Journal: Nature Energy

Abbreviation

Nat Energy

Publisher

Nature

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ISSN

2058-7546

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2016 - 2019192020 - 202623
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Publications 1 - 10 of 42
  • Global greenhouse gas emissions mitigation potential of existing and planned hydrogen projects
    Item type: Journal Article
    Terlouw, Tom; Moretti, Christian; Harpprecht, Carina; et al. (2025)
    Nature Energy
  • A dynamic analysis of financing conditions for renewable energy technologies
    Item type: Journal Article
    Egli, Florian Manuel; Steffen, Bjarne; Schmidt, Tobias (2018)
    Nature Energy
  • Techno-economic analysis of renewable fuels for ships carrying bulk cargo in Europe
    Item type: Journal Article
    Stolz, Boris; Held, Maximilian; Georges, Gil; et al. (2022)
    Nature Energy
    Fossil marine fuels need to be substituted by renewable energy carriers to meet global climate targets. However, a deeper understanding of the technological suitability of carbon-neutral fuels at fleet level is needed. Here we provide a first-order assessment of the techno-economic suitability of hydrogen, ammonia, methane, methanol and diesel—all produced from renewable electricity—to power Europe’s shipping fleet carrying bulk cargo. We compared gravimetric energy density constraints on current operations, the electricity demand for fuel production and total costs of ownership, and found that over 93% of the transport work can be covered with all fuel options when a reduced cargo capacity of less than 3% is allowed for. Compared with Europe’s electricity consumption in 2019, carbon-neutral bulk shipping demands an additional 4–8% thereof. Ammonia emerges as one of the most balanced carbon-free fuels and methanol as one of the most balanced carbonaceous fuels. Using such carbon-neutral fuels could increase the total costs of ownership by a factor of 2–6 in 2030 compared with those of conventional operations.
  • Estimation of losses in solar energy production from air pollution in China since 1960 using surface radiation data
    Item type: Journal Article
    Sweerts, Bart; Pfenninger, Stefan; Yang, Su; et al. (2019)
    Nature Energy
    China is the largest worldwide consumer of solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity, with 130 GW of installed capacity as of 2017. China’s PV capacity is expected to reach at least 400 GW by 2030, to provide 10% of its primary energy. However, anthro pogenic aerosol emissions and changes in cloud cover affect solar radiation in China. Here, we use observational radiation data from 119 stations across China to show that the PV potential decreased on average by 11–15% between 1960 and 2015. The relationship between observed surface radiation and emissions of sulfur dioxide and black carbon suggests that strict air pollution control measures, combined with reduced fossil fuel consumption, would allow surface radiation to increase. We find that reverting back to 1960s radiation levels in China could yield a 12–13% increase in electricity generation, equivalent to an additional 14 TWh produced with 2016 PV capacities, and 51–74 TWh with the expected 2030 capacities. The corresponding economic benefits could amount to US$1.9 billion in 2016 and US$4.6–6.7 billion in 2030.
  • Rapid technological progress in white light-emitting diodes and its source in innovation and technology spillovers
    Item type: Journal Article
    Weinold, Michael; Kolesnikov, Sergey; Díaz Anadón, Laura (2025)
    Nature Energy
    Since their introduction to the market in 1996, white light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have greatly improved in performance, efficiency and manufacturing cost. Understanding the extent and mechanisms of rapid progress in white LED technology can provide valuable insights for accelerating innovation in other demand-side clean energy technologies critical for reducing global carbon emissions. Here we show, through cost and performance modelling based on data from literature review, patent analysis and expert interviews, that the efficiency of top-performing warm white GaN-based LED packages increased from 5.8% in 2003 to 38.8% in 2020. Over the same period, the manufacturing cost of low-to-mid-power LED packages decreased by 95.5% from US$1.1 to US$0.05 (in 2020 US dollars). We find that technology spillovers from other sectors accounted for at least 8.5% of efficiency improvements and nearly all consumer experience enhancements, playing an important role in widespread LED adoption in lighting.
  • Urgent need for post-growth climate mitigation scenarios
    Item type: Other Journal Item
    Hickel, Jason; Brockway, Paul; Kallis, Giorgos; et al. (2021)
    Nature Energy
    Established climate mitigation scenarios assume continued economic growth in all countries, and reconcile this with the Paris targets by betting on speculative technological change. Post-growth approaches may make it easier to achieve rapid mitigation while improving social outcomes, and should be explored by climate modellers.
  • Bring behaviour into the digital transformation
    Item type: Journal Article
    Tiefenbeck, Verena (2017)
    Nature Energy
  • Life-cycle assessment of an industrial direct air capture process based on temperature–vacuum swing adsorption
    Item type: Journal Article
    Deutz, Sarah; Bardow, André (2021)
    Nature Energy
    Current climate targets require negative carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Direct air capture is a promising negative emission technology, but energy and material demands lead to trade-offs with indirect emissions and other environmental impacts. Here, we show by life-cycle assessment that the commercial direct air capture plants in Hinwil and Hellisheiði operated by Climeworks can already achieve negative emissions today, with carbon capture efficiencies of 85.4% and 93.1%. The climate benefits of direct air capture, however, depend strongly on the energy source. When using low-carbon energy, as in Hellisheiði, adsorbent choice and plant construction become more important, inducing up to 45 and 15 gCO2e per kilogram CO2 captured, respectively. Large-scale deployment of direct air capture for 1% of the global annual CO2 emissions would not be limited by material and energy availability. However, the current small-scale production of amines for the adsorbent would need to be scaled up by more than an order of magnitude. Other environmental impacts would increase by less than 0.057% when using wind power and by up to 0.30% for the global electricity mix forecasted for 2050. Energy source and efficiency are essential for direct air capture to enable both negative emissions and low-carbon fuels.
  • Towards carbon-neutral and clean propulsion in heavy-duty transportation with hydroformylated Fischer–Tropsch fuels
    Item type: Journal Article
    Voelker, Simon; Groll, Niklas; Bachmann, Marvin; et al. (2024)
    Nature Energy
    Clean transport requires tailored energy carriers. For heavy-duty transportation, synthetic fuels are promising but must fulfil the key challenges of achieving carbon neutrality while reducing air pollution and ensuring scalability through compatibility with existing infrastructure. Here we show that hydroformylated Fischer–Tropsch (HyFiT) fuels composed of optimized alkane–alcohol blends simultaneously address these challenges. First, the design of the HyFiT fuel process flexibly closes the carbon cycle by employing biomass or carbon dioxide as feedstock, while being scalable through mature technologies. Second, fuel testing shows that HyFiT fuels comply with global fuel standards. Material compatibility is demonstrated for two standard sealing materials, enabling the retrofit of today’s vehicle fleets. Third, vehicle testing shows that HyFiT fuels substantially reduce combustion-induced particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. Fourth, a well-to-wheel life cycle assessment finds that HyFiT fuels enable the transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, showing simultaneously a favourable profile in other environmental parameters. HyFiT fuels can thus complement electrification for heavy-duty transportation.
  • Accounting for finance in electrification models for sub-Saharan Africa
    Item type: Journal Article
    Agutu, Churchill; Egli, Florian Manuel; Williams, Nathaniel J.; et al. (2022)
    Nature Energy
    Electrifying 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa will require substantial investments. Integrated electrification models inform key policy decisions and electricity access investments in many countries. While current electrification models apply sophisticated geospatial methods, they often make simplistic assumptions about financing conditions. Here we establish cost of capital values, reflecting country and electrification mode (that is, grid extension, minigrids and stand-alone systems), and specific risks faced by investors and integrate them into an open source electrification model. We find that the cost of capital for off-grid electrification is much higher than currently assumed, up to 32.2%. Accounting for finance shifts approximately 240 million people from minigrids to stand-alone systems in our main scenario, suggesting a more cost-effective electrification mode mix than previously suggested. In turn, electrification models based on uniform cost of capital assumptions increase the per kWh cost of electricity by 20%, on average. Upscaling and mainstreaming off-grid finance can lower electrification cost substantially.
Publications 1 - 10 of 42