China is winning the race whilst the US is going back to beautiful coal and stolen oil.
Faster, please.
The race is about new energy. An old gas plant is still cheap to operate. But when faced with the decision of building new capacity, solar is cheaper and its not close. New gas energy is grinding to a halt.
Old plants aren’t cheap enough to operate. The cost of gas and coal is expensive and ongoing. The plants are old and need increasing maintenance and costs are rising. Unless they can charge a premium they are money pits. Solar beats them hands down as once the capex is paid then the opex is trivial by comparison. It’s the preferred financial model.
Electric motors and heat pumps are far more energy efficient than their combustion counterparts. Solar and wind electricity can be generated in situ or transported via cable. No need to power ships and trucks for fossil delivery to refineries or fuel stations. Thus we will end up with less primary energy.
How does a heat pump helps you firing Portland cement, ceramics, melting glass and metal, fixating air nitrogen? And these are all 24/7 industrial processes.
As you say, these are industrial processes and need to be addressed by industrial solutions. There are new processes for steel, cement and fertiliser being developed and tested. They will move to mainstream as we electrify everything.
In cement production particularly: Pumps + co 2 capture = 5x efficiency in the process + negative carbon footprint
Add renewables and voila, best cement factory in the world
