RMI Ambassador to Fiji, Hon. Albon Ishoda, recently sat down with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. to discuss the recent joint IMO submission by RMI and the Solomon Islands proposing a US$100/tonne carbon levy for the international shipping sector.

 

Amb. Ishoda's interview begins at 5 minutes, 45 seconds into the interview segment at the link below:

https://www.abc.net.au/radio-australia/programs/pacificbeat/pacific-beat/13232590 

Posted on - 2021-03-15

In pursuit of becoming the world's first paperless society, the Government of Tuvalu is interested in using blockchain technology to create a national digital ledger, which would place all of Tuvalu's data online using Bitcoin Satoshi Vision's (BSV) public ledger. Turning its cash economy toward digital currency is also under consideration by Tuvalu's Minister for Justice, Communications and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe.

While Tuvalu has only one bank and no credit card facilities, Kofe claims the benefits of transitioning to digital records will entail greater access and efficiency, but one of the biggest issues raised by Tuvaluans was the difficulty of accessing cash across Tuvalu's nine island groups, where reliable internet access is an ongoing challenge. 

The additional carbon footprint of international energy requirements to manage blockchain-related server demands should not be neglected, as well.

 

 

For additional details, please visit the link below:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/pacific/438341/tuvalu-chases-digital-immortality-on-a-blockchain 

Posted on - 2021-03-14

While hydrogen can be used only onboard very low powered / short-ranged vessels due to storage and handling issues, ammonia and methanol derived from hydrogen could see widespread use. Both fuels require a lot of tank space, but when obtained from green hydrogen produced by cheap solar photovoltaic (PV) or wind they would be either carbon free (ammonia) or carbon neutral (methanol).

Green electrofuels such as hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, as opposed to fossil fuels, are energy carriers - their production is very energy intensive.

• Cheap energy surplus will no longer be a surplus, and it will no longer be cheap as soon as there will be a need for it.
• The total system levelised cost of energy (LCOE) of offshore wind, the most vouched for VRE, is not cheap at all.
• VRE, by definition, are characterised by low capacity factors and they are not dispatchable (meaning they do not supply energy on demand, but only when they can). As a consequence of the low capacity factor VRE need to be massively over deployed in order to provide the necessary amount of energy, and that would still not be sufficient, as being non dispatchable, a massive energy storage infrastructure is also needed to ensure a steady and secure power supply. And this energy storage, whether that is batteries, thermal or pumped hydro, has consequential severe repercussions on LCOE, use of resources, emissions and other external factors.

In order to understand the implications of the above it should be recalled that:

• About 10 MWh are required to produce one ton of green ammonia.
• IMO GHG Study 2020 estimates for 2018 a total HFO equivalent consumption by global shipping and fishing fleets of about 339m tons. Considering fleet growth and increase in propulsion efficiency it can be estimated that by 2040 more than 425m tons of HFO equivalent will be needed, equating to about 1bn tons of green ammonia equivalent.

 

For additional details, please visit the link below:

https://splash247.com/producing-electrofuels-needs-a-reliable-cost-effective-energy-source/ 

Posted on - 2021-03-10