From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   The Five Things Keeping Us From Going All-Electric   
   By Amy Myers Jaffe, July 23, 2023, WSJ   
   Electrification is all the buzz.   
      
   As more governments, corporations, investors and consumers commit to reducing   
   the world’s reliance on carbon-intensive fossil fuels, they are frequently   
   turning to electricity as the power of choice. The International Renewable   
   Energy Agency, an    
   intergovernmental organization, projects that close to half of world energy   
   consumption could be in the form of electricity by 2050, up from about 20%   
   today.   
      
   It makes sense: Electrification is often the fastest and cheapest way to   
   decarbonize our energy consumption. The technologies to decarbonize   
   electricity already exist and are, for the most part, readily deployable at a   
   large scale by the private sector.   
      
   But here’s a sobering fact about all the talk of the “electrification of   
   everything”: It isn’t likely to happen. At least, not soon. We can’t go   
   all the way down the electrification road for a host of reasons—nor should   
   we want to. For one    
   thing, it would place unnecessary limitations on other viable solutions to   
   rising greenhouse-gas emissions. It also ignores existing technical,   
   regulatory and strategic constraints on electrification.   
      
   None of this is to say the world shouldn’t be shifting to new—and   
   cleaner—electricity. And not just because of its role in fighting climate   
   change. Among other things, electrification via renewable energy is playing a   
   pivotal role in energy    
   security for a variety of countries where oil and gas is scarce and expensive,   
   and where volatile fuel prices threaten economic growth and fiscal stability.   
   Clean energy helped Germany and other European countries cope with the loss of   
   natural-gas    
   imports from Russia last year. New clean energy is also helping key economies   
   like China and India reduce air pollution.   
      
   But even with its environmental and strategic benefits, electrification   
   won’t be the be-all and end-all for the foreseeable future.   
      
   Here are five reasons why:    
      
   1. Some things can’t be electrified   
   There are a lot of industries that are too difficult or expensive to be   
   electrified for the foreseeable future. Do you want to know why there is no   
   major commercial airline currently operating electric long-distance flights?   
   It’s because the battery    
   weight needed to hold enough energy for a trans-Atlantic flight would be   
   greater than that of the airliner itself.   
      
   The weight of the battery and driving range is also a barrier for electrifying   
   18-wheeler trucks, though that electrification technology is further along   
   than that for large jets. Freightliner has a big rig called eCascadia, but its   
   range is only 250    
   miles, recharging takes over 90 minutes, and the e-truck is two to three times   
   more expensive than its diesel-fuel version.   
      
   That may change as the battery and charging-station technology develops. A new   
   study by the Environmental Defense Fund says that long-distance battery   
   electric trucks could be cost effective by 2030, but other solutions are also   
   possible by then, such as    
   hydrogen, waste-to-energy, biofuels and tailpipe capture. (More on that in a   
   moment.)   
      
   High-heat industrial processes, such as those for blast furnaces, cement kilns   
   and petrochemical plants, are another commercial activity that will be hard to   
   electrify, because electric high heat can be challenging and expensive for   
   some industrial    
   applications.   
      
   One key problem is that any unplanned downtime or fluctuation in temperature   
   levels—caused by electrical fluctuations or disruptions from weather,   
   accidents or a failed circuit breaker—not only can ruin the end product but   
   also possibly damage    
   billions of dollars of industrial equipment. While that scenario can be   
   averted with automated backup energy systems, as is done routinely for nuclear   
   plants to prevent a meltdown, it’s still an expensive add-on cost.   
      
   2. Cheaper alternatives may be coming for the most difficult-to-electrify areas   
   Electric power doesn’t have a monopoly on innovation. As a result, it could   
   be risky for some industries to invest in some electrical solutions at the   
   moment, knowing there might be a superior, cheaper technical solution down the   
   road. Alternatives    
   such as biofuels, hydrogen or biogas and fossil fuels with carbon   
   sequestration offer the potential to be superior sources of power.   
      
   For instance, Remora, a startup based in Wixom, Mich., is designing a device   
   that can collect tailpipe CO2 directly while a truck is in operation,   
   compressing it for later sequestration or sale. Several airlines have started   
   to use jet fuel made from    
   purified biogenic waste that can be mixed with oil-based diesel    
   uel—so-called drop-in fuels that don’t require special or new   
   fuel-transport infrastructure. Hydrogen made from renewable energy also could   
   eventually be a solution for fueling planes    
   and trucks.   
      
   Heidelberg Materials, a global manufacturer of building materials, is studying   
   carbon capture and storage for its Mitchell, Ind., operations that would allow   
   it to continue to use a fossil-fuel energy source while adding equipment that   
   would separate CO2    
   emissions from other waste gases before, during and/or after combustion   
   activities. Heidelberg would then transport its waste CO2 to be permanently   
   injected into deep geological storage or to be reused making other products in   
   a way that it doesn’t    
   wind up back in the atmosphere.   
      
   These examples have the advantage of using existing energy infrastructure   
   rather than retiring it before its end-of-life service.    
      
   3. Access to land, a surfeit of complaints   
   Yes, there is plenty of uninhabited land in many countries, and especially in   
   the U.S. But uninhabited doesn’t always spell accessibility.     
      
   For one thing, in highly urbanized regions or densely populated countries, it   
   can be difficult to find sufficient empty land to support alternative-fuel   
   installations. Around the world, in places as diverse as India and Africa,   
   renewable-energy    
   developers often have trouble getting permits to buy or lease the necessary   
   acreage. And in many areas, including the U.S., local populations can object   
   to living near wind and solar farms, or near the power transmission and   
   distribution lines that they    
   require.   
      
      
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