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Search results for: “climate model”

  • Waste heat recovery: heat exchanger costs?

    Waste heat recovery: heat exchanger costs?

    Industrial heat comprises around 20% of global CO2 emissions, but around half of all heat generated may ultimately be wasted.ย Hence, this model simplifies the economics of using a heat exchanger to recover waste heat. A CO2 price above $50/ton would greatly accelerate waste heat recovery projects.

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  • Transporting green hydrogen as ammonia or toluene?

    Transporting green hydrogen as ammonia or toluene?

    Green hydrogen could be converted into ammonia, shipped like LPGs, then cracked back into green hydrogen in a developed world country. The best case costs are around $10/kg, while generating an IRR of 10%, with full, round-trip energy efficiency of c60%.

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  • Exhaust gas recirculation in gas power: the economics?

    Exhaust gas recirculation in gas power: the economics?

    This data-file explores an alternative design for a combined cycle gas turbine, re-circulating exhaust gases after combustion, in order to facilitate CO2 capture. Costs and operating parameters are summarized from recent technical papers. Even with EGR, it will be challenging to decarbonize a gas turbine for less than $100/ton.

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  • Turbo-charge gas turbines: the economics?

    Turbo-charge gas turbines: the economics?

    This data-file models the economics of turbo-charging gas turbines, which increases the mass flow of combustion air, to improve their power ratings by c10-20%. IRRs are solid. Turbo-charged gas turbines could thus gain greater share as grids become saturated with renewables

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  • Biomass power: costs, levelized costs and BECCS?

    Biomass power: costs, levelized costs and BECCS?

    This data-file captures the economics of producing wood pellets, generating electricity from biomass, and potentially also building a further CCS facility to yield ‘carbon negative power’ (which is nevertheless more CO2 intensive than burning gas!). Our numbers are backstopped by industry data, including 340 US biomass plants.

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  • Geothermal energy: costs and economics?

    Geothermal energy: costs and economics?

    Geothermal energy costs are modelled from first principles in this data-file. LCOEs of 6c/kWh are available in geothermal hotspots. Outside of the hotspots, enhanced geothermal heat can cost 2-14c/kWh-th for a 10% IRR on $500-5,000/kW-th capex, while a rule of thumb is that geothermal electricity costs 5x geothermal heat.

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  • Room for reforestation: a database of global land use?

    Room for reforestation: a database of global land use?

    The purpose of this data-file is to provide helpful data on how land is used globally, and thus to quantify how much land is available for nature based solutions such as reforestation. Deep-dive details are provided on degraded land, agricultural land, natural ecosystems and reforestable lands.

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  • Electric arc furnaces for lower-carbon steel production?

    Electric arc furnaces for lower-carbon steel production?

    Electric arc furnaces generate enormous amounts of heat to recycle scrap steel, with 85% lower CO2 emissions than primary steel production. Our base case model yields a 15% IRR at $475/ton steel prices and a 10c/kWh power price. However, IRRs could be uplifted 2-6pp by integrating with renewables.

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  • Photovoltaic silicon: the economics?

    Photovoltaic silicon: the economics?

    This model breaks down the costs of photovoltaic silicon, which explains $0.1/W of a $0.3/W solar panel. There is no way silicon producers are making economic returns below $12.5/kg mono-crystalline polysilicon prices. The average kg of PV silicon in a solar panel is also most likely associated with 140kg of direct CO2.

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  • Landfill gas: the economics?

    Landfill gas: the economics?

    We estimate that a typical landfill facility may be able to capture and abate 70% of its methane leaks for a CO2-equivalent cost of $5/ton. Other landfill gas pathways get more complex and expensive. Raw and unprocessed landfill gas can be economical to commercialize at a cost of $2-4/mcfe.

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