Welcome to the Age of Electricity

Current conditions: Snow is falling in the mountains of North Carolina, where many are still without power • Severe weather warnings are in effect for nearly half of Australia • A coral bleaching alert has been issued for the eastern Caribbean, where the coral face a risk of “near complete mortality” due to high ocean temperatures.

THE TOP FIVE

1. IEA: The ‘Age of Electricity’ is upon us

The world is entering the “Age of Electricity,” with low-emission energy sources on track to generate more than half of the world’s electricity by the end of the decade, according to the International Energy Agency’s new World Energy Outlook. The report examines how the energy transition would look in three different scenarios: following current energy and climate policies, fulfilling all announced climate commitments, and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. “The energy outlook is complex, multifaceted and defies a single view on how the future might unfold,” the report says. Some facts and figures:

• 2 – percent by which global energy demand rose in 2023. Two-thirds of that was met by fossil fuels. But under current policies, the energy demand growth rate would slow by about half by 2030.
• 2 trillion – dollars being invested in clean energy projects annually, “almost double the combined amount spent on new oil, gas, and coal supply.”
• 560 – gigawatts of new renewable power capacity that came online in 2023, a record high.
• 60 – percent of the world’s new renewables capacity that China accounted for last year.
• 200 – clean energy trade measures introduced since 2020, up from 40 in the five years prior.
• 60 – cents currently spent on grids and energy storage per $1 spent on renewables. Parity is expected in the 2040s.
• 750 million – people lacking access to electricity, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. “Lack of access to energy remains the most fundamental inequity in today’s energy system.”
• 2.4 – degrees Celsius by which the world is on track to warm by 2100 under current policies.

Global energy-related CO2 emissions in different scenarios.IEA

2. IEA report puts data center power demand into context

The IEA’s report says the world should certainly be concerned about rising electricity demand overall, but it also conveys that perhaps we should all just calm down when it comes to data center load growth driven by the rise of generative artificial intelligence, wrote Heatmap’s Katie Brigham. The report demonstrates that on a global scale, data centers are pretty trivial compared to, say, the uptick in electric vehicle adoption or increased demand for cooling. By 2030 in the base case scenario, the IEA projects that data centers will account for less than 10% of global electricity demand growth, which is roughly equal to demand growth from desalination technologies, which we see much less hand-wringing about. By comparison, the combination of rising temperatures and rising incomes could create over 1,200 terawatt-hours of additional cooling demand by 2035, more than the entire Middle East’s electricity use.

3. Nearly 100 still missing in North Carolina

Ninety-two people are still missing in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene, Gov. Roy Cooper, said yesterday. So far 95 storm-related deaths have been confirmed in the state, and thousands of people are still without power and other basic amenities. Nearly 600 roads are still closed, though this represents an improvement on the 1,200 that were closed immediately after the storm swept through the state three weeks ago. More than $99 million has been paid out in individual FEMA aid. Meanwhile, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program has been drained of funds after Helene. “Until Congress appropriates additional funds, the SBA is pausing new loan offers for its direct, low-interest, long-term loans to disaster survivors,” the SBA said. Congress is currently in recess, and won’t return until after the presidential election.

4. U.S. power plant emissions declined in 2023

Emissions from America’s power plants fell 7% last year compared to 2022, according to the EPA’s annual Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. The analysis looks at reported emissions from more than 8,100 industrial facilities across the country. When compared to 2011 emissions from power plants, last year’s levels were 34% lower, “reflecting the long-term shifts in power sector fuel-stock from coal to natural gas.” On the flip side, emissions from oil and gas operations are rising. They were up 1.4% last year compared to 2022 and 16.4% on 2016 levels. For the ninth year in a row, Alabama Power’s James H. Miller Jr. Electric Generating Plant was the country’s largest single producer of greenhouse gas pollution in 2023.

5. Honda Prologue sees surge in Q3 sales

Honda has surprised analysts with its remarkable Q3 EV sales. The Honda Prologue, which only entered the U.S. market this year, was the fifth best-selling EV in the country. More than 12,600 of the all-electric SUVs were sold in the last three months. “Honda has been seen as a huge EV laggard for several years,” wrote Zachary Shahan at CleanTechnica. But its “reputation as a leader in fuel efficiency and hybrids made it an easy sell to get customers into its first serious full electric vehicle.” Patrick George at Inside EVs agreed: “This is a nice outcome for Honda's first modern EV, but perhaps it's not too surprising. American car buyers still tend to equate Honda and Toyota with being ‘green’ car companies since both were such pioneers in the hybrid arena.”

Honda

THE KICKER

Research suggests that simply exposing people to climate change conspiracy theories can make them significantly less likely to believe the scientific community agrees that humans are causing climate change, and less likely to engage in pro-environmental behavior.