According to a report by the BBC:
"It's now "virtually certain" that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. That's something that no major climate science body expected at the start of the year."
We will be looking to COP28 to lead to some serious action...
"Guyana is now closer to launching its first major initiative in renewable energy. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently granted approval for construction of the US$45M Hope Wind Farm Project. This represents the first substantial utility-scale renewable energy initiative to be implemented in the new oil producing South American country.
According to project documents, the 25.2MW wind farm will generate over 80GWh per year, to be delivered to the Guyana Power and Light (GPL)’s grid according to the terms of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Grid Interconnection Agreement. This wind energy therefore represents over 10% of GPL’s gross total electricity generation, enough to supply 7000 homes with power."
Another article appeared in the Guyana Chronicle.
We look forward to GPL getting a PPA agreed.
Methane is a more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Fortunately it is less common. Recently satellites have been used to pin point sources with a view to stopping it from contaminating the atmosphere. Most is emitted by leaking oil facilities. Guyana is not on the map yet.
See this report from phys.org.
As the oil is extracted natural gas will also come with it. The amount and composition of the gas varies from well to well and time to time. However the gas is largely methane. It is not the same as 'cooking gas' which is propane or butane. Natural gas can be processed to produce 'cooking gas' and other products.
Large amounts of natural gas can be a real problem for the oil company. There seem to be four options for handling it. It is often reinjected back into the well which can increase the amount of oil available for extraction. This requires compressing the gas to force it back down into the well especially if the well is deep as it is for Guyana.
Secondly, to transport the gas to the shore which requires a pipeline on the sea bed which is a big project requiring time and resources to put in place. This may be the best option in the medium term. As I understand it transporting the gas by ship is not an option as this would require liquefying it first - a difficult and energy intensive operation.
Then there is venting which simply invisibly releases the gas into the atmosphere. This is sounds simple but is a very bad idea since methane is a powerful, potent greenhouse gas and will contribute to global warming. There would seem to be other potential hazards too as methane is invisible, inflammable and can be harmful.
I am unsure what the current status is here in Guyana regarding natural gas but hope this outline may help understanding. There is clearly no existing pipeline for gas. Reinjection and some flaring does take place.
An issue not mentioned above is leakage of methane. No matter how the gas is handled there will be some amount of leakage. It is the job of the oil company to minimise this as far as possible. Such is the concern about methane that satellites are being used to track sources of methane leaks.
Sources:
Natural gas for domestic demand by 2023
https://guyanachronicle.com/2019/11/07/natural-gas-for-domestic-demand-by-2023/
Natural gas
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_gas
Environmental Implications of Flaring and Venting in Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production
http://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/html/10.11648.j.ijema.20160406.13.html
Despite Their Promises, Giant Energy Companies Burn Away Vast Amounts of Natural Gas
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/climate/natural-gas-flaring-exxon-bp.html
"The climate math is brutally clear: While the world can't be healed within the next few years, it may be fatally wounded by negligence until 2020," said Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, founder and now director emeritus of the Potsdam Climate Institute.
The sense that the end of next year is the last chance saloon for climate change is becoming clearer all the time.
"I am firmly of the view that the next 18 months will decide our ability to keep climate change to survivable levels and to restore nature to the equilibrium we need for our survival," said Prince Charles, speaking at a reception for Commonwealth foreign ministers recently.
"One of the understated headlines in last year's IPCC report was that global emissions of carbon dioxide must peak by 2020 to keep the planet below 1.5C.
Current plans are nowhere near strong enough to keep temperatures below the so-called safe limit. Right now, we are heading towards 3C of heating by 2100 not 1.5."
"South America's second poorest nation is bracing for an oil boom that could catapult it to the top of the continent's rich list - and beyond. But can Guyana avoid the so-called oil curse and ensure that its newfound riches benefit all Guyanese?"
"Even if the present economics of oil added up (and they clearly don’t) the urgent need to halt global warming means oil will cease to be viable within a few years."
“We feel that the Green State is an extension of our moral commitment to ensuring that mother earth is protected and preserved. The Green State will ensure the promotion of harmony between humanity and between humanity and the habitat of our rich fauna. Guyana contributes to ensuring that the shield’s rich flora and fauna that its abundant water supplies and diverse ecosystems remain intact for the benefit of all humanity, and of course present and future generations.”
“Guyana’s forestry store nature’s delicate balance,” President Granger told the gathering, and said the country’s forests which cover 85% of its lands provide essential environmental services.
“Guyana is a net carbon sink… Guyana’s intact forests also reduce land degradation, enhance soil nutrients and promote water retention. Guyana therefore is a protector of mother earth, because these vital environmental services are provided by our forests,” President Granger further said.
'The green economy is defined as an economy that aims at reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities, and that aims for sustainable development without degrading the environment. It is closely related with ecological economics, but has a more politically applied focus.'It is said to include:
Renewable energyAnd regarding energy (and of special interest to us in Guyana):
Green buildings
Sustainable transport
Water management
Waste management
Land management
"Green economies require green energy generation based on renewable energy to replace fossil fuels as well as energy conservation and efficient energy use."So we have a long way to go in the energy sector.
"For civilization to continue sustainably, human beings must shift from fossil fuels to solar energy—despite the technical problems. And investments are needed in biotic and other low-energy innovations. But in the end, global energy consumption must be reduced by something on the order of 60 percent. This will require a number of profound non-technological changes. Energy equity must be established among the world's nations—people in wealthy countries should not, as they do today, use hundreds of times as much energy as people in the poorest countries."
"even if Google and others had led the way toward a wholesale adoption of renewable energy, that switch would not have resulted in significant reductions of carbon dioxide emissions. Trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach."They did not find a solution which would "be able to deliver a technology that could compete economically with coal". In other words there is no purely economic solution. According to the report:
"Let’s face it, businesses won’t make sacrifices and pay more for clean energy based on altruism alone. Instead, we need solutions that appeal to their profit motives."It seems that the time to learn some altruism is at hand. There is no easy, convenient solution available. Governments, indeed nations, need to face their responsibilities. Behaviours must change.
"The world needs a Plan B on climate change because politicians are failing to reduce carbon emissions, according to a UN report.
It warns governments if they overshoot their short-term carbon targets they will have to cut CO2 even faster in the second half of the century to keep climate change manageable"
"At a meeting in Berlin, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on Sunday released a report that found that nations still have a chance to fulfill the goal but must aggressively turn away from relying largely on fossil fuels such as coal for energy and replace them with cleaner energy sources such as solar and wind power. To reach their target of 3.6 degrees (2 degrees Celsius) over preindustrial levels, nations must work together to lower emissions 'by 40 to 70 percent' of what they were in 2010, the report said."
"Renewable energy sounds so much more natural and believable than a perpetual-motion machine, but there's one big problem: Unless you're planning to live without electricity and motorized transportation, you need more than just wind, water, sunlight, and plants for energy. You need raw materials, real estate, and other things that will run out one day. You need stuff that has to be mined, drilled, transported, and bulldozed -- not simply harvested or farmed."
"ECO1's R&D team has produced a DSSC prototype, made from scratch. This gives a boost to our aim to produce solar cells in Guyana, and the promotion of more sustainable lifestyles for Guyanese."