The world runs on oil, whether we like it or not. How then, do we transition from fossil-based oil towards a sustainable future? This blog reveals why we are addicted, and provides the two forms of methadone needed to transform the transportation, buildings and industry sector.

Reducing carbon emissions in the shipping sector can be hard and expensive. Carbon insetting is a way to compensate for emissions that you are unable to mitigate within your normal operations - or are too costly to mitigate - but can be mitigated at other places in your fleet or the sector. Carbon insetting is simple, scalable and perhaps most importantly: almost all vessels can do it without the need for retrofitting or upfront investment costs.

An interview with Daniel Yergin, author of 'the Prize'. In this interview he claims that ‘the oil age will not be over for a long time’. Three weeks after this interview, Shell and BP announced they have reached peak oil.

Exxon has postponed development of the ‘LaBarge Carbon Capture and Storage’ project in Wyoming due to Covid-19. The company’s share price at one point during the pandemic dropped to an 18-year low, as oil prices cratered, throwing many plans across the industry for this year and beyond into turmoil. People familiar with Exxon’s CCS projects described it as a significant setback, because LaBarge was in an advanced state, used proven technology, and would have made money.

2021 will be the first year in which investments in European offshore wind will equal investments in oil and gas. Investors in the energy sector are increasingly opting for companies with a green profile. The pressure on fossil companies to limit their CO₂ emissions is now called an 'investment risk'. Moreover, the non-fossil energy companies such as Ørsted have structurally outperformed traditional companies such as Exxon-Mobil.

Four multinationals including Shell and Exxon aim to store CO₂ in an empty gas field off the Dutch coast and will apply for a subsidy at the end of this month. According to estimates, this subsidy could amount to around € 1.5 billion, which would cause other subsidies on ‘truly green projects’ to diminish.

2020 is already the worst year for the oil industry ever. Even major oil and gas CEOs agree there might be no recovery after this crisis, certainly not to the ‘good-old-days’. The transition is among us. Grossly speaking, there are two transition pathways for the industry to follow: a gradual or a rapid transition. A sudden collapse of the industry - called a carbon crunch - could lead to economic disaster of epic proportions.

Oil fueled the 20th century—its cars, its wars, its economy and its geopolitics. Now the world is in the midst of an energy shock that is speeding up the shift to a new order. The main risks of this transition that have the potential to destabilize geopolitics, are petro-states dependent on oil lashing out as they lose income and influence.

Up to 20% of our energy needs could be met by sustainably harvested biomass, in particular food and agricultural waste, as well as manure. Biomass could serve a crucial role in the energy transition by replacing gas and petroleum in (chemical) industry, aviation and maritime shipping.

How much energy do we need and what do we use it for? In this part, it is determined that the world needs 435 TWh per day, of which 87% comes from fossil fuels. This energy is needed in 3 sectors for 3 different purposes (3x3 energy rule). The sectors are transportation, industry and buildings. The purposes are heating, transport and electricity. Depending on the region, most of our energy is required in the transportation sector and for heating purposes.

How much biomass is produced each year and how much can we sustainably harvest? In the first part of this series, we find that the annual global production of land-based biomass is 50 billion tons, of which roughly 8 billion tons of biomass can be sustainably harvested each year. This is determined by dividing biomass into four distinct groups suitable for energy production: wood, agriculture, food waste and manure. For each group, the amount of annual ‘production’ and the amount suitable for sustainable ‘harvest’ is determined, adhering to the ‘food, feed, fiber first’ principle.

This article takes a deep-dive into the technical, economic and social trends that are transforming the energy market. In particular, how do human population growth and the rise of renewables play into the fossil fuel market, and what can we expect from exotic new technologies that have just entered the scene?

Easier than you might think. Seaport Groningen wants to create ‘Chemport Europe’, providing chemicals and fuels to the entire industry in the North of the Netherlands based on agricultural waste.

Even with examples abound from history, we underestimate the rate of change that can happen. The decline of the Fossils has a striking resemblance with the decline of the whaling industry.