Our energy challenge in 6 eye-popping charts

Renewable energy is winning and coal is on the skids. Disruption of the fossil fuel industry is well under way, and the global energy system is being decarbonised. We’re right on track, right?

To avoid dramatic climate system tipping points, the world needs to decarbonise very quickly and start drawing down the level of carbon in the atmosphere, because it’s already unsafe. As one dramatic example, in past periods when greenhouse levels were similar to the current level, temperatures were 3–6°C higher and sea levels around 25–40 metres higher than in 1900.

So climate warming is now an existential risk to human civilisation, that is, an adverse outcome that would either annihilate intelligent life or permanently and drastically curtail its potential. It is now too late for incremental, measured steps to protect what we care about. Winning slowly is now the same as losing.

So how are we going with our energy system? It is the predominant source of the dramatic human-caused rise in the level of greenhouse gases, which over the last century has increased 70 percent, from 280 parts per million carbon dioxide equivalent (ppm CO2e) to 480 ppm CO2e.

Read the report from Climate Code Red - “Our energy challenge in 6 eye-popping charts.”

Peak car ownership will speed up peak oil demand

The car of the near future?

Technological innovation and disruption are relentlessly eating into traditional businesses, offering similar or superior service at a fraction of the cost. Uber’s spectacular rise challenging traditional taxi monopolies, of course, is everyone’s first example. Airbnb and countless others are doing the same to other established industries.

But Uber’s ultimate goal goes deeper than challenging taxi monopolies. It is about the future of mobility, especially in growing urban centers as described in 1 Oct 2016 issue of The Economist. The subject is Maas Global, a Finnish enterprise offering mobility-as-a-service or MaaS.

The future of mobility, according to The Economist article will be in developing intermodal yet integrated business models that allows typical passengers to get from point A to point B with speed, convenience and a reasonable cost. It highlights 2 major trends, among many others: “The new approach to transport as a service relies on two interconnected trends. The first is the spread of smartphones, which both generate the data required to manage a system that combines a wide variety of public and private transport options, and allow firms to offer the information via an app. They have already made navigating a city by public transport much easier. “Intelligent” journey planners, which use live information about congestion, disruption from accidents and the like to suggest the best route, are proliferating. Around 70% of Londoners regularly use an app such as Transport for London’s journey planner. Live travel information shows whether trains and buses are running on time.”

Read the EnergyPost story - “Peak car ownership will speed up peak oil demand.”

The hawks celebrate - the climate advocates weep

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ustralia’s hawks celebrate the spending of $1.3 billion to build energy voracious machines in Victoria’s Bendigo.

The energy-intensive $1.3 billion "Hawkei".

The Turnbull Government has announced that Australians, that’s you and me, will spend the money to build 1100 armoured four-wheel-drive “Hawkei” vehicles for the army with deliveries to start in 2019.

The “Hawkei” vehicles illustrate that Australia, well at least the Turnbull Government, has not at all changed the previous government’s policies to conflict.

And so what does that have to do with climate change?

Everything!

The go ahead to build these vehicles illustrates beyond doubt, that the Turnbull Government sees the solution to the world’s difficulties in conflict, when conflict, beyond the fact that people die, others have their lives seriously disrupted and entire communities are raised, is an interminably consumer of energy.

It is relatively easy to measure the embedded energy in each Hawkei, but it become somewhat more complex when considering the massive destruction of property; property that required energy to construct initially and will be a repeated cost when that urban building infrastructure is replaced.

If we are to have any chance of avoiding catastrophic climate change, the world community needs collaboration not conflict.

Read about the Hawkei announcement in today’s Age – “Turnbull government to spend $1.3 billion on Hawkei four-wheel-drives”.

Powerwall present 'biggest challenge' to Australia's power industry

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Tesla's "Powerwall".

he arrival of the Powerwall Tesla battery storage unit in Australia will herald the biggest challenge to Australia’s electricity industry for decades.

Tesla announced on Thursday that it is fast-tracking the roll-out of its battery storage product. Australia will be its first market for the 7kWh household units. The first deliveries had not been expected until well into 2017.

The Tesla Powerwall is not the first or even the cheapest battery storage maker to enter the Australian market but it is the most ubiquitous brand.

Read the Guardian story - “Tesla's Powerwall will give its first taste of disruption to Australia's energy market”.