The buzz and activity around renewable diesel (RD), a chemically identical “drop-in” replacement for traditional petroleum-based diesel, continues to grow. The goals with RD, which is produced from renewable feedstocks, are to reduce the need for petroleum and to lower life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions — critical steps in meeting climate agendas in many countries. Canada recently enacted legislation designed to promote the domestic production of RD as part of a broader emissions-reduction strategy. In today’s RBN blog, we take a tour of the newly emerging RD production sector in Canada and examine whether it could one day replace imports from the U.S.
Renewable Energy Analytics
There’s a new wind blowing in energy markets. Renewable supply sources, long considered a noble yet uneconomic cause when compared to traditional hydrocarbon markets, have now taken the forefront in new project development. Gone are the days when environmental impacts could be disregarded. In today’s world, companies’ outlooks are increasingly tied to their prospects for participating in the market’s green evolution, and those that don’t adapt will struggle to attract the capital needed for growth.
Renewable Energy Analytics (REA) has been developed by RBN to address the need for information in this burgeoning space. We cut through the noise and biased opinions to deliver the straight scoop on what actually works in renewable energy markets — and we’ll back it up with the economic and infrastructure fundamentals that underlie RBN’s foundational market analysis. The REA initiative is a vehicle for leveraging our expertise and knowledge of traditional hydrocarbons — oil, gas, and NGLs — into renewable sources like solar, wind, hydro-electric, and foremost in our new suite of analytics, hydrogen.
Don’t get lost in Hydrogen unit conversions.
Studio Session
It’s a Gas! CO2 – Watch the Replay!
If you missed our It’s a Gas: CO2 Studio Session, you’re in luck! A full REPLAY of the live session is now available, including the expert presentations, panel discussions, and Q&As led by RBN senior analysts and industry leaders. How are companies managing their carbon footprint, what infrastructure is needed to handle produced CO2, what government incentives and regulations are out there, how can CO2 be used in enhanced oil recovery (EOR), and what are the investment challenges facing the industry? Our speakers and panels address these questions and more.
You can also purchase the It’s a Gas: Hydrogen session or the entire It’s a Gas series, including the CO2, Hydrogen, and Propane sessions here.
Renewables Blogs
Wednesday, 3/15/2023
As the push for decarbonization in the transportation sector gathers momentum, electrofuels — also known as eFuels, which are produced by using electricity to combine the hydrogen molecules from water with the carbon from carbon dioxide (CO2) — are beginning to attract attention as an alternative fuel with three important selling points in today’s environment. First, eFuels are available now and can be made with current technology, although there is a lot of room for future improvements and growth. Second, because they are considered drop-in replacements, they are essentially indistinguishable from the fossil-based conventional fuels in use today, which means they can be used without any changes to the existing energy infrastructure. Third, they can capitalize on a rapidly growing set of hydrogen and CO2 suppliers eager to secure a diversified set of offtakers. In today’s RBN blog, we look at HIF Global’s approach to eFuels production, its demonstration plant in Chile and its big plans for Texas and beyond.
Tuesday, 3/07/2023
U.S. production of renewable diesel (RD) is rising fast and production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will soon follow suit, driven largely by federal and state incentives. But U.S. demand for both RD and SAF is growing at a more measured pace, mostly because they are throttled by a number of other governmental policies, including the level of blending mandates set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As we see it, the net effect of this disconnect between domestic supply and demand will be the U.S. becoming a net exporter of RD this year and a net exporter of SAF in 2025 — but only after a spike in SAF imports in 2023-24. Yes, it’s complicated, but with public-sector policies impacting both sides of the supply/demand scale, did you really expect it wouldn’t be? In today’s RBN blog, we look at two more energy products the U.S. will be exporting.
Wednesday, 2/22/2023
The lack of successful projects has long been a thorn in the side of the carbon-capture industry, with a few high-profile cases falling short of expectations for a variety of economic and technological reasons. When looking for a prime example of how a highly touted (and taxpayer-supported) project can still fall short, the Petra Nova facility southwest of Houston, which completed its three-year demonstration period shortly before being shut in 2020, often comes to mind. But now it’s just a few months away from getting another shot, courtesy of its new owner and recovering oil prices. In today’s RBN blog, we look at the impending restart of the Petra Nova project, how falling oil prices overshadowed its technical successes, and its importance to the carbon-capture industry.
Thursday, 2/16/2023
It’s not the most accurately named piece of legislation, but that doesn’t mean the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) might not have an outsized impact on everything from electric vehicles (EVs) and hydrogen production to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon-capture projects. There’s plenty of potential for things to happen in the long run, but before then, a lot needs to get done — including the rules and regulations that will guide the IRA’s implementation. In today’s RBN blog, we look at why the IRA remains a work in progress, the critical role that rulemaking will play, and potential impediments to the law’s long-term success.
