary
New Zealand’s rapid growth in dairy production and transport vehicle use over the past 25 years has led to a 24% rise in gross GhG emissions. A briefing document to the incoming Energy Minister in 2016 estimated hat meeting Paris Agreement targets could cost the economy NZ$14.2b over ten years, or NZ$1.4b per annum if domestic emissions are not addressed. One way of dealing with this is the adoption of a smart farming initiative similar to Ireland where a 10% reduction in CO2 emissions has been realised. However, as part of the new coalition government’s negotiations, the New Zealand First party has secured that 95% subsidies for the agriculture sector in the emissions charges. This will be a popular move among the farming community who vehemently opposed a ‘fart tax’ in 2003.
Another solution to the problem is increasing the proportion of electric vehicles on New Zealand roads as 85% of electricity generated in 2016 was from renewable sources. The New Zealand rail infrastructure is also inefficient due to the long and narrow shape of the North and South Islands. A recent South Island earthquake damaged 150km of railway line leaving behind the ‘biggest South Island railway project in generations’.
Next week’s blog will profile Singapore and their efforts to meet their CO2 emissions reduction targets.

​If you liked this article you might enjoy reading some recent articles in the series:
Week 32 Polymers: creating plastic out of thin air
Week 31 France: The electricity generation dilemma, retrofits and politics
Week 30 Malta: The Italian Interconnector job

Paris - Photo credit, Bogitw & Free Images - Pixabay
Welcome to the thirty-first edition of my weekly blog where I take a closer look at the policies adopted by individual countries in their efforts to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Particular attention is paid to the role that Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) research and technologies are playing in the drive to meet these requirements.
Introduction
France ranks tenth highest under Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) for 2016. Improvements in the ‘Air Quality’ and ‘Agriculture’ sub-category scores helped contribute to the nation’s climb up the ranking scale from 27th position in the previous ranking in 2014. 2014 was the only time France placed outside the top 10 in this biennial index since its inception in 2006.
Paris Agreement Targets
COP21 took place in Paris in December 2015 and during the conference, the ‘Paris Climate Accord’ or ‘Paris Agreement’ was negotiated and agreed upon by the participating countries.
France takes its individual country commitments towards meeting the Paris agreement extremely seriously. Along with Germany and Sweden, France is one of three EU countries expected to meet its Paris Agreement targets according to an ‘EU Climate Leaderboard’developed by ‘Carbon Market Watch’ and ‘Transport & Environment’.
France plans to surpass its country target of 37% emissions reduction by 2030 and is committed to longer-term targets also. In July 2017, France’s Environment Minister, Nicolas Hulot announced that the country will ban the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2040.
Electricity Generation
According to statistics from RTE France, France’s transmission system operator, 76% of electricity generated in France in 2015 was sourced from Nuclear fuel. Hydro and fossil fuels accounted for the majority of the remaining 24%, with 11% and 6% respectively. Electricity generated from solar energy and bio-energy only accounted for 1% each of the total figure. Looking back at 2014 and 2013 figures, the split by fuel type is similar, nuclear was the dominant contributor, followed by hydro and fossil fuels, with solar and bio-energy barely making an impact.
GE and EDF
French utility giant EDF is building a gas-fired power plant in Bouchain, France using GE’s 9HA.01 combined-cycle gas turbine. The plant has a record-breaking 62.2% combined cycle efficiency rate at full load compared with 42 – 45% efficiency for a coal-fired plant that has been retrofitted with modern technology.The plant has the capacity to power over 680,000 homes.
The plant can be fully operational in less than 30 minutes from a cold start compared with a minimum of two hours and up to 12 hours for a coal-fired plant. This is important because the plant can respond to dips in electricity supply to the grid from solar/wind energy and satisfy the electricity demand, thus ensuring a more consistent supply of electricity to the grid.
Total – The Lacq CCS Pilot Project
Total established a CCUS pilot project at the Lacq industrial complex, in the French Pyrenees. The pilot was developed by retrofitting an air boiler with an oxy-combustion boiler. The oxy-combustion boiler replaces air with pure oxygen so that the exhaust gases contain a concentrated stream of CO2, making capture feasible.
The captured CO2 was transported 30 km off-site to the Rousse natural gas field where it was injected 4.5km beneath the surface. The last injection of CO2 took place in 2013. Since then the site and area have been monitored to ensure that no leaks of CO2 have occurred.
Summary
France is over-reliant on nuclear energy as a source of electricity generation. However, any plans to replace nuclear fuel with wind or gas energy are not straightforward. Its rainbow government of ministers representing multiple political ideologies makes it difficult for President Macron to implement his predecessor’s policy to reduce electricity generation from nuclear to 50%.
Nuclear itself is a low carbon fuel, wind energy requires backup supply sources and switching to gas would result in a requirement to import from Russia or the Middle-East. The retrofitting of fossil fuel powered plants with cleaner technologies provides France with additional options to work with.
Thanks to Douglas Alexander Williamson for the review comments.
Next week’s blog will take a look at how companies are capturing CO2 and converting it into Polymers.

If you liked this article you might enjoy reading some recent articles in the series:
Week 30 Malta: the Italian interconnector job.
Week 29 Liquid Fuels: converting waste into energy.
Week 28 Estonia: how restoring bogs is helping reduce emissions

Maltese church - Photo credit, Efraimstochter & Free Images - Pixabay
Welcome to the thirtieth edition of my weekly blog where I take a closer look at the policies adopted by individual countries in their efforts to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Particular attention is paid to the role that Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) research and technologies are playing in the drive to meet these requirements.
Introduction
Having examined how the conversion of carbon into liquid fuels can reduce CO2 emissions last week, I’m returning to my country-by-country analysis and this week I’m focusing on the Mediterranean Island nation of Malta.
Malta ranks ninth highest under Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and this is the first time that the country has placed in the top 10 since the index’s inception in January 2006. Looking at some of the index sub-categories, Malta ranks first overall for ‘water and sanitation’ and sixth for ‘fisheries’. Malta’s lowest subcategory ranking is for ‘agriculture’ where it placed 141st overall due to inefficient nitrogen use.
Paris Agreement Targets
As part of the “EU Climate and Energy Package Effort Sharing targets for 2013 – 2020”, Malta has agreed to keep CO2 emissions increases within 5% above 2005 levels by 2020. Malta was also one of the first countries in the world to sign the Paris Agreement in 2016.
Electricity Generation
According to 2015 Eurostat statistics for ‘electricity generated from renewable sources as a % of gross electricity consumption’, Malta ranks lowest in the EU with just 4.2% of their electricity consumption coming from renewables. This was well below the EU-28 average of 28.8%. Although 4.2% is an extremely low figure in proportionate terms, in absolute terms, Malta has made good progress in a short space of time with generation from renewables increasing from 25,609 megawatt-hours in 2012 to 103,540 megawatt-hours in 2015.
In 2015, CO2 emissions from power plants fell by also 50% compared with 2014. The reason for this large reduction was due to the fact that 50% of electricity consumed in Malta in 2015 was imported via an interconnector from Italy for the first time. This was a positive step as Malta’s power plants were ranked among the dirtiest in the world with the worst air quality according to research by Yale in 2015.
Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS)
From a CCUS viewpoint, in 2013, a Norwegian CCS company called Sargas claimed that Malta could capture up to 85% of its CO2 emissions using GE gas turbines along with their CCS technology. Sargas’ plans included constructing a gas-fired power plant where the captured carbon would be converted to potash and then sold to concrete companies at EUR 40 – 60 per tonne. A KPMG report commissioned by the Ministry of Finance at the time could not verify this market rate for the by-product.
Summary
Malta has been slow to embrace renewable energy as a source of electricity generation and is only producing energy from this source in earnest since 2012. At that time, Maltese power plants were among the dirtiest in the world from an air quality point of view. CCUS was investigated as a potential solution to this problem, however the Malta-Sicily interconnector, in operation since early 2015, now supplies roughly 50% of electricity consumed in Malta.
As Malta gradually increases its electricity generation from domestic renewables, it can import electricity from the Italian market as a substitute for its carbon-intensive power plants. The interconnector can also help reduce the overall cost of energy to the Maltese economy which is strategically important towards enabling economic growth.
Next week’s blog will profile France and their efforts to meet their CO2 emissions reduction targets.

​If you liked this article you might enjoy reading some recent articles in the series:
Week 29 Liquid Fuels: converting waste into energy.
Week 28 Estonia: how restoring bogs is helping reduce emissions.
Week 27 Portugal: how Portugal will become carbon neutral by 2050.