It’s Good News Monday!
This Monday we talk about:
USS Kidd Arrives in Washington Flying a Pirate Flag
Why hydrogen lies at the heart of future fuels
Innovation and engineering in bp: experience isn’t everything
China Pledges to Be Carbon Neutral By 2060
Image Credit: gCaptain
The USS Kid, one of the U.S. Navy’s guided-missile destroyers showed up in its homeport in Washington with millions worth of drugs and a “Jolly Roger” pirate flag. “During their deployment, Kidd’s sailors aided in the recovery of 805 kilograms of suspected cocaine worth over an estimated wholesale value of $30 million; rendered assistance to a fishing vessel in distress, towing the vessel over 200 nautical miles to safety; battled a bout of COVID-19; and participated in a passing exercise (PASSEX) with the El Salvadoran navy.”
As for the pirate flag, the first vessel to bear the name USS Kidd has quite a story behind it as it was named after an Admiral who was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. We don’t want to just repeat the story here, but we highly recommend checking out the article on gCaptain as well as the fascinating history of the first USS Kidd from 1945 including in the Pacific, the Korean War, and finally restored as a museum.
Grzegorz Pawelec from Hydrogen Europe talks about how hydrogen will power future vessels and the promise of liquid hydrogen and ammonia. With the exception of biofuels, all future fuels start with hydrogen. As the maritime industry moves away from oil-based fuels, hydrogen is the next step. The current question is how to create widely available clean hydrogen, but some of that has been done with auxiliary power units, and now larger applications are materializing. “Earlier this year, the Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking, of which we are partners, announced a call for a project for a liquid hydrogen, multi-megawatt vessel and it quickly became one of the most fiercely competitive calls of all the topics, so the interest is there.”
Since vessels built now will likely still be in service in 2050, the year many companies have chosen as net zero, alternative fuels like hydrogen need to be adopted quickly. Ammonia is the cheapest solution available right now, due to synthetic fuels requiring carbon molecules. However, the more expensive fuels have better energy density properties, meaning less space taken up by fuel and more available for cargo. Cheaper fuels can be a good source of fuel for short routes, while more expensive synthetic fuels can be used for longer trips.
Image Credit: bp
“David Eyton, executive vice president of innovation and engineering, on gathering our scientists, digital experts, entrepreneurs and business builders into a single team with a purpose – to take new ideas and then incubate and scale them”
bp has decided on a big change - with their commitment to net zero by 2050 earlier this year, they have to adapt and do things they’ve never done before. They are raising their investment in low-carbon by 10 times and looking for 50 gigawatts of renewables by 2030. These plans involve the hydrogen, batteries, carbon capture, and even AI, along with new technologies that turn trash into jet fuel. bp even plans to have “created 10-15 new digitally-led businesses, each with billion-dollar potential.” Partnerships with companies like Google and Tesla, along with startups will help. Check out the video in the article for more information from David Eyton and his new role.
Image Credit: gCaptain
President of China, Xi Jinping announced they are accelerating their Paris Agreement climate targets. Peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 is a big change for China, as historically pollution has been high.
Extreme weather in the United States and China this year have caused massive Chinese flooding, one of the biggest hurricane seasons in the U.S., and of course huge wildfires in the western U.S.
“Although many analysts have predicted that China was already on track to achieve peak emissions by 2030, the formal announcement was welcomed by the European Union, which has been negotiating with China to set a target for carbon neutrality and to announce a peak date. The EU had been urging Beijing to bring the date forward to 2025.
‘I welcome the announcement by President Xi that China has set a date for its CO2 emissions to peak and will become carbon neutral before 2060,’ said Frans Timmermans, vice president for the European Green Deal, while adding that every country needs to ramp up its climate targets.”
Smile, it’s Good News Monday! :-)