Gleanings: the energy transition

On creating building codes

Testimony of Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was cited in an op/ed about building codes published in the New York Times this week.

The essay, by Justin Gillis, formerly a climate change reporter for the Times, built the case for unhealthy influence over updating of the building codes created by the International Code Council. The codes produced by the council are the basis for those adopted by most state and local governments. A 2019 Colorado law required that local jurisdictions use one of the three most recent updates.

This year’s update delivers a 10% increase in efficiency requirements after stalled progress for much of the last decade. “Compared to the 1980s, buildings going up under the new code will be roughly 50% more efficient, showing what kind of progress is possible.”

There’s a question about whether the builders have undue influences over creation of the codes. Gillis suggests lack of transparency—and notes the objection of Polis.

“By removing the state and local government voices,“ Polis wrote in a letter to the group on Dec. 22, “the public -interest purpose of the code development process will be substantially weakened.”

Fracking scrutiny in New Mexico

New Mexico’s latest state climate impact report found that oil-and-gas industry accounts for 53% of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

The state Oil Conservation Division is considering methane rules that would ban routine flaring and venting of natural gas, reports the Albuquerque Journal.

The story also focused on water use in New Mexico by the drilling industry. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has made southeast New Mexico part of one of the most lucrative and productive oil basins in the world.

Several bills have already been introduced into the New Mexico Legislature this winter. Another would place a four-year moratorium on new drilling permits. One would prohibit any freshwater use for fracking.

Biden’s impact on Wyoming

President Joe Biden signed an order on Wednesday extending a moratorium on new leases for oil and gas operators drilling on federal lands.

“The United States and the world face a profound climate crisis,” the order stated. “We have a narrow moment to pursue action at home and abroad in order to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of that crisis and to seize the opportunity that tackling climate change presents.”

What will be the impact on Wyoming. Writing in the Casper Star-Tribune, energy writer Camille Erickson reported that 51% of oil production and 92% of natural gas production in Wyoming comes from federal mineral leases, compared to 10% overall on federal lands nationally.

Operators with existing federal leases will still be able to use hydraulic fracturing to extract oil and natural gas. Drilling on private land can continue. Depending upon how long the moratorium continues, drilling will likely decline over time in Wyoming, a state that has become heavily dependent upon revenues from the oil and gas industry as revenues from coal decline. But during the latter part of the Trump presidency, operators snagged leases, so the impact won’t be immediate.

About half the $438 million from lease sales in Wyoming by the Bureau of Land Management in the last four years has been returned to Wyoming.

In 2019, the oil and gas industry says it provided $1.67 billion to state and local governments. The largest share, $740 million, was to K-12 education.

Price of cobalt jumps

The Wall Street Journal reports a 20% rise in the price of cobalt since the beginning of the year, showing how the rush to build more electric vehicles is stressing global supply chains. Energy-dense cobalt is used to stabilize batteries by protecting the battery’s cathode from corrosion that can lead to fire.

A majority of the world’s cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and carried overland to South Africa, where it is shipped from a port to China, before the material goes to battery makers. That means the supply chain has several chokepoints that are vulnerable to disruption.

Electric delivery vehicles

Makers of electric vans have a stronger business case than most, reports the Wall Street Journal. The evidence? Rivian Automotive raised $2.65 billion to a $27.6 billion valuation fund its rollout of EVS, including a delivery vehicle for e-commerce giant Amazon.com, which holds a stake in the startup.

General Motors said it was creating a new company, BrightDrop, to focus on selling EVs to the delivery market. It expects to ship 400 units to its launch partner, FedEx, later this year.

The Journal goes on to explain that electric vans are at the confluence of two big trends: the rise of e-commerce, and vehicle electrification. UPS, DHL, and FedEx have all committed to reducing their carbon emission and need electric vehicles.

“There is financial logic here in addition to environmentalism,” the Journal explains. Unlike most people driving passenger cars, delivery vans don’t need batteries with the range for longer distances.

Too, says the story, in the Heard on the Street section of the Jan. 23-24 issue, the facility with which software can be integrated into the overwhelming electronic systems benefits fleet operators.

“Logistics is a data business. The more tools for cost-efficient routing, driving, loading and the like that manufacturers can offer fleet owners, the more business they will attract.”

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