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2014 in Energy: The Year in Energy and Climate Change
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/533666/2014-in-energy-the-year-in-energy-and-climate-change/[font face=Serif][font size=5]2014 in Energy: The Year in Energy and Climate Change[/font]
[font size=4]The year saw dire predictions on climate change—and modest progress on renewables, carbon burial, and emissions agreements.[/font]
By David Talbot on December 26, 2014
[font size=3]In 2014, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued stark warnings in its latest assessment of climate science, projecting potentially catastrophic outcomes if greenhouse-gas emissions are not brought in check.
The IPCC found, among other things, that crops could be hard hit, something that is prompting nations like China to turn to genetically modified crops, including wheat, rice, and corn.
The U.N. also found that the cost of limiting greenhouse-gas concentrations to a level that would keep global warming under 2 °C could more than double if carbon capture and storage (CCS) isn’t deployed. The pronouncement was followed by the news that the first commercial coal plant with CCS had gone online, a project in Saskatchewan shown here. But that achievement also served to show how far away from mass implementation the technology remains.
With the U.N. warnings as a backdrop, renewable energy technologies continued progressing, albeit too slowly to make much difference. New projects included the commercialization of one of the most efficient solar panels yet made and the testing of turbines that capture strong winds at 1,000 feet.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]The year saw dire predictions on climate change—and modest progress on renewables, carbon burial, and emissions agreements.[/font]
By David Talbot on December 26, 2014
[font size=3]In 2014, the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued stark warnings in its latest assessment of climate science, projecting potentially catastrophic outcomes if greenhouse-gas emissions are not brought in check.
The IPCC found, among other things, that crops could be hard hit, something that is prompting nations like China to turn to genetically modified crops, including wheat, rice, and corn.
The U.N. also found that the cost of limiting greenhouse-gas concentrations to a level that would keep global warming under 2 °C could more than double if carbon capture and storage (CCS) isn’t deployed. The pronouncement was followed by the news that the first commercial coal plant with CCS had gone online, a project in Saskatchewan shown here. But that achievement also served to show how far away from mass implementation the technology remains.
With the U.N. warnings as a backdrop, renewable energy technologies continued progressing, albeit too slowly to make much difference. New projects included the commercialization of one of the most efficient solar panels yet made and the testing of turbines that capture strong winds at 1,000 feet.
…[/font][/font]
