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Study for Dutch Government shows the potential role of synthetic fuel in aviation

Sustainable low carbon aviation fuels are foreseen to play an important role in reducing aviation GHG emissions. Renewable synthetic kerosene can be produced from biomass feedstock and from renewable electricity combined with CO2 (or CO) from a range of sources. E4tech undertook an in depth study to assess the energy, CO2 and cost implications of renewable and low carbon synthetic kerosene production, providing an evidence base to inform policy-making in this area. International and national policies are being developed to reduce aviation GHG emissions, including the Netherlands’ draft Civil Aviation Policy Memorandum 2020-2050 aimed at GHG emissions reduction targets and this study offers insights into the benefits of synthetic routes.

CCC cites E4tech in landmark report for UK decarbonisation

Today the UK’s Committee on Climate Change (CCC) released their much anticipated report on achieving net zero emissions.

UK energy future is here, it is just not evenly distributed

In a first of a kind report, E4tech and researchers from Imperial College London examined the UK’s progress towards an energy system that meets energy transition targets, also looking at which sectors and regions are making greatest progress. The report, commissioned by Drax, finds that progress in cleaning power generation is a bright spot, enabling industry, commercial buildings and potentially road transport to lower their impacts. However, sectors such as household heating, heavy duty vehicles and power system flexibility are holding back the transition.

Cooling is an iceberg issue

The growth in energy demand for cooling from a warming planet and growing population is an enormous but mostly hidden issue. By the middle of the century global demand for cooling is predicted to exceed that for heating, yet the attention given to cooling – for buildings or cold chains – does not gain much attention. This is set to change as the first International Congress on Clean Cooling brings together companies, governments, financiers and researchers in Birmingham on 18th April to address the challenges and opportunities for cooling that is clean and affordable.

The challenge of integrating large amounts of intermittent cheap renewable electricity requires a transformation of the energy system. The use of demand-side response (DSR) from distributed sources in homes, shops and offices is a potential source of flexibility. Controlling loads interactively also allows convergence between the electricity, heat and mobility sectors and helps to build resilience. Small scale DSR is already widely used in some countries and – in a simple form – has been widely used in UK in the form of Economy 7 tariffs.

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