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Target Industry and End-Uses of Green Fuels
DavidPoli
Posts: 39 XPRIZE
We at XPRIZE are considering pursuing a competition that would incentivize the creation of low-emissions fuels that could replace fossil fuels and accelerate decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors. When thinking about the judging in such a competition, it might be important to incorporate the use of that fuel in a specific application, such as industrial processing or long-haul transportation.
What end-use for a low-emissions fuel, and in what industry, would be most impactful for XPRIZE to ask competitors to demonstrate? What end-uses could potentially support multiple industries? The challenge would be to select applications that have the potential to scale to a level that significantly accelerates decarbonization, but can be demonstrated at a scale that is accessible to the small and medium-sized innovators that XPRIZE seeks out.
What end-use for a low-emissions fuel, and in what industry, would be most impactful for XPRIZE to ask competitors to demonstrate? What end-uses could potentially support multiple industries? The challenge would be to select applications that have the potential to scale to a level that significantly accelerates decarbonization, but can be demonstrated at a scale that is accessible to the small and medium-sized innovators that XPRIZE seeks out.
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The most successful cases for fuel decarbonisation are those of Ethanol in Brazil and BioDiesel in Germany; both were linked with local agricultural production and pushed with strong government incentives. I would advise researching and investigating more on those to better understand how these could develop. A few years ago, there was a push for coal extracted fuels, which had a lower content of emitters than alternatives in places with considerable coal resources such as South Africa, where they could manufacture jet fuel with it. Another source of fossil fuels with less carbon than the alternatives set to pick up a few years ago was liquified gas/petroleum fuels. Countries like Trinidad and Tobago, which had sizable gas reserves but a relatively small local market, invested much in this technology. As you can see, there have been many successful cases in the past. Still, all have been tied to strong governmental support while utilising local competitive advantages to the utmost of their capacities.
Before Electric Vehicles started picking up, there was much interest in alternative fuels such as other biomass (like coming from wood pellets), water for hydrogen with electrolysis, etc. The short term interest for these new alternatives has decreased.
Potentially there are a lot of opportunities for green fuels and that includes all of the uses we currently have for fuel, e.g.
Approaches that make use of existing infrastructure could, potentially, scale up rapidly, e.g. a green fuel that is compatible with the existing natural gas network into homes and industry.
It would be wise to fully evaluate the life-cycle impact of new "green" fuels. Just like Newton's Laws of Motion, every action of society has a reaction (or impact) on the environment. For example, bio-fuels derived from dedicated farm land might mean less agricultural land is available for growing food. [A better option for such bio-fuels might be to dedicate land to food, and use the food and agricultural waste to derive bio-fuel. Hence nothing goes to waste.] Also, it's worth considering what environmental (and other) impacts are associated with developing, operating and decommissioning [and hopefully recycling] the associated infrastructure and facilities.
Thank you for the mention.
If I'm being honest, I would say that this kind of competition is, to put it lightly, the opposite of productive. There are already such fuels, and still we should focus more on moving away from such fuels as a common-use combustion energy product. I would suggest that any resources or time XPRIZE would put in such a prize would be far better spent in places like regenerative agriculture or ocean health.
I would be more than happy for any opportunity for further conversation on this.
> Hi @nastben, @gyyang, @Ruslana, @RegenTower, @marcelschreier, @CO2Cap_SysEng, @b0bbybaldi - In your opinion what would be target industry and end-uses of green fuels.
I guess most have been said by respectful colleagues. my opinion would be targeting industries like HVAC. Those sectors may not need high energy density in some places therefore could be easy to start with. But if we talk about ground breaking innovation other sectors like transportation etc could be within the picture.
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Then then, to produce fuels "of any kind" we require energy, it can be produced locally in large quantities, off-grid, on demand 24/7 and in ridiculously small spaces.
The potential can achieve energy self-supply, for example in the most modern steel industry plasma arc is required for smelting. The thermal applications of many industries for transformation processes can be replaced by gas or fuel oil towards zero emission electrical resistance systems, for example.
The solution is applicable for electric mobility of any type off-grid and without the need for batteries in electric vehicles because it would have a generator on board.
It is just a matter of imagining the matter. By the way, outside the cost of hardware and basic maintenance, the real energy cost is 1% against other energies including nuclear and the environmental cost is 0 as a finished product, considering outside the emissions generated in the manufacturing stages of the components that make up the solution and that are offset by the benefit that is offered.