Tom Brown @nworbmot Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

I can never find my own threads, so here is a pinned meta-thread of threads.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

My graduate course "Energy System Modelling" subtitled "yes, I know the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow" is online here: 800 slides and 18 hours of videos (thanks corona) open licence for reuse #freethelectures

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

All your carbon shall be methanol Arguments for mopping up all carbon in wastes and residues into methanol; use it to supply sectors that can't be electrified TL,DR: methanol is liquid; easier to transport/store than CH4/H2/CO2; costs scale down nicely to multi-MW size

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Ever wanted to run an energy system model with your own assumptions? We've made a simplified version of our 45-node European sector-coupled model available to run online. It includes renewables, CCS, nuclear, power, hydrogen, biomass, industry, etc.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Agrivoltaics: combining solar and agriculture on same land can be win-win, especially in dry areas reduced temp => better PV efficiency more shade => less water loss, higher agri yields (3x more chiltepin peppers!)

Crops under solar panels can be a win-win

In dry places, photovoltaic shade can even reduce water use.

arstechnica.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Shifting demand in time 🕰️ reduces costs. But what about moving demand in space 🌍? Data centres in multiple locations can dynamically shift jobs to where wind and solar are generating. 🚨 New study 🚨 for @Google shows cost reductions up to 34% for 24/7 clean energy matching.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Despite the current hype, there's nothing new about electrolytic hydrogen. - 100 MW electrolysers since late 1920s for fertiliser and heavy water - 100 GWh salt cavern storage since 1960s - 4500 km hydrogen pipelines today What was missing was abundant low cost power.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

A renewable power system that is reliable whatever the weather? 🌬️⛅️ The case for e-methanol with carbon cycling ♻️: liquid storage that can be built anywhere 🚨 New impulse paper🚨 in @Joule_CP with @euronion42 Paper: Slides:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

Please raise a toast 🍻 to J.B.S. Haldane, who in February 1923 presented a vision of England powered by wind turbines backed up by long-duration hydrogen storage. That vision is now officially 💯 years old.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Great to see the Frankfurt school kids out on strike for the climate this morning @GretaThunberg you're an inspiration to us all! #ClimateStrike #FridaysForFuture #SchoolStrike4Climate

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Debunking the myths that 100% renewable energy systems are impossible, too complicated or too expensive: full response to the sceptics press release: open access research article: @nworbmot @KornelisBlok @ChristianOnRE @BrianVad

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

- Renovating buildings to make them more efficient doesn't just reduce energy use - It also reduces demand peaks in electrified system - Critical for the kalte Dunkelflaute! (cold, electric heat, low wind, low sun) - Strategies for heat demand in zero-CO2 Europe in a new paper

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

In 1923 J.B.S. Haldane foresaw an energy system based on wind turbines, with surplus power used for hydrogen production by water electrolysis. Hydrogen would be stored underground and "expended for industry, transportation, heating and lighting". Sound familiar?

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Ever wanted to run your own energy system model with your own assumptions? Now you can! A new, open online tool for computing least-cost wind+solar+storage systems to meet baseload electricity demand:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

Hourly or annual matching for green hydrogen? Our new preprint shows: it depends. Hourly matching has low system emissions impact across all scenarios. Annual matching raises emissions if electrolysis is inflexible and the grid is not clean, otherwise it can lower emissions.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Last thread on history of renewables + hydrogen (promise): TL;DR: - Idea of using electrolysis of water & storing hydrogen is almost as old as electrolysis (1789) - Already a lively debate in *1863* about combining variable renewables with electrolytic hydrogen to replace coal

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Build your own clean energy system! - wind, solar, storage + others optimized live while you wait - works for any region in the world - you choose your own technology assumptions thread with examples reward at end

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

"wind and solar will always cannibalize their own market revenue" "market value decline is an inevitable consequence of variability" "market integration of wind and solar is impossible" WRONG, WRONG & WRONG THREAD! (1/infinity)

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Who came up with the first coherent plan to use renewables to cover all our energy needs? My money is on Bent Sørensen, who wrote these two ground-breaking papers in the 1970s: (1975) (1978) He deserves more credit. Thread.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

how to avoid (panic about) declining market value of wind and solar OR how I learned to stop worrying about market value & love shadow prices a DUAL perspective on a primal problem new paper by @ReichenbergLina and me:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

This pod between @drvolts and @JesseJenkins is a masterclass not just in terms of system integration of wind and solar, but of science communication in general. Super clear, high throughput, fun. Chapeau! 🎩

Jesse D. Jenkins

@JesseJenkins

1 year

Did you know, the wind doesn't always blow & the sun sets every night? I recently learned this, and so I did some digging on how we might manage an electricity grid with lots of wind & solar on it. I shared what I found w/ @drvolts in his pod. You may enjoy

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

🚨 New 24/7 report for Europe! 🚨 Companies moving from *annual* to *hourly* clean power matching get: - lower emissions for them *and* system - reduced backup needs for system - only small cost premium for 90-95% hourly matching - stimulation of new tech for final 5-10% 🧵

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

This is the single biggest challenge for the energy transition: balancing public consultation and environmental law against the urgent need for new infrastructure to tackle climate change. We need everyone to focus on it.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

I would love to read a history of ideas to integrate renewable energy This 1955 book is very familiar: - electrify first to avoid conversion losses - then use thermal, hydrogen and compressed air energy storage to balance wind variations (it pooh-poohs using batteries alone)

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

An alternative: store energy as a liquid in methanol Combust methanol in pure oxygen in an Allam cycle turbine; this allows easy capture of pure CO2; then cycle CO2 back for more methanol synthesis with green hydrogen Concept 1st suggested in Baak et al:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

- Learning effects lead to path dependency - Including learning in your model => many distinct local optima => Diverse choice of low-cost future energy systems - Can't just look at one Conclusions from Niclas Mattsson's pioneering work in 1990s: 1/12

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

A net-zero energy system will need more than just a low-emission power sector! In a new collaboration between @TUBerlin and @Breakthrough Energy we will improve the modelling of hydrogen and carbon management (CCU/T/S) in next-gen high-res open models:

TU Berlin and Breakthrough Energy Partner to Accelerate Europe’s Transition to a Net-Zero Energy...

In light of the EU's 2030 and 2050 climate targets, the Bill Gates-backed Breakthrough Energy group joins forces with TU Berlin.

www.tu.berlin

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

To summarise: Electrify everything* *Use methanol for the rest** **OK, also a bit of hydrogen for ammonia and steel Happy to hear comments or thoughts!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

This is a semi-critical thread on a recent survey of 40 papers looking at studies on low- to zero-carbon electricity and energy systems by @JesseJenkins , @max_energy and @samthernstrom . I was a co-author on 3 of them.

Jesse D. Jenkins

@JesseJenkins

6 years

Finding feasible and cost-effective paths to a carbon-free grid is as important as ever! For guidance, @max_energy @samthernstrom & I reviewed 40 academic studies charting course to a decarbonized power system & synthesized findings in a paper just published in the journal Joule.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Save the date: 1st North American Open Energy Modelling Initiative Workshop September 18-19, 2019 @NREL , Golden, Colorado Come and help free the energy models! #FreeTheModels @openmod

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

3 major reports in last few months call for nodal electricity pricing in Europe. About time! Local price signals are sorely needed to leverage flexibility for high levels of wind and solar in systems with grid bottlenecks.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Can we meet baseload electricity demand from wind, solar and storage alone? Thread summary: Yes. Today it's a bit expensive, in a decade it will be reasonable. Costs even lower if we use other low-carbon sources too (existing hydro, sustainable biomass, nuclear, CCS, etc.)

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

🚨 job alert🚨 PhD position in our new group in heart of Berlin! Topic: Infrastructure requirements, interactions and conflicts for net-zero energy scenarios (electricity, gas, hydrogen, CO2 networks) Deadline: 06.08.2021 Duration: 5 years Details:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

a learning curve for silicon solar cells...from 1972 when cumulative capacity was just 600 kW (today it is more than a million times higher) most capacity back then was in space industry if I read this right, they fit a learning rate of 31% or 21% depending on point selection

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Have any online teaching resources for energy system modelling? Please add them to this list: I've started with the ones below. If a wiki is too complicated for you, just reply/email me.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

Power to Methane with 76% efficiency (HHV) in a container-sized demo, potential to rise to 80% efficiency: the EU @fch_ju HELMETH project ( @KITKarlsruhe and others) paper dishes all the details

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Want to help energy system modelling worldwide? Big lever: support developers of new open-source @HighsOpt solver! At moment there are no free solvers fit for big problems with networks + lots of wind & solar. Commercial solvers are $$$, limiting access. Donation link below.

Jesse D. Jenkins

@JesseJenkins

3 years

There's a range of open-source state-of-the-art energy systems models out now (). But to truly make them accessible for all, we need high-performance open-source solvers for large-scale problems! Support #HiGHS and #FreeTheModels

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

Hooray, the open source solver @HighsOpt has received its first major (high five figure) donation from @InveniaLabs ! Thanks folks! Access to energy modelling for all, regardless of budget, is now one step closer. More funding announcements to come🤞 #freethemodels @openmod

Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Want to help energy system modelling worldwide? Big lever: support developers of new open-source @HighsOpt solver! At moment there are no free solvers fit for big problems with networks + lots of wind & solar. Commercial solvers are $$$, limiting access. Donation link below.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

The US is not the EU 🇺🇸🚫🇪🇺 For green hydrogen, the US should consider stricter rules because: - EU has other guardrails in place (ETS, RES targets) - US needs to comply with EU rules if it wants to export there - initial volumes in US could be v. high (3 $/kg...) Thread!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

The claim by @xcelenergy quoted here that 100% renewable energy requires an "overbuild" of capacity of 8x peak demand is wrong. The figure 8x is from a hypothetical example in a paper I co-authored. The real one is closer to 3-3.5x. Let me explain.

Naas: Xcel acknowledges massive cost of 100 percent renewables - Complete Colorado

In what can only be described as revealing (and unsurprising), a 2019 March presentation by Xcel Energy supports our concerns about the cost of transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy. To...

pagetwo.completecolorado.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

World first: end of 2020, a 69 MW wind farm black-started part of the Scottish grid with grid-forming inverters Re-energising the grid with inverter-based generation was supposed to be years/decades away? Ha! Kudos to @SPRenewables and @SiemensGamesa !

Global first for ScottishPower as COP countdown starts

With just one year to go until the eyes of the world are on Glasgow for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) has achieved what is believed to be a global first –...

www.scottishpowerrenewables.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Really enjoyed this @RockyMtnInst report by @TessaNWeiss and colleagues on near-term opportunities to scale up green hydrogen - lots of ways to bring down electrolyser capex - doing so alters trade-offs with generation - focus on near-term off-takers

Fueling the Transition: Accelerating Cost-Competitive Green Hydrogen - RMI

This report illustrates the opportunity and the critical tools required to accelerate cost-competitive green hydrogen to market.

rmi.org

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

but we may need electrolytic hydrogen in the medium/long-term to decarbonise some chemical sectors, high-density fuels, some industry demand and some backup electricity/heat. It makes sense to push R&D and niche electrolysis in the meantime. Enjoy your weekend!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Open energy modelling? This Thursday (26th March) 1500 UTC online @zoom_us 13 x 6-minute talks from a great line-up: @gschivley @destenienock @jfdecarolis @nnludwig @WonkTheWalk @etrutnevyte @claytonpbarrows and many others @openmod #freethemodels

1st Online Lightning Talk Mini-workshop, 26 March 2020

Since many of us are stuck at home due to the corona virus lockdown, I’d like to suggest we try an online lightning talk mini-workshop. When: Thursday 26th March 2020 for 2.5 hours starting at 1500...

forum.openmod.org

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

I attended 3 virtual conferences today from @IRENA , @EnergySystemsIG , @openmod , with peeps from 3 continents. I learned a ton. I could ask questions. I could take a break whenever. I didn't have to travel. Can we please not go back to presence meetings with no live streaming?

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Ever wondered what Integrated Assessment Models (i.e. those underlying IPCC analysis) would look like with: - substantial cost reductions in wind and solar - widespread electrification of final demand Look no further! Congratulations to the REMIND team!

Gunnar Luderer

@GunnarLuderer

3 years

Energy Revolution Ahead? Quite possible! Our new paper @NatureEnergyJnl explores the prospects of renewables-based electrification towards limiting warming at 1.5°C. Thread on the key points.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

How much hydrogen can be stored in salt caverns? In Europe, the technical potential well exceeds demand according to a new preprint from @helmholtz_en colleagues at FZ Jülich IEK-3: 85 PWh-H2 for onshore and offshore sites But it is not spread evenly:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

Looking at these lovely charts from @EmberClimate you wonder whether folks using data up to 2019 were too soon to fit S-curves to solar in Europe

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Le Monde has visualised the budget overruns and delays of the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor. Originally planned to open in 2012 at a cost of 3.3 billion euros, current estimates are that it will open in 2022 at a cost of 11 billion (could be revised up).

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Want to know how to manage a transition to widespread use of heat pumps? More than half of all Swedish single-family houses have an installed heat pump and more heat is supplied by heat pumps in Sweden than in any other nation. ‘A silent revolution’. PhD thesis linked below:

Johan Rootzén

@JMRootzen

5 years

"A Silent Revolution: The Swedish Transition towards Heat Pumps, 1970-2015" @nworbmot

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Congratulations Fabian Neumann @fneum_ on getting your PhD, with summa cum laude no less! Topic: "Computational and Near-Optimal Trade-Offs in Renewable Electricity System Modelling"

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Webinar "Ultra-long-duration energy storage anywhere: methanol with carbon cycling" at @EngineerIreland is now on 📺 Slides: Paper:

Ultra-long-duration energy storage anywhere: methanol with carbon...

In this webinar Tom Brown outlines the use of methanol with carbon cycling in ultra-long-duration energy storage.

www.youtube.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

Our online model of a low-C European energy system, which anyone can run, now has a snazzy interface for selecting and comparing scenarios: Here's a sweep of total system costs as nuclear investment cost decreases from 8000 to 3000 EUR/kW:

Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Ever wanted to run an energy system model with your own assumptions? We've made a simplified version of our 45-node European sector-coupled model available to run online. It includes renewables, CCS, nuclear, power, hydrogen, biomass, industry, etc.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Opinion: In short-term we should focus on energy efficiency, displacing fossil electricity generation with low-emission sources, and electrifying other sectors before scaling up water electrolysis in a big way...

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Webinar: "Ultra-long-duration energy storage anywhere: methanol with carbon cycling" Join on Nov 1st at 1830 GMT (1930 CET) for a talk on a new paper with @euronion42 (that should drop the day before) Organised by @EngineerIreland @eng4climate @autofac

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Fantastic to see the European Commission via @EU_ScienceHub recommending open source modelling tools (including #PyPSA ) for assessing candidate hydrogen and electrolyser projects (CBA for TEN-E PCI) #freethemodels @openmod

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

The mortality and loss of life expectancy from air pollution in this new paper are frightening. @mzjacobson was way ahead of the rest of the energy community taking this into account. We should follow his lead - co-benefits of energy transition are important!

Mark Z. Jacobson

@mzjacobson

5 years

World faces #airpollution pandemic "Air pollution shortens people's lives far greater than wars+other forms of violence, parasitic and vector-born diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS+smoking" @OxfordJournals @escardio

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

I often wonder whether most of the modelling of energy systems misses the point. We fuss over 5% details, but neglect harder things to model like: - non-linear tech learning effects - health impacts - community participation - implementation speed which are all >100% effects.

Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

@LuMo71 @dr_olsson @HJFell It's a shame it will require fancy math to convince people of something that some people grasped intuitively already forty years ago...

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Landmark investigative journalism by @pfairley in @TheAtlantic : "Who Killed the Supergrid?" @NREL Seams study showed grid modernization would save 35 megatons of CO2 and at least $3.6 billion per year - suppressed by Trump appointees

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

,,Ein offener Brief unterstellt E-Autos weit mehr Kohlendioxid-Emissionen als bislang angenommen. Doch die Rechnung geht nicht auf.'' Kommentare von Profs Rehtanz, @efesce , @FalkoUeckerdt @Tagesspiegel

Rechenspiel mit Elektroautos: Forscher kritisieren Berechnung zu höheren Emissionen aus der...

Ein offener Brief unterstellt E-Autos weit mehr Kohlendioxid-Emissionen als bislang angenommen. Doch die Rechnung geht nicht auf.

www.tagesspiegel.de

AukeHoekstra

@AukeHoekstra

3 years

171 scientists find calculation error that proves the electric vehicle is not greener! That's the gist of many German papers today but a better headline would be: THE COMBUSTION ENGINE LOBBY IS GASLIGHTING AGAIN Thread

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

PS For further reading I recommend the excellent report by @IRENA and @MethanolToday

Innovation Outlook: Renewable Methanol

www.irena.org

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

It's fun watching #EnergyTwitter rebuild on Mastodon. Come join if you haven't already! Yes, it's not quite as slick as Twitter, but its openness means it will be more sustainable in the long-term. Let's work to improve it! #freethebird #freethemodels

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@nworbmot

1 year

while most studies consider Fischer-Tropsch for kerosene, methanol is also in the running! methanol-to-kerosene is around 90% efficient, but not yet commercial going via methanol has big benefit that methanol synthesis can be run more flexibly than FT (big advantage with VRE!)

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

11 months

🚨 WiMi-Stellenausschreibung 🚨 Thema: Modellierung von Großwärmespeichern in der Fernwärme Wie speichern wir Wärme über Wochen oder sogar Monate, sodass diese während kalter Dunkelflauten zu niedrigen Kosten bereitgestellt werden kann?

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

How house can meet all energy demand: PV on roof battery, hydrogen, heat pump in cellar 0.42 €/kWh electricity by 2030 Not optimal from system point of view, but maybe at district level it's a winner? from @fz_juelich ( @KotzurLeander et al)

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

First integrated system planning for Europe at high resolution + high RES 🎉 - Shows cost-benefit of power grid expansion and hydrogen network - Can get away with neither, but costs more and needs local+dynamic pricing signals, more flexibility

Fabian Neumann

@fneum_

1 year

Does Europe need a hydrogen network? 🇪🇺💧🍃⚡️ Not strictly, but it may be cheaper, especially when power transmission reinforcements fail to materialise. New open-access paper in @Joule_CP with #PyPSA 🪡 📖🔓

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Cycling avoids sourcing CO2. Synthesis losses are partly offset by no need for compression and high efficiency of Allam (MeOH round-trip eff. is 35% versus 38% for H2). Methanol can be stored in aboveground tanks, just like oil. A single 200,000 m3 tank can store 880 GWh.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

Nice paper shows that including decades of weather data reveals longer periods of wind and solar than typical years contain (dreaded D-word) => more long-term storage needed for VRE systems Extreme events and inter-annual variability need to be considered! few comments...

Oliver Ruhnau

@OliverRuhnau

3 years

The final version of our paper " #Storage requirements in a 100% #renewable electricity system: extreme events and inter-annual variability" is now published in Environmental Research Letters 🎉 Joint work with @QvistStaffan @IOPenvironment #energytwitter

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

We need carbonaceous fuels for big chunks of shipping, aviation and chemicals Methanol can serve all of these Flexible, distributed synthesis from wastes and residues (topped up with green H2, "bio-e-methanol") => minimise direct air capture, and transport of fiddly gases

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor budget is now up 1.5 billion to a total of 12.4 billion, start date now slipped from 2022 to 2023 Original budget was 3.3 billion, original start date was 2012 Le Monde have helpfully updated their chart:

Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Le Monde has visualised the budget overruns and delays of the Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor. Originally planned to open in 2012 at a cost of 3.3 billion euros, current estimates are that it will open in 2022 at a cost of 11 billion (could be revised up).

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

To wrap up: - e-methanol with carbon cycling is promising for long-duration storage - especially where hydrogen storage is tricky due to geology - will need methanol anyway for e.g. shipping and industry - granular tech => iterations => learning - More research needed!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

C. Darwin: an "admirable speech" In 1863, William Armstrong advocates: - end of coal - efficiency - electrification - renewables (he developed first hydro power) - open data - technological learning ("tendency of progress is to quicken progress")

Armstrong's Admirable Speech

The 150th anniversary of Armstrong's Admirable Speech was delivered at the King's Hall, University of Newcastle as part of the British Science Festival.…

vimeo.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

in cost-effective net-zero scenarios almost everything gets electrified but some thorny sectors remain: dense fuels for long-distance shipping and aviation; feedstocks for chemicals @Maersk sailed a container ship with green methanol, has ordered lots

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

None of these ideas are new; ideas of a methanol economy have been circulating since the 1980s (Asinger, Olah, etc.). Novelty is to put them in updated net-zero context, remove daft bits like coal-to-methanol and methanol for land transport.

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@nworbmot

3 years

@AukeHoekstra @myszak64 @AdivonPoes @BILD @EnzoDiependaal @EmielVanDruten In general the paper seems over-complicated and amateurish for its simple message and would not have been published in an energy economics journal.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

my email inbox

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

ok, now for the basics methanol, MeOH, CH3OH, is a liquid up to 65 C liquid => store in tanks, transport by vehicle/pipeline burns more cleanly than other fuels (no soot or SOx, low NOx) synthesised from CO, CO2 and H2 (already at megaton scale in China) don't drink it!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

The Joint Research Centre of the @EU_Commission has put its energy model data online with an open licence! This is a big deal! This represents decades of work to gather data on all sectors of the European energy system. Now others don't have to start from scratch. @openmod

Wouter Nijs

@WouterNijs

5 years

It's a special day: the online JRC-EU-TIMES is 3 clicks away! First #OpenData European multi-sectoral energy system model. I challenge you all to make your own #EuropeanGreenDeal together with @IEA_ETSAP partners. Cooperate and cocreate!!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Yes, the synthesis of methanol adds losses to chain of conversion, but you also save e.g. the compression losses of transporting and storing gases like hydrogen. If carbon comes from sustainable biogenic sources, cost can be 70-90 EUR/MWh

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@nworbmot

5 years

Even better (personal view), given the enormous costs of climate change and the health impacts of fossil fuels, let's focus less on system cost, and more on speed of change: how do we overcome inertia and get this done as soon as possible? /End

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Fantastic to see PyPSA-Earth develop in parallel to PyPSA and PyPSA-Eur. Congrats to @maxparzen , @euronion42 , @martacki , @fneum_ , @AKiprakis & team! To paraphrase @rufuspollock : "The best thing to do with your open project will be thought of by someone else" #freethemodels

MaxParzen

@maxparzen

2 years

🐍💻The world's first peer-reviewed, open, global-coverage electricity model generator using high-resolution open data, open source and an open community. Now you can model any country using #python , OS energy system optimization framework #pypsa and high-resolution #open data🧵

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 New research position looking at the design and value of 24/7 clean energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) in collaboration with @Google Suitable for: PhD student/Postdoc Deadline: 12 Nov 2021 Duration: 2 years Details:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

The European electricity and gas grid operators @ENTSO_E and @ENTSOG have released their new scenarios for 2020-2050, used for grid planning 1st time for TYNDP: 1.5C Paris-compliant scenarios & integrated coupling gas <-> electricity Quick takes below

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Anyone for low-cost, abundant enhanced geothermal energy?

Christian Breyer 🦣

@ChristianOnRE

4 years

Geothermal energy can contribute much to #EnergyTransition #100RE according to @UniLUT results . Findings indicate 4600 GW potential for not more than 50 €/MWh. @ArmanAHosseini @ProfStrachan @mzjacobson @CKemfert @EGEC_geothermal @BrianVad @gelderon52

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

There are even funky concepts around to capture the CO2 on board the ship (using a reformer - the hydrogen goes to a fuel cell) and bring it back to land for synthesis

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

2 years

What might green hydrogen and derivative products like ammonia, methanol and kerosene cost in the future? 🫧 To celebrate the publication of our paper, we've built an interactive website so you can explore the cost drivers yourself:

euronion

@euronion42

2 years

🚨Study on future options and costs of energy imports for Germany🚨 Our study comparing future options for energy imports to Germany and their costs has finally passed peer-review and is now published. A thread 🧵

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

#EnergyTwitter hive mind, can you help me fill out these statistics: Largest isolated system to run regularly for hours with above x% of wind and solar: 70%: Ireland (peak load 6.8 GW) 80%: guessing: Kauai, Hawaii (peak load 80 MW) 90%: Tokelau (peak load 1 MW) 100%: Tokelau

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

🚨 modelling job 🚨 What infrastructure do we need for climate neutrality? How do we secure it against uncertainty (delayed network upgrades, industry relocation, hydrogen volumes, tech availability, etc.)? If this is your jam, come work with us!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

3 years

1. Market value of solar can go below its cost in the current market design, requiring subsidies 2. Solar can be cost-optimal to decarbonise the Californian power system BOTH can be true We need to decarbonise fast, so stop fretting about market value

James Temple

@jtemple

3 years

California is nearing a major – & under-appreciated – roadblock in its quest to produce 60% of the state's electricity from renewables, as excess solar supply during sunny times undermines the economic case for building more plants:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

6 years

some comments on a recent article by @jtemple tl;dr of article: relying on LiIon batteries to balance 100% renewable energy is very expensive tl:dr of my comments: agreed, instead electrolyse hydrogen, cheap to store over months, then feed back to grid

The $2.5 trillion reason we can’t rely on batteries to clean up the grid

Fluctuating solar and wind power require lots of energy storage, and lithium-ion batteries seem like the obvious choice—but they are far too expensive to play a major role.

www.technologyreview.com

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

11 months

Excited to see this novel methanol synthesis demo go ahead! Homogeneous catalysis in the liquid phase => lower temperatures and pressures => more flexible, more modular Just what we need for green methanol!

C1 - Circular Carbon Chemistry

@C1greenchemical

1 year

Today, we make industrial history. In 1923, BASF celebrated the first #methanol production based on #coal in Leuna, Germany. We return there 100 years later to build the world's first industrial-grade pilot-plant for cost-efficient #greenmethanol ⚗️

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

"Companies get away with bad planning, hiding their cherry-picked assumptions in models nobody can see. This erodes confidence and costs consumers dearly" Fab overview by @pfairley , takes from Christine Brandstätt, Aaron Schwartz @RockyMtnInst , GenX ++

E.U.: Climate-Proof Grids Require Open Standards

“Black box” U.S. energy planning hinders renewable energy development

spectrum.ieee.org

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Critical of standard techno-economic energy modelling paradigms? I have the intersectional conference for you! THE MODELLING OF ENERGY TRANSITION CULTURES / VISIONS / NARRATIVES October 2021, registration deadline 31.05.2021

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@nworbmot

1 year

M2X Energy is building small modular reactors 😂 to convert fossil flare gas to methanol Again note scaleability of methanol, and transportability - lack of easy transport of methane is why it's flared in 1st place Methanol is the distributed solution!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Podcast with @anthony_wang4 on off-grid e-methanol. Totally agree! - Bulk H2 should be soaking up stranded wind and solar assets (either off-grid or excess above limited grid connection, but NOT clogging grid) - Methanol is the all-rounder we need (liquid, feedstock, etc.)

David Roberts

@drvolts

1 year

Today on Volts: I get deep in the weeds with a researcher-cum-entrepreneur who is building a business that uses off-grid renewables to electrolyze green hydrogen that is then combined with captured CO2 to make methanol. So many ins & outs & what-have-yous!

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

1 year

Excellent comparison of cost assumptions going into recent green hydrogen studies! Just the kind of transparency we need. #freethemodels One thing to consider is that there are costs on offtaker side to having a variable supply of hydrogen. Need storage or flexible demand.

Jesse D. Jenkins

@JesseJenkins

1 year

How much would it cost to ensure electrolytic #hydrogen production is truly low-carbon? Debates about how to implement rich new clean H2 subsidies in the 🇺🇸🇪🇺🇨🇦🇦🇺, etc. may hinge on the answer. A new ZERO Lab report compiles the best available evidence:

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

5 years

Arrgh, even at $40-50/MWh for operating cost, keeping existing nuclear is a good deal! Not comparable to wind/solar with paltry $5/MWh for "firming", that won't firm anything on windless days in the cold of winter.

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@nworbmot

1 year

In Denmark several projects are currently underway (BioReFuel and eSMR-MeOH) using biogas, adding electrolytic hydrogen to soak up the excess carbon, to produce e-biomethanol.

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

I missed this in August: a new project using oxygen from water electrolysis for oxyfuel cement production, which makes for much easier carbon capture. @thyssenkrupp_en also looking at this, but can you retrofit existing cement plants easily/cheaply?

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Tom Brown

@nworbmot

4 years

Dear lecturers: please make your teaching materials freely available online, preferably with an open licence. Even if they're not perfect (mine certainly aren't), you never know who might profit from them. Nice job @paczyzak ! #freethelectures

Paweł Czyżak

@paczyzak

4 years

Over the weekend I did a small exercise on RES variability using the @plotlygraphs framework and data from @energyinstratPL 😍 inspired by @nworbmot 's fantastic lectures on energy modelling. Check out the interactive charts here: (Python source code too!)

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