Beyond Electrification:.
In essence, the proposed model here is the same as for repowering coal.We need to figure out how to make highly productive, manufactured products, in highly automated environments.
Ultimately, this would create the opportunity to move away from electricity generation, which is tethered to a transmission system and the electricity market, towards a commodities based system, focused around the production of a product which can be stored, transported and exported to global markets.This is how we can free up siting opportunities, and enable very scalable, offshore siting to really come into its own.. We should also be looking to appropropriate some of the existing petrochemical supply chain, adopting its relevant skills, and the existing oil and gas infrastructure, and moving these elements into a better space.We’ll make the adoption of new, clean fuels much more likely if we create drop-in, substitute fuels that can be produced at a comparable cost, with the same performance, as the fuels we use today, and then distribute them through the existing supply chain infrastructure.. Reducing risk as we decarbonise.
In other words, we want clean energy solutions which won’t require big behavioural changes, or huge investment in associated infrastructure.That’s how we’ll reduce risk, because such fuels won’t require the sequencing of a whole load of investments in order to make the product really work.
As with the desired shift to Modern Methods of Construction in the design and construction industry, we need to address the cultural blockers to the change, and lower the barrier to entry so that it becomes both the right thing to do, and an easy thing to do.. We want the transition to cleaner technologies and fuel sources to become an irresistible, straightforward decision for investors, which means making them more profitable, and working with the grain of human behaviour.
In the case of repowering coal power plants, the existing workforce is likely to be very interested in the prospect of another sixty years of highly profitable plant operation, but without the pollution and emissions.If we have to build new buildings, we must consider how many of the materials can be from reused products, components or buildings.
For example, where there are buildings being demolished on site or locally, materials can be sourced from these buildings, refurbished, and then used in the new building.Alternatively, a national circular economy should be developed to enable the sharing of good quality reused products..
Many structural elements, such as steel beams or concrete prefabricated floor slabs, have a life expectancy which far outlasts a building’s lifespan.By knowing these products are going to waste through the demolition of existing buildings, designers can incorporate these components into their design from the outset, using fewer new natural resources and raw materials..