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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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Fact check: New report on renewable portfolio standards misses the mark

The University of Chicago (UCH) released a “working paper” this week examining renewable portfolio standards (RPSs). Unfortunately, it’s based on false pretenses and uses a questionable economic model to claim RPSs are substantially more costly to consumers than previously thought. While it is important to understand the effectiveness and impacts of these programs, the authors’ use of unrealistic assumptions and faulty logic leads to biased estimates that don’t align with real-world outcomes.

Renewable Portfolio Standards and their benefits

RPSs are state-level policies that require electric utilities to gradually increase the amount of renewable energy they deliver to their customers. They are proven policies with long track records of success. Evidence shows using more renewable energy to meet state electricity demand has a minimal impact on, and in many cases reduces, electricity prices.

Beyond electricity prices, RPSs have also been shown to bring far-reaching benefits to consumers, which the UCH paper fails to account for. For example, a 2017 Lawrence Berkeley National Lab (LBNL) report estimated existing RPS policies will generate $258 billion in health and environmental benefits from reduced air pollution and create 4.7 million job-years of employment. Factors like these are notably absent from the new paper.

The working paper, entitled “Do Renewable Portfolio Standards Deliver,” takes a simplified approach to a complex question. The authors argue that previous analyses of RPS cost impacts are not robust because they do not account for all costs associated with an RPS program. While it is true that a comprehensive “net-benefit” analysis would provide a clearer picture of RPS program costs and effectiveness, the authors stop painfully short of achieving this by looking only at costs while ignoring critical benefits of RPS programs.

Where the new paper falls short

The authors claim there are three key cost categories not included in prior RPS analyses. Unfortunately, all three of these categories are rooted in commonly misunderstood renewable energy myths.

First, the authors argue the intermittency of wind and solar energy resources requires the construction of “back-up” capacity, leading to greater costs for ratepayers. The truth is, grid operators already maintain reserve generation to back up all sources of energy, including large fossil fuel and nuclear plants that can unexpectedly trip offline, causing a rapid drop in available capacity. In fact, grid operator data from Texas has shown that the cost of reserves needed to back up conventional power plants is far larger than the cost to back up wind generation.

Furthermore, using their sophisticated controls and power electronics, modern wind and solar plants can provide many of the grid reliability services as conventional power plants. Grid operators have a century’s worth of experience balancing changes in electricity supply and demand, and because wind’s output can be predicted reasonably well 24 to 48 hours ahead of time, it’s much easier to accommodate changes in wind than when a large, centralized power plant unexpectedly fails.

Second, the authors point to increased costs from added transmission infrastructure needed to support RPS-incentivized renewable energy development. While it is true that strengthening our grid resources comes at a cost, evidence shows transmission upgrades more than pay for themselves in the long run due to increased reliability, reduced congestion and many other economic benefits. For example, when the 2018 Polar Vortex brought record low temperatures to the Midwest, interregional transmission lines delivered electricity from PJM to MISO, helping to keep the lights and heat on in MISO during peak demand hours. This shows the value of the geographic diversity of energy sources paired with a well-connected grid, creating a more resilient overall system.

Transmission also benefits all energy sources and gives consumers access to the lowest-cost power while enhancing reliability. The American Society of Civil Engineers rates the country’s electric grid an unacceptable D+, hardly adequate to support a competitive economy and today’s modern technology. Transmission expansion and grid updates are necessary across the board, and the University of Chicago paper ignores this reality.

Lastly, the authors claim that increased renewable energy development leads to premature retirement of coal and nuclear plants, which in turn imposes costs on ratepayers. Although it is true that premature retirements may come at a cost, market data shows that it is often low natural gas prices, and not renewable energy development, that renders coal and nuclear plants less competitive.

Besides using the faulty logic explained above to justify their analysis, multiple economists quickly identified serious flaws and unrealistic assumptions used in the analysis, which cause the RPS cost estimates to be inflated. For example:

It appears to me that the paper analyzes effects (on generation mix, CO2 emissions) on a per-state basis. But RPS laws don't work that way. Most have regional effects, since they don't generally have state-specific requirements.

— Ari Peskoe (@AriPeskoe) April 22, 2019

Treating all RPS policies as same & estimating their average effect is a bit like treating 29 patients with a dozen similar but distinct drugs, each using different doses, and then trying to say something about the average effect of all of the treatments. What does that tell us?

— JesseJenkins (@JesseJenkins) April 22, 2019

Was it one particular drug that was most effective, while others had no effect? Did some drugs hurt while others helped? Looking at an average treatment effect for heterogeneous treatments makes it impossible to say.

— JesseJenkins (@JesseJenkins) April 22, 2019

By design, an RPS does not hand pick a technology; rather all renewables are able to compete, incentivizing cost reductions and efficiency gains. As a result, RPS policies encourage the growth of additional homegrown electricity sources that diversify our energy portfolios, spur local economic development, reduce pollution, cut water consumption, and save consumers money.

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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Nevada is the fourth US state to commit to 100 percent clean energy

Nevada is joining the growing list of U.S. places that aim to ban fossil fuels from its electricity supply. from Renewable Energy News RSS Feed http://bit.ly/2ICudnG from Blogger http://bit.ly/2GCtm3Z http://bit.ly/2GCtm3Z https://ift.tt/eA8V8J doe, electricity solar energy, power, Renewable Energy News RSS Feed

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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Dominion Energy & Facebook Announce 350 Megawatts Of New Solar

American power and energy company Dominion Energy announced in conjunction with Facebook on Monday that it would add six new solar facilities in Virginia and North Carolina totaling 350 megawatts (MW) for the sole purpose of supplying electricity to Facebook's local operations. from CleanTechnica http://bit.ly/2VjX2eu from Blogger http://bit.ly/2GAXGMk http://bit.ly/2GAXGMk http://bit.ly/2IQL5q0 CleanTechnica

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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NextEra: 'tremendous growth' in US wind and solar opportunities

The leading renewable power generator's backlog of contracted projects exceeds 5.8GW of capacity for 2019-2020 delivery from www.rechargenews.com http://bit.ly/2IClnGA from Blogger http://bit.ly/2IQL3hS http://bit.ly/2IQL3hS https://ift.tt/eA8V8J www.rechargenews.com

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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Happy Belated Earth Day

As we oldsters celebrated Earth Day yesterday, our minds went back to 1970, at the height of the U.S. protest movement, and rising dissatisfaction with the environmental abuses of the modern world. It was in this context that senator and Wisconsin governor of Gaylord Nelson conceived the idea of Earth Day, explaining, “Our goal is not just an environment of clean air and water and scenic beauty. The objective is an environment of decency, quality and mutual respect for all other human beings and all other living creatures….(the environment) involves the whole broad spectrum of man’s relationship to all other living creatures, including other human beings.”

The goal here, of course, was to create such a groundswell of eco-responsibility that the entire industrial and consumer-driven world would make wholesale changes in the way it functions, and begin to operate in balance and harmony with the natural world. But here we are, half a century later, looking around us and trying to assess both where we are and where we must go. What level of progress we are actually making? How well is this civilization dealing with the threat of catastrophic climate change, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and the rise of disease associated with environmental pollution?

To answer that question, I present here are the results of an imaginary poll, i.e., what I personally would expect from a survey of a random sample of Americans:

Don’t know: 20%

Don’t care; don’t think these are important issues: 15%

Well; good progress is being made; I’m optimistic about the outcome: 15%

Poorly; we’re doomed; I’m pessimistic; A business-as-usual approach is in the process of causing catastrophe, but I feel powerless to do anything about it: 50%

Again, just a guess.

Of course, this breaks down according the usual demographics. For example, educated people are less likely to say they “don’t know.” People who spend a good deal of time reading about the subject as are (by definition) less likely to say they “don’t care.”

A reminder to both optimists and pessimists, i.e., people who think they know how this is going to turn out: Maybe it’s too soon to know. Maybe it’s a function of important though unforeseeable events in the near future that galvanize the entirely of civilization and make the so-called “business-as-usual” approach untenable. Perhaps it will depend on how many people get on board and join the environmental movement. The crystal ball I keep in my bedroom closet as my go-to resource in such circumstances seems to be out of order.

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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State of the climate: Heat across Earth’s surface and oceans mark early 2019

Global surface temperatures in 2019 are on track to be either the second or third warmest since records began in the mid-1800s, behind only 2016 and possibly 2017.

On top of the long-term warming trend, temperatures in 2019 have been buoyed by a moderate El Niño event that is likely to persist through the rest of the year.

That’s one of the key findings from Carbon Brief’s latest “state of the climate” report, a quarterly series on global climate data that now includes temperatures, ocean heat, sea levels, greenhouse gas concentrations, climate model performance and polar ice.

Ocean heat content (OHC) set a new record in early 2019, with more warmth in the oceans than at any time since OHC records began in 1940.

The latest data shows that the level of the world’s oceans continued to rise in 2019, with sea levels around 8.5 centimetres (cm) higher than in the early 1990s.

Atmospheric methane concentrations have increased at an accelerating rate, reaching record highs in recent months, though scientists are divided on the cause of this trend.

Arctic sea ice is currently at a record low for this time of year. Antarctic sea ice set new record lows in January, and is currently at the low end of the historical range.

Third warmest start to a year

Global surface temperatures are recorded and reported by a number of different international groups, including NASA, NOAA, Met Office Hadley Centre/UEA, Berkeley Earth and Cowtan and Way. Copernicus/ECMWF also produces a surface temperature estimate based on a combination of measurements and a weather model – an approach known as “reanalysis”.

The chart below compares the annual global surface temperatures from these different groups since 1970 – or 1979 in the case of Copernicus/ECMWF. The coloured lines show the temperature for each year, while the dots on the right-hand side show the year-to-date estimate for January through March 2019. Values are shown relative to a common baseline period, the 1981-2010 average temperature for each series. Surface temperature records have shown around 0.86C warming since the year 1970, a warming rate of about 0.19C per decade.

Year-to-date values are only shown for NASA, NOAA, and Copernicus as data for March is not yet available from the UK Hadley Centre, which also prevents the Berkeley Earth and Cowtan and Way records from being released. The year-to-date values in this chart will be updated when that data becomes available.

Annual global mean surface temperatures from NASA GISTEMP, NOAA GlobalTemp, Hadley/UEA HadCRUT4, Berkeley Earth, Cowtan and Way and Copernicus/ECMWF (lines), along with 2019 temperatures to-date (January-March, coloured dots). Anomalies plotted with respect to a 1981-2010 baseline. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

Based on temperatures in the first quarter, 2019 is likely to be the second or third warmest year on record for all of the surface temperature series. However, with only three months of 2019 available so far it is not out of the question that it could be the warmest year – or as cool as the fourth warmest on record.

The figure below shows how temperatures to-date compare to prior years in the NASA GISTEMP dataset (using its new version 4). It shows the temperature of the year-to-date for each month of the year, from January through the full annual average.

Year-to-date temperatures for each month from 2012 to 2019 from NASA GISTemp. Anomalies plotted with respect to a 1981-2010 baseline. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

In the NASA dataset, 2019 has had the third warmest January-March average on record, after the record warm years of 2016 and 2017. However, while both of those years had cooler temperatures in the summer and autumn, this year may see a weak El Niño help current warmth persist. As a result, it is likely that 2019 will end up as the second warmest on record in the NASA dataset.

The first three months of 2019 have already been modestly warmed by a weak El Niño event. The majority of forecast models expect weak El Niño conditions to persist for the remainder of 2019, with sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific around between 0.5C and 1C above the recent average.

El Niño and La Niña events – collectively referred to as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO – are the main driver of year-to-year variation on top of the long-term surface warming trend. ENSO events are characterised by fluctuations in temperature between the ocean and atmosphere in the tropical Pacific, which help to make some years warmer and some cooler.

The figure below shows a range of ENSO forecast models produced by different scientific groups, with the average for each type of models shown by thick red, blue and green lines. Positive values above 0.5C reflect El Niño conditions, while negative values below -0.5 reflect La Niña conditions.

El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecast models for three-month periods in the Niño3.4 region (February, March, April – FMA – and so on), taken from the CPC/IRI ENSO forecast.

In general, El Niño periods tend to be warmer than other months, with the large warm patch in the tropical east Pacific transferring extra heat to the atmosphere. Similarly, La Niña events cool global temperatures. In both cases the effects tend to have a bit of a lag: the effect on global temperatures is small at the beginning of the event, and larger by the end – or slightly after.

Comparing climate models with observations

Climate models provide physics-based estimates of future warming given different assumptions about future emissions, greenhouse gas concentrations and other climate-influencing factors.

Model estimates of temperatures prior to 2005 are a “hindcast” using known past climate influences, while temperatures projected after 2005 are a “forecast” based on an estimate of how things might change.

The figure below shows the range of individual models forecasts featured in the IPCC fifth assessment report – known collectively as the CMIP5 models – between 1970 and 2020 with grey shading and the average projection across all the models shown in black. Individual observational temperature records are represented by coloured lines.

Annual global average surface temperatures from CMIP5 models and observations between 1970 and 2020. Models use RCP4.5 forcings after 2005. They include sea surface temperatures over oceans and surface air temperatures over land to match what is measured by observations. Anomalies plotted with respect to a 1970-2000 baseline. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

While global temperatures were running a bit below the pace of warming projected by climate models between 2005 and 2014, the last few years have been pretty close to the model average. This is particularly true for globally-complete temperature records such as NASA, Berkeley Earth and the Copernicus reanalysis that include temperature estimates for the full arctic. Temperatures were warmer than the multimodel average during the 2015-16 super-El Niño event and were a bit cooler during the 2018 La Niña. In recent months, temperatures have been ticking back upward.

Ocean heat content at a record high

Human-emitted greenhouse gases trap extra heat in the atmosphere. While some of this warms the Earth’s surface, the vast majority – upwards of 90% – goes into the oceans. Most of this accumulates in the top 700 metres, but some is also mixed into the deep oceans.

Ocean heat content (OHC) estimates between 1940 and the present day for both the upper 700m (light blue shading) and 700m-2000m (dark blue) depths of the ocean are shown in the chart below.

Monthly global ocean heat content (in zettajoules – billion trillion joules, or 10^21 joules) for the 0-700 metre and 700-2000 metre layers. Data from Cheng et al 2017, updated through March 2019. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

The first few months of 2019 have set new records for OHC, with a particularly pronounced jump in February and March 2019. Dr Lijing Cheng, an associate professor at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in China and the lead researcher on the OHC dataset, tells Carbon Brief that the unusual jump was concentrated “below 300m at around 40N in the Atlantic Ocean”. He cautions against drawing conclusions from the last two months until researchers have had time to investigate and make sure the data is accurate.

In many ways, OHC represents a much better measure of climate change than global average surface temperatures. It is where most of the extra heat ends up and is much less variable on a year-to-year basis than surface temperatures. Most years set a new record for OHC and 2019 has been no exception so far, with the first three months showing the warmest OHC since records began.

Changes in the amount or rate of warming are much easier to detect in the OHC record than on the surface. For example, OHC shows little evidence of the slowdown in warming in the mid-2000s, seen in surface temperature records. It also shows a distinct acceleration after 1991, matching the increased rate of greenhouse gas emissions over the past few decades.

Sea level rise continues

Modern-day sea levels rose to a new high in 2019 to-date, due to a combination of melting land ice – glaciers and ice sheets – and the thermal expansion of water as it warms.

The figure below shows the increase in global sea level since it was first measured by satellites in the early 1990s. The different coloured lines indicate different satellite missions over the years. Earlier sea level data from tide gauges is also available, with data going back to the late 1800s.

Global average sea level based on satellite data from January 1993 to present from NOAA. A correction for global average isostatic rebound of 0.3mm/yr is added.

Sea level rise is sensitive to global surface temperatures; El Niño years where temperatures are a bit warmer tend to have more rapid sea level rise than La Niña years. For example, sea level increased rapidly from 2014 to 2016. However, these are relatively small fluctuations around the consistent long-term trend. Overall sea levels have risen around 8.5cm since the early 1990s, and around 22cm since the 1880s.

Sea level data is corrected for glacial isostatic adjustment – the rebound of the Earth from the several kilometre-thick ice sheets that covered much of North America and Europe around 20,000 years ago. This adjustment is relatively small, only adding around 0.3mm/yr to sea level rise rates, or around 10% of the current rate of sea level rise.

Rapid rise in atmospheric methane

While CO2 is by far the largest factor in rising global temperatures – accounting for roughly 50% of the increase in “radiative forcing” since the year 1750 – methane is the second most important, accounting for for 29% of the increase in forcing.

Atmospheric methane concentration increased rapidly from the mid-1980s through to the early 1990s, before slowing down and ultimately pausing in the late 1990s and 2000s. However, starting in 2008, levels of atmospheric methane begane growing again and have seen a notable acceleration over the past four years. The chart below shows concentrations of methane – in parts per billion (ppb) – from the early 1980s when global measurements were first available through to the present.

Global concentrations of methane based on data from NOAA’s Earth Systems Research Laboratory. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

The cause of the increase in methane concentrations over the last decade is still a subject of scientific debate. Some studies have suggested that wetlands and rice cultivation in the tropics are the primary culprit and that the expansion of unconventional oil and gas extraction plays a limited role. Others argue that fossil fuels have had just as important a role in the increase as agriculture.

Unlike CO2, methane has a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, only lasting about nine years on average before breaking down into its component parts. This means that while CO2 keeps accumulating even if emissions remain flat, the amount of methane in the atmosphere is directly related to the rate of emissions. This means that increases in atmospheric concentrations in recent years reflect increases in methane emissions.

Arctic sea ice at record low

Arctic sea ice spent much of early 2019 at the low end of the historical range and has fallen to record lows for this time of year during the past month. Antarctic sea ice hit record lows in early January, though it has since recovered a bit. Both the Arctic sea ice winter maximum and Antarctic summer minimum in 2019 were the seventh smallest in their respective satellite records.

The figure below shows both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent in 2019 (solid red and blue lines), the historical range in the record between 1979 and 2010 (shaded areas) and the record lows (dotted black line). Unlike global temperature records, sea ice data is collected and updated on a daily basis, allowing sea ice extent to be viewed through to the present.

Arctic and Antarctic daily sea ice extent from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center. The bold lines show daily 2019 values, the shaded area indicates the two standard deviation range in historical values between 1979 and 2010. The dotted black lines show the record lows for each pole. Chart by Carbon Brief using Highcharts.

The chart below shows the average Arctic sea ice extent for each week of the year for every year between 1978 and 2019. (Prior to 1978, satellite measurements of sea ice extent are not available and the data is much less reliable.)

Arctic and Antarctic weekly sea ice extent from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center from 1979 through April 2019.

The figure shows a clear and steady decline in Arctic sea ice since the late 1970s, with darker colours (earlier years) at the top and lighter colors (more recent years) much lower. A typical summer now has nearly half as much sea ice in the Arctic as it had in the 1970s and 1980s, though 2012 still holds the record for the lowest summer minimum sea ice extent.

The post State of the climate: Heat across Earth’s surface and oceans mark early 2019 appeared first on Carbon Brief.

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renewableenergylove · 6 years ago

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Neste’s Growing Circular Economies

by Jim Lane

In California, waste feedstock from the city of Oakland is now being converted to Neste (NEF.F, NESTE.HE, NTOIF, NTOIY) MY Renewable Diesel and fuels the city’s fleet.

The city, Neste, fuel distributor Western States Oil and local collectors for used cooking oil joined forces to gather waste cooking oils from restaurants and other businesses in the Oakland metropolitan area and convert it to fuel the city’s fleet. By making waste more valuable and supporting jobs that collect and treat it, this concept helps the local economy in the city while the cleaner-burning Neste MY Renewable Diesel improves the lives of its residents by reducing local emissions from the city’s fleet.

More renewable diesel for trucks in California’s Central Valley

Meanwhile, renewable diesel fuel is soon to be much more accessible to fleet drivers looking to fuel up in central California, thanks to the opening of Neste-branded pumps at Van De Pol card-lock at 5675 7th Street, Keyes, dispensing Neste MY Renewable Diesel.

We reported on the story in Keyes and at three other California locations here.

Card-lock locations are unstaffed fueling stations designed to accommodate fleet vehicles, including 18-wheel trucks. Drivers can fill up with Neste MY Renewable Diesel, a low-carbon fuel produced from 100 percent renewable and sustainable raw materials that cuts greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent compared to petroleum diesel.

“Since launching in California in 2011, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from drivers and fleet managers using Neste MY,” Baines said. “And those who haven’t tried it yet keep asking where they can get it. We’re proud to offer Neste MY Renewable Diesel at these card-lock locations to further expand its accessibility and lead the renewable fuel revolution.”

Over to Sweden for jet fuel with Neste and Air BP

Over to Scandinavia for more Neste action. Neste, and Air BP, have entered into an agreement to deliver sustainable aviation fuel to airline and airport customers in Sweden in 2019.

Air BP has supplied sustainable aviation fuel in the Nordics since 2014 at around 10 airports, including most recently at Kalmar airport in Sweden and Oslo airport where they were the first to supply sustainable aviation fuel produced by Neste through the existing airport fueling infrastructure, in collaboration with other key industry stakeholders.

As backstory, Neste and Air BP announced in 2018 their plans to explore and develop supply chain solutions for delivering sustainable aviation fuel to airports and airlines. As a next step in their collaboration Neste will combine its expertise in the production and blending of sustainable low-carbon aviation fuel with Air BP’s recognized excellence in safe, efficient and effective aviation fuel distribution solutions to jointly develop a viable supply-chain solution for sustainable aviation fuel to the Swedish market.

What’s significant here.

First of all, let’s think about the expansion of distribution in California: note that this renewable diesel is being sold under the Neste brand, something we’ve seen in Finland but it’s a first for the US.

The second takeaway is a little more subtle, that’s the volume of these card-lock refueling stations that specialize in fleets. The Keyes facility alone supports 6 million road miles per year of fueling, and this is hauling something like 80,000 pounds per mile.

It would take 80,000 fully-loaded Tesla Model 3s to haul that same load. 4 stations provide more greenhouse gas reduction in the Big Heavy sector than you could achieve with all the electric cars sold in the U.S. last year put together. Which is not to say “don’t consider an electric” – please look carefully at the EV option where there is renewable electricity generation available to support EVs and where the range and cost meets your vehicle budget. What this is meant to show is that the Big Heavy is important and the impact of renewable diesel can be huge.

Third and fourth takeaway. The fuels are competitively-priced and all you have to do to use them is choose a different pump. No new vehicle, no modifications, no limit on blends, no hidden switching costs, no hassles, no kidding.

Fifth takeaway. Consider the positive local impact. Less NOx, lower particulars, and a lot more pleasant than the fossil diesel smell.

Some caveats to keep in mind

Neste is ramping up production, they have a big expansion of capacity in Singapore supporting this market that will come online in 2022, but it won’t be tomorrow and there may be some limits on supply if the fuels become as popular as they might. Neste will be able to expand quite a bit using existing production, but there will be some limits between now and 2022.

Feedstock acquisition will also be key to ensure that the supply chain continues to provide raw materials that are more and more sustainable, affordable, reliable and available — building up the supply network will be key. Neste is adamant that they don’t want to get into a market and then have trouble meeting the demand.

To that end, consider the Oakland program — that’s a very tight example of circular economies. Neste collects waste oils from Oakland’s sewers and makes renewable diesel, and sells fuel back to Oakland. There, a waste is eliminated in the form of a fuel that helps keep petroleum in the ground.

In some ways, this all started with ham in Finland, the traditional Christmas meal, and Neste started a program to have locals donate their Christmas waste oils, which Neste collects and processes into fuel. A great way for the ordinary person to take positive action, and a great way to help make renewable fuels affordable.

As Neste VP Jeremy Baines told The Digest, “More and more people are looking at the climate change discussion and saying, ‘I don’t know if I agree with everything people are saying, but this is happening’…I see the early springs, the forest fires and I know this is not normal — and here’s a small way in which the private citizen can do something about it.”

The Neste backstory

Renewables Take the Lead: The Digest’s 2019 Multi-Slide Guide to Neste is here.

Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a low-carbon fuel produced from 100 percent renewable and sustainable raw materials, primarily wastes and residues. It cuts engine-out emissions of nitrogen oxides by 9%, those of carbon monoxide by 24 % and fine particulates by 33 %, all while enhancing fleet performance. The concept by the city of Oakland and Neste saves greenhouse gas emissions by 74% compared to conventional, fossil diesel. Neste MY Renewable Diesel is a direct replacement fuel that requires no blending and is compatible with all diesel engines.

Recently, we reported that Neste’s growing Renewable Products business area will be divided into three business units and one operational platform each of which has its own Executive Vice President responsible in Neste’s Executive Committee: Renewable Road Transportation, Renewable Aviation, Renewable Polymers & Chemicals, and the Renewables Platform. More on that story here.

In December, we reported that Neste took the plunge and decided to invest EUR1.4 billion in tripling renewable production in Singapore. More on that here.

Reaction from the stakeholders

“Oakland is a proud leader in protecting our environment and practicing the highest levels of sustainability,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said. “This bold move will give our residents cleaner air, and it takes us one important step forward in our work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

“We are excited to partner with the city of Oakland to make ‘from city waste to city fuel’ a reality and do our part to improve the lives of the people in the city,” said

Jeremy Baines, vice president of sales, Neste US, Inc. “Oakland’s choice for a more sustainable diesel fuel and their support for making local waste part of their energy solution sets an example for the Bay Area, for all of California and beyond.”

“Switching from petroleum diesel to renewable diesel automatically converts the City’s oldest and dirtiest polluting vehicles into alternative fuel vehicles – overnight and with no additional costs,” Oakland Public Works Director Jason Mitchell said.

“Demand for cleaner fuels is on the rise globally, and California is a leader in the movement toward an emissions-free future,” said Jeremy Baines, vice president of sales for Neste. “Neste MY Renewable Diesel helps meet environmental needs without compromising performance or cost.”

“I am very happy to announce that our collaboration with Air BP has taken its first concrete step, as aviation is one of our strategic growth areas. Sweden is becoming a leading country in decarbonizing aviation with its proposal to introduce a greenhouse gas reduction mandate for aviation fuel sold in Sweden. Together with Air BP we are able to support air transport in Sweden in their efforts, and this collaboration gives both of us valuable insight into developing similar supply chains to decarbonize aviation in other markets,” says Neste’s President and CEO Peter Vanacker.

Jon Platt, Air BP Chief Executive Officer added: “I am pleased that through our collaboration with Neste we will be able to offer our Swedish customers sustainable aviation fuel at a number of airports across the country in 2019. We are committed to supporting our customers, through initiatives such as this, as they work towards reducing their emissions and realizing their low carbon ambitions.”

Jim Lane is editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest where this article was originally published. Biofuels Digest is the most widely read Biofuels daily read by 14,000+ organizations. Subscribe here.

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