Heather O’Brian

Articles by Heather O’Brian. Visit Heather’s bio.

18 min
05/December/2023

The greening of steel

 Green hydrogen is set to have a significant role in decarbonising the steel industry. Policies are essential to help close the cost gap with production methods relying on fossil fuels and ensure that green steel plants come online in the next few years. Emerging Power-to-X technologies, in particular iron ore electrolysis, could also play a part
12 mins
06/July/2023

The complex world of industrial clusters

 Accounting for as much as one-fifth of overall CO2 emissions, industrial clusters are emerging as an attractive target for decarbonisation. With most of the focus on CCS and the hydrogen economy so far, industrial clusters are starting to see their ripples of impact spread further afield
11 mins
05/May/2023

The rise of the flexers

 The ability of consumers to adjust their electricity demand in response to price signals and system operator requirements has a fundamental role to play in the energy transition
12 min
16/March/2023

A new flight plan

 Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) acting as drop-in substitutes for the fossil fuel kerosene are expected to play a leading role in decarbonising aviation. They are currently produced with materials like used cooking oil and animal fat waste, but new low-carbon feedstocks are needed to scale up output and ensure future flights are truly sustainable
12 min
03/February/2023

Europe’s sleeping giant is waking up

 A country with significant renewables potential and one of the fastest-growing heat pump markets worldwide, Poland’s energy transition is being hampered by a stubborn coal fleet and grid limitations. A growing level of support and investment among the general public may help ease its path
14 min
01/December/2022

Not a silver bullet

 Carbon prices at sufficiently high levels can push firms to internalise the costs of greenhouse gas emissions while providing a long-term price signal to drive investments needed for decarbonisation. Emission trading systems and carbon taxes feature in a growing number of climate strategies, but even the most well-designed instruments must be accompanied by other policy measures if emissions reductions goals are to be reached
10 min
06/October/2022

The forgotten power of water

 The share of hydroelectric power in electricity generation is set to decrease as solar and wind come to dominate. Yet, hydropower has a crucial role to play in providing flexibility and storage for grids increasingly running on variable renewable energy resources
13 min
21/July/2022

Inertia’s new frontier

 As the amount of traditional inertia on our grid systems decreases with the shift to inverter-based resources like wind and solar photovoltaics (PV), system operators are increasingly seeking carbon-free alternatives for stabilising frequency
12 min
30/June/2022

Heavy industry plans to tread lightly

 The heavy industry sector has made significant progress in increasing energy efficiency in recent years and further gains are possible with greater electrification, digitalisation and changes in production processes. Meanwhile, material efficiency measures reducing demand for products like steel and cement offer major potential for energy savings for customers
14 min
07/June/2022

An efficient transition

 The energy transition is not simply a matter of replacing fossil fuels with zero-carbon alternatives. It will also be marked by a radical change in our relationship with energy and the spread of technologies like heat pumps and electric vehicles that can yield significant efficiency gains even before traditional energy savings measures come into play
10 min
04/March/2022

Venture capital takes a shine to the energy transition

 Venture capitalists are putting record amounts of money into climate tech, drawn by the opportunity to make money while fostering the innovation needed for decarbonisation. Digitalisation remains a focus, but investors are increasingly looking to tap into asset-heavy investment opportunities that are crucial to the energy transition
10 min
14/January/2022

Smart software platforms for smart grids

 The expansion of distributed energy resources has precipitated the rise of advanced software platforms to manage them. Virtual power plants and distributed energy resource management systems can help integrate renewables and low-carbon assets more smoothly while allowing value from the flexibility that resources like rooftop solar, battery storage, electric vehicles and heat pumps can also provide to be extracted
10 min
30/September/2021

More accurate energy certificates can drive green investment

 Time-stamped certificates would allow customers to know where their power is coming from at any given time and could provide another signal for investors by driving up prices for green energy certificates when supply is short. Regulators are taking steps to ensure that consumers signing up for green tariffs are really helping to progress the energy transition
10 min
04/June/2021

Carbon offsets can send emissions reductions efforts off course

 Offsetting emissions is fraught with problems and critics fear these programmes could distract from the real goal of keeping fossil fuels in the ground
9 min.
19/March/2021

New markets evolve to support SME transition

 Small businesses face a hard time decarbonising due to financial constraints, a lack of expertise and time, and technological hurdles. The rise of new business and financing models, plus a helping hand from larger companies, are helping them on the path to carbon neutrality
9 min.
27/July/2020

Renewables as grid flexibility tool gives glimpse of the future

 As economic activity declined under the pandemic so did demand for electricity. Fossil fuel generation was squeezed off the grid by renewable energy projects with lower marginal costs. Fears that the higher proportion of fluctuating supply would destabilise power systems proved unfounded and grids remained stable. If renewables are to be tasked with keeping the grid secure, alternative mechanisms, already available, must be introduced soon
8 min.
15/June/2020

A pale green bond for the energy transition

 The concept of transition bonds began as an idea to sell bonds that were difficult to market as green bonds, mainly natural gas bonds, but has evolved into an opportunity to accelerate decarbonisation efforts
6 min.
16/April/2020

Decarbonising data

 Information and communication technology accounts for more than 2% of global greenhouse emissions, as much as all air traffic
13 min.
Climate change is a social issue19/September/2019

Sustainable energy for all

 Climate change is a social issue
6 min.
15/August/2019

Down on the solar farm

 Cost benefit proved for combined solar and arable
3 min.
24/April/2019

Naked Energy

 A UK start-up believes its rooftop solar photovoltaic thermal technology can help decarbonise buildings
9 min.
Solar photovoltaic has clear potential to help decarbonise cooling and, in some climates, contribute significantly to the energy transition in heating22/April/2019

Solar PV for heating too

 Solar photovoltaic has clear potential to help decarbonise cooling and, in some climates, contribute significantly to the energy transition in heating
13-14 min.
Power capacity markets on both sides of the Atlantic face an uncertain future as flexibility becomes a hotter commodity than capacity.14/January/2019

Incapacitated markets

 Power capacity markets on both sides of the Atlantic face an uncertain future as flexibility becomes a hotter commodity than capacity.
8-9 min.
California is leading efforts to make the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles fair and just for all including low-income groups05/December/2018

Electric vehicles for everyone

 California is leading efforts to make the transition from combustion engines to electric vehicles fair and just for all including low-income groups
10-11 min.
Consumers will become more active market players as the amount of renewable energy in the grids increases, providing, for a fee, greater flexibility for power systems and increasing decarbonisation29/October/2018

Power On Demand

 Consumers will become more active market players as the amount of renewable energy in the grids increases, providing, for a fee, greater flexibility for power systems and increasing decarbonisation
8-9 min.
06/August/2018

A challenging marriage

 Placing wind and solar photovoltaic facilities on the same site may sound attractive in theory, but the reality is more complicated and many experts suggest this will only make sense in a limited number of cases
11-12 min.
20/April/2018

Gas in transition

 Cleaning up gas is key to its future in a decarbonised energy mix

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