POWERING SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION

As Vice Chairman of the Review Committee for the Zayed Future Energy Prize, I have had the chance to assess firsthand many great examples of renewable energy and emissions reducing technologies and solutions from SMEs & NGOs, large corporations and individuals from around the world.

In fact I was very encouraged to see that in addition to energy efficiency and carbon reduction initiatives, quite a few of this year’s submissions were from influential groups or organisations that advocate green transparency among companies around the world. What’s more, companies – particularly the larger ones that have been shortlisted for the Prize – are already accounting for their carbon footprint and notably taking action to reduce the same.

This is encouraging, but there’s still a long way to go till we reach that green dream! There’s a significant gap between the potential for deployment and impact of carbon reduction technologies – particularly CCS – and where we are at today.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies have the potential to achieve substantial reductions in global energy-related CO2 emissions, and dramatically slow down global warming – if deployed at a significant scale, in a timely manner and at competitive costs (essential to attracting firm and robust investments).

In fact, the International Energy Association (IEA) estimated that by 2050, CCS could reduce the total global energy-related CO2 emissions by 50%, and help meet the overall goal of keeping the global temperature increase below 2°C.

The technology and technical know-how exist. Whether it’s adding chemical scrubbers to existing coal or gas fired power plants, or building new plants that gasify the coal before burning it, or ‘carbon recycling’ (cap­ture and process the CO2) for onward use in industrial and energy and power generation applications that create a ‘closed loop’ carbon cycle – it is evident that we have the knowledge and there is a diversified portfolio of advanced technologies available.

Back in 2008, the G8 group (which includes the U.S., Russia and Japan) made plans to launch 20 large-scale CCS demonstration projects by 2010 with ‘broad deployment’ of the technology by 2020. Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported that governments worldwide committed some $22.5 billion to support CCS since the beginning of 2008.

The reality today is quite a different one compared to three years ago: one fifth of the world’s CCS projects have been delayed or cancelled according to the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute.

The odds appear to be stacked against CCS, but as with any new wide-reaching technology, this is due – to a large extent – to the fact that there’s currently no precedent to follow in this new emerging sector, no global operational framework adopted yet (no explicit policy that sets limits, and hence a price tag, on greenhouse gas emissions), and there’s a high degree of experimentation that comes with that.

Still, with all its challenges, no other technology comes close to matching the potential of CCS in the fight against global warming. The most pressing issues for CCS are in the research, development and demonstration (RD&D) & policy making area. The completion of several larger-scale demonstration plants over the next few years is critical for CCS to gain market share and become commercially viable.

How will we get there?

The climate crisis requires that we act now. For every five years of inaction, there’s an extra gigatonne of gas emissions waiting to be reduced.

The CCS industry stands to benefit from the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which can potentially stimulate growth and provides additional incentives for CCS projects around the world to become economically feasible.

No doubt, this is a prolific time for energy technologies. I think the critical factor lies in stronger collaboration and commitment between all the parties involved: governments and the private sector, the companies developing alternative carbon-capture approaches and the ones creating the infrastructure intended to sequestrate the carbon dioxide.

This is precisely what the Zayed Future Energy Prize aims to fuel globally: collaboration and a community of innovation, knowledge and best practice sharing.

I am a passionate supporter of the Prize and I am proud that the UAE has committed to taking a leadership role in renewable energy and sustainability, its role in the CCS sphere is particularly notable as the potential for the deployment of such technologies is tremendous, here and around the world.

I firmly believe that over the next few years CCS will emerge as an economically attractive technology for mitigating carbon emissions on a large scale, and I’m looking forward to hearing over the coming years about more and more new CCS solutions from the Zayed Future Energy Prize – the world’s stage for future energy innovations!

Bader Al Lamki is the Director of Masdar Carbon

Reading tributes from around the world to fallen tech hero, Apple’s Steve Jobs, two things are clear to me – his successor is likely to be in the clean energy sector and working somewhere other than the US.

I’m not saying Americans have lost their legendary inventive spirit, just that for every one working hard in Silicon Valley or MIT, I have met 50 innovative, inspirational thinkers from other nations. And most are tackling the greatest challenge to our environment and economy – securing sustainable, clean energy for the 7 billion people now living on earth and the 10 billion we’ll have by 2050. So where will solutions come from that will fundamentally alter how we harness, deliver, and use energy, just as Jobs fundamentally changed his industry? We’ll need to look towards Geneva, Beijing, and Abu Dhabi.

I recently spoke at the European Future Energy Forum in Geneva, Switzerland and was astonished by the number of clean energy innovators from all around the world gathering here, but especially surprised by the domestic companies. Solar energy leadership from a country that is shadowed by the Alps and covered in clouds and snow much of the year? Absolutely, because even in climates like this, these innovators are proving you can run homes, factories, and even yachts on nothing but energy from the sun.

Recently I toured the Tianjin “eco-city” near Beijing that is taking sustainability innovations from hundreds of inventors and putting them to work in a real world setting. It will take this kind of scale to commercialise disruptive technologies to bring down cost and teach more users about their benefits – much like Steve Jobs taught us all to use a smartphone.

Finally, every year in Abu Dhabi at the World Future Energy Summit, I have seen brilliant innovations showcased and adopted for use in all parts of the globe. Many of these technologies are also being proven at scale by the Masdar initiative there. Masdar, which means ‘the source’ in Arabic, is a new city that holistically integrates many different elements required for the rapid and agile R&D of renewable energies and sustainable living models.

The Summit has been the catalyst for awarding the United Arab Emirates’ world-renowned Zayed Future Energy Prize and, as a finalist myself in 2011, I saw firsthand the depth and breadth in ingenuity of my fellow entrants from all corners of the world and was reminded that good ideas will come from the most surprising people and places.

On a personal note, I was overwhelmed to learn that I have again been nominated for the 2012 Zayed Future Energy Prize. The great thing about this year’s award is that it highlights three categories fundamental to solving our future energy challenges – small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) & non-governmental organisations (NGOs), ndividuals, and large corporations.

Why does this matter? Working on sustainability initiatives for the state of California – the world’s eighth-largest economy, I learned that it requires a confluence of ideas from various individuals, companies and organisations, not just government alone, to make the transition from environment-friendly ideas to concrete, wide-reaching systemic change.

SMEs account for over 90% of business worldwide and drive both innovation and competition. NGOs are strong platforms for advocating renewable energy and sustainability ideas, while providing a reliable conduit between business, government, and communities. And, as our reflections on Steve Jobs remind us, never underestimate the power of the individual – especially one with a bright, innovative and truly disruptive idea.

As many have said, there’s no ‘silver bullet’ to achieving 100% clean, sustainable energy to power our world before the end of this century. Rather, it’s going to take the “silver buckshot” from all elements of society to achieve this necessary goal. But if we find and encourage the Steve Jobs of cleantech, wherever he or she may be today, I’m convinced this dream will soon be a reality.

By Terry Tamminen