Kornelis Blok

The direct and indirect energy requirements of households in the Netherlands

One way of reducing CO2 emissions is to reduce direct and indirect household energy requirements. Before discussing ways in which that can be done, one needs to have quantitative information about these energy requirements. This article aims to provide that information. The total average energy demand per household in the Netherlands in 1990 was 240 GJ, of which 54% was indirect. Of this total average energy requirement 17% was required for food, 8% for household effects, 4% for the house, 3% for clothing and footwear, 2% for hygiene, 5% for medical care, 2% for education, 8% for recreation, 1% for communication, 4% for transport (excluding petrol), 9% for petrol, 25% for heating energy and 12% for electricity. There is a strong relationship between household expenditure and the total energy requirement. The elasticity of the energy requirement with respect to income was found to be 0.63. There is, however, a considerable spread in energy requirement within one income class (standard deviation about 20%).

Hydrogen production from natural gas, sequestration of recovered CO2 in depleted gas wells and enhanced natural gas recovery

If fuel cells are introduced for vehicular applications, hydrogen might become an energy carrier for transport applications. Manufacture via steam-reforming of natural gas is a low-cost option for hydrogen production. This study deals with the feasibility of combining the production of hydrogen from natural gas with CO2 removal. When hydrogen is produced from natural gas, a concentrated stream of CO2 is generated as a by-product. If manufacture is carried out near a depleted natural gas field, the separated CO2 can be compressed and injected into the field and securely sequestered there. The incremental cost of the produced hydrogen (for CO2 compression plus transport, injection and storage) would typically be about 7% relative to the case where the separated CO2 is vented. Moreover, CO2 injection leads to enhanced natural gas recovery as a result of reservoir repressurization. Though the extra natural gas is somewhat contaminated with CO2, it is a suitable feedstock for hydrogen production. Taking credit for enhanced natural gas recovery reduces the penalty for sequestration to a net incremental cost of typically 2%. These cost penalties are much lower than those typical of CO2 removal schemes associated with electricity production. Attention is required for optimum plant siting in order to keep CO2 transport costs low.

State and trends of carbon pricing 2015

The report focuses exclusively on data and information on the evolving initiatives that put a price on carbon, in terms of their most current status and emerging trends. It includes an expanded discussion on what the trends are telling us about the underlying motivations of and the direction the world is moving in when it comes to carbon pricing.The growing momentum for carbon pricing and the increasing prevalence of the topic in climate change discussions in recent years take us in a new direction for the report. More national and subnational jurisdictions and private sector entities are adopting carbon pricing. These encouraging developments warrant due attention and require tracking each scheme with enhanced detail.This report also includes a reflection on the engagement of non-state actors on climate action and carbon pricing—a development that characterizes the implementation phase the world has embarked on since the adoption of the Paris Agreement. This report takes stock of the latest developments in carbon pricing initiatives across the globe. It also investigates trends surrounding the development of carbon pricing instruments and how they could accelerate to deliver long-term mitigation goals. For the purpose of this report, carbon pricing refers to initiatives that put an explicit price on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This includes emissions trading systems (ETSs), offset mechanisms, carbon taxes, and results-based climate finance (RBCF). Such initiatives, which will be discussed at length in this report, are being planned and implemented at international, regional, national, and subnational levels. Other policies that implicitly price GHG emissions, such as the removal of fossil fuel subsidies (which are also sometimes referred to as “negative carbon pricing”), fuel taxation, support for renewable energy, and energy efficiency certificate trading, are also necessary, but this report focuses on initiatives that put an explicit price on emissions.implicitly price GHG emissions, such as the removal of fossil fuel subsidies (which are also sometimes referred to as “negative carbon pricing”), fuel taxation, support for renewable energy, and energy efficiency certificate trading, are also necessary, but this report focuses on initiatives that put an explicit price on emissions.Section second of this report provides an overview of carbon pricing initiatives and recent developments. For the first time in this report series, this section also explores how emerging political and technological developments could help shape new trends in carbon pricing. Section third summarizes the latest developments of international cooperation, including the status of the implementation of the Paris Agreement and nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Section fourth reports on carbon pricing initiatives at regional, national and subnational levels, while Section fifth reviews internal carbon pricing approaches and prices used by private organizations and Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) for decision making purposes.

Energy efficiency developments in the pulp and paper industry: A cross-country comparison using physical production data

Abstract A method is presented for cross-country, cross-time comparison of energy efficiency developments in the manufacturing industry. The method is based on the use of physical production data as a measure of activity growth for the manufacturing industry. The methodology was applied to the pulp and paper industry of eight countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). With the methodology it is possible to follow energy efficiency developments, separately, for fuel and electricity consumption. Between 1973 and 1991, the production growth in the pulp and paper industry in the analysed countries would have resulted in an average increase in the primary energy consumption by 42%. Changes in the product mix had hardly any effect on the primary energy consumption. Because of energy efficiency improvements, the growth of primary energy consumption was limited to only 16%. The average annual efficiency improvement amounted to 1.6%. The methodology presented enables physical energy efficiency comparisons to be made between countries without the need for data at the process level.

A Triptych sectoral approach to burden differentiation; GHG emissions in the European bubble

As Parties to the Climate Convention EU Member States have opted for a joint fulfilment of post-2000 greenhouse gas emission reduction obligations. No agreement could be reached on a joint EU target before the distribution of the burden of emission reductions among Member States had been agreed upon. This paper presents a sectoral approach to burden sharing, which incorporates important national circumstances. The three categories distinguished are the power sector, the internationally operating energy-intensive industry and the remaining domestically oriented sectors. Emission allowances are calculated by applying rules, such as a limitation of coal use for power production, minimum requirements for renewable energy, and minimum energy efficiency improvement rates in industry. For the domestic sectors a per capita emission allowance approach is used. The approach is applied to EU Member States to show the distribution of emission reductions for 2010. Also a comparison with other burden differentiation approaches is made. Results of the analysis played an important role in internal EU discussions, resulting in a better understanding among negotiators of differences in national circumstances and their role in emission levels. This improved understanding led to a political agreement on emission reduction targets that are substantially higher than targets Member States had been prepared to accept earlier.

Feasibility of polymer membranes for carbon dioxide recovery from flue gases

Abstract The feasibility of polymer membranes for the recovery of CO 2 from flue gases of a power plant is examined. With a computer program based on the cross flow permeation model for membranes, several parameters are optimized to obtain the lowest specific CO 2 mitigation costs. With gas separation membranes commercially available, the minimum attainable specific mitigation costs are calculated to be US

Potential of bioethanol as a chemical building block for biorefineries: Preliminary sustainability assessment of 12 bioethanol-based products

48 per tonne of CO 2 avoided (at 50% CO 2 purity, 75% CO 2 recovery). When restrictions are posed to the purity of CO 2 (95%) and the degree of CO 2 recovery (90%), this figure is much higher: US

International comparisons of energy efficiency-Methodologies for the manufacturing industry

71 per tonne of CO 2 avoided. Cost reduction possibilities and perspectives are discussed. Our analyses shows that membranes with a selectivity of at least 200 are required to make membranes a serious competitor of other separation techniques.

Carbon dioxide recovery from industrial processes

The aim of this study is to present and apply a quick screening method and to identify the most promising bioethanol derivatives using an early-stage sustainability assessment method that compares a bioethanol-based conversion route to its respective petrochemical counterpart. The method combines, by means of a multi-criteria approach, quantitative and qualitative proxy indicators describing economic, environmental, health and safety and operational aspects. Of twelve derivatives considered, five were categorized as favorable (diethyl ether, 1,3-butadiene, ethyl acetate, propylene and ethylene), two as promising (acetaldehyde and ethylene oxide) and five as unfavorable derivatives (acetic acid, n-butanol, isobutylene, hydrogen and acetone) for an integrated biorefinery concept.

Underground storage of carbon dioxide

Abstract In the past, many studies on energy efficiency levels were not comparable due to differences in economic structure between countries. In the project ‘International Comparisons of Energy Efficiency’ efforts are undertaken to develop methods that do account for such differences. In this paper, we identify structural differences in energy intensive industries and describe ways to incorporate these differences in international comparisons of energy efficiency. For the iron and steel, aluminium, cement, pulp and paper, ammonia, chlorine and alkali, and petrochemicals sectors, structural differences mainly arise in product (quality) mix and import/export streams. In addition to structural indicators, also non-structural, explanatory indicators are identified, such as the penetration of energy efficient equipment and Combined Heat and Power generation. Feedstock mix and process type can either be structural or explanatory indicators, depending on whether or not product mix is affected. A number of issues regarding data quality and other pitfalls are described, mainly related to aggregation level and system boundaries between different industry sectors, and between the industry and energy transformation sectors. The methodologies developed show that structural differences can be taken into account in cross-country comparisons of energy efficiency if appropriate physical energy efficiency indicators are used.