RSS 1.0Publications - Payne Institute
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Ambitious EPA rules to face stark permitting realityPayne Institute Program Managers Anna Littlefield and Brad Handler, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how in early May EPA proposed major new carbon emissions standards for coal and many gas-fired electric power plants. Prominent among the options is carbon capture and storage (CCS)—this represents a unique and significant possibility for the technology. The proposal highlights the pressing need to accelerate permitting of CO2 pipelines and injection wells.
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China's consolidation of rare earth elements sectorPayne Institute student researcher Tinzar Htun writes about how today China is the biggest global supplier of rare earth elements (REEs), accounting for around 70 percent of global mine production (1.2 million tons) in 2022. More importantly, China holds the dominant role in the downstream process of REE, separating and processing. The partial shutdown of the Lynas facility in Malaysia will grant China near-exclusive control over the production and distribution of REEs in the global market.
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Applying post-quantum cryptography – survey and application of machine learningPayne Institute student researcher Mack Osborne writes about how quantum computing poses a considerable threat in the world of cyber security. Policy makers are largely unprepared for a post-quantum world, significantly due to a lack of understanding and awareness. The goal of this paper is to improve understanding and provide a new and effective way to analyze post-quantum cryptography, for researchers and security engineers alike.
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The mining boom is coming, but where can their workers live?Payne Institute Research Associate Caitlin McKennie writes about how building out a robust talent pipeline for the mining sector through providing quality jobs to workers and advancement opportunities (i.e., training, upskilling, and next skilling efforts) will be a central factor for ramping up domestic critical mineral production and strengthening U.S. energy security. Yet, the labor force associated with nonfuel mineral mining in the U.S. has remained roughly stagnate over the last five years, and aligns with new statistics coming from employers.
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Critical mineral mining and sustainable development in AfricaPayne Institute student researcher Mama Nissi Abanga Abugnaba writes about how as a continent with abundant natural resources, such as large reserves of vital minerals, Africa could play a critical role in facilitating the energy transition. This will be possible through a just energy transition that supports the retention of jobs, social aid for affected workers, upskilling of current employees, environmental restoration, and the development of local businesses. April 10, 2023.
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Burning landfill in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan detected by VIIRS NightfirePayne Institute Earth Observation Group Director Christopher Elvidge writes about a landfill burning in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan as seen through the VIIRS Nightfire satellite imaging systems as part of their global monitoring program.
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The regulation of CO₂ pipelines and ensuring public safetyThe 45Q tax credit is anticipated to play an important role in accelerating the expansion of the CO₂ pipeline network in the United States by providing a financial incentive for businesses to invest in carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies and supporting infrastructure. The Inflation Reduction Act's amplification of this credit has already increased the number of CCUS projects. This activity, in addition to continuing demand for CO₂ for oil and gas operations, will require an expansion of the US CO₂ pipeline network. This expansion has raised questions and concerns among landowners, project stakeholders and the public regarding the safety of these pipelines and to what extent regulations should be consistent with or more stringent than those for the more abundant natural gas pipelines.
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Securing mineral supply: backwards vertical integration for technology companiesThe demand for minerals has increased with the growing production of standard technologies, such as EV car batteries, wind turbines, and solar panels. However, major mining companies need help to satisfy the demand at the current rate, leading to inconsistent and expensive supply chains and environmental and geopolitical concerns. Technology companies should consider backward vertical integration strategies to mitigate against risks associated with supply chain issues, which would merge upstream processes essential to companies' value chains. By doing so, they can mitigate the mine's health, safety, and ecological impacts by employing the latest mining technologies.
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Addressing the need for accurate and comparable greenhouse gas data: the COMET frameworkThe Coalition on Materials Emissions Transparency (COMET) began as a collaboration between the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), RMI (formerly known as the Rocky Mountain Institute), and the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN Climate Change). Its objective is to advance accurate and transparent greenhouse gas accounting through a harmonized set of principles, standards, and reporting requirements.
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Turning wastes to rare valueThere remain considerable uncertainties surrounding critical mineral supply chains, and their relationship to energy transitions and energy security. There is clear evidence that they will play an increasing role, but the pathways to the future are unclear. As we strive for answers, one clear area to look is in recycling and circular economy concepts.
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VIIRS day/night band power outage analysis for the February 6, 2023 earthquake in Turkey and SyriaOn February 6, 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck at a depth of about 11 miles (17.9 km) in Gaziantep province in Turkey (https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2023-turkey-and-syria-earthquake-faqs). At least 120 aftershocks have been felt around the region, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS). At least 41,000 people have lost their lives till date (February 15th, 2023) and the number continues to rise. The natural disaster has aggravated the preexisting humanitarian need in the region as many Syrian refugees are concentrated in the 10 affected provinces of southern Turkey, and Syria, and have been already suffering from over a decade of civil war.
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Ukraine power outages viewed from the NASA/NOAA Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer suite at nightAs the Russia-Ukraine war approaches the 1 year mark the electrical grid in Ukraine has taken devastating damage. Russia has hit more than 200 targets in the electrical infrastructure. This has left millions of Ukrainian citizens without power in the cold winter months. In the early days of the war Russia captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia has now militarized the facility installing several Grad rocket launchers around the dry storage for spent nuclear fuel. Protective structures were erected to defend the launchers, but these structures violate international nuclear and radiation safety regulations.
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Policy guidelines for accelerating the energy transition in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons from the mobile telecoms sectorSub-Saharan Africa faces immense challenges in its bid to attract capital to develop its energy resources and grow its economy. Relative to the pace of market penetration of cell phone services in the recent past, the growth in the share of the population with access to electricity has been rather dismal. The comparisons between both sectors are not new and have been made repeatedly over the years. This commentary recognizes that there are substantial differences between both sectors that make direct comparisons and a transfer of policy lessons difficult. It then identifies some key enablers of cellular telephony growth in Africa that can be applied to the electric power sector and refashions them into broad policy guidelines for boosting the pace of the energy transition on the subcontinent.
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Developing hydrogen and carbon capture and storage projects in the state of ColoradoOver the past two years, both the hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) industries have gained momentum in the US. Project development in these industries has been rapidly accelerating with the growing financial incentives from policymakers for the commercial deployment of these projects. The signing of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, in November of 2021 marked the US Department of Energy's largest single investment in carbon management, along with significant investments funding clean hydrogen development.
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Climate change: toward a more resilient AfricaThe impacts of the invasion of Ukraine on agricultural exports and fertilizers, the food price hikes, the inflationary pressures, the unsustainable debt levels for many countries, and the possible global economic recession are severely impacting African economies and communities. In addition, the climate is changing, and Africa needs to adapt. It must adapt to rising temperatures, more extreme storms, and floods, rising sea levels, more intense heatwaves, and longer and more severe droughts. Yet though the risks are great, so also are the opportunities that successful adaptation can bring.
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A new paradigm for managing mineral trade routes in AfricaThe African Copper belt is a major supplier of key minerals such as copper, nickel, and cobalt to the world economy. Extracting and transporting these minerals to market will be essential to the success of the energy transition as demand for solar and wind energy, and battery metals soar exponentially over the next three decades. In contrast, the dismal state of road infrastructure for transporting the minerals from mine to port creates a major impediment to the commercial competitiveness of miners in the region and threatens economic rents accruable to host countries and communities. This commentary describes a new paradigm that could radically transform the design of solutions to ease logistics problems in the region.
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Africa's energy transition & critical mineralsAs the energy crisis perseveres and governments around the world attempt to meet net zero emission timelines, there are many eyes on Africa's natural resource supply. Africa is resource rich. The continent is endowed with significant hydrocarbon reserves and critical minerals required for low-carbon technologies. As political and environmental developments around the world seek to decarbonize supply chains, pivoting investments over time towards critical minerals in Africa can help and bridge the gap between emerging/developing economies and energy security.
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On equal footing: the impact of FERC Order 841 on grid battery installationsNew technologies don't often "fit" within market designs as well as the incumbent technologies. As a result, subtle changes in market rules can have large impacts on new technology adoption, and their associated supply chains. This research measures the impact on grid battery installations, and the resulting lithium demand – both generated by the June 2020 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Order 841.
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The keys to the future oil and gas production facility: the Colorado storyWith growing concern about climate change, the need for a diversified energy portfolio for energy security and the expectation for an energy transition away from fossil fuels to non-carbon energy solutions, such as renewables, all signals suggest that the energy transition has already begun. States like Colorado have been rewriting regulations to include stricter rules on oil and gas production. While the energy industry is transitioning due to market forces, public policies, and technological advances, fossil fuels are not yet out of the picture for the total energy supply of the future.
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Oil & gas industry being a good neighbor: getting a license to operate through proactive community engagementIn the DJ Basin in Colorado, there has been a collision of industry activities and community development due to the "mini-boom" of O&G development, stemming from hydraulic fracking of the Niobrara Formation and the growing population along the Front Range. This led to a decrease in public support for industry permits starting around 2013 and an increase in operational notification requirements (Turkewitz 2018 & MacKenzie 2016). By 2013, the Front Range communities were pushing for more local control and enacting local bans of operations on O&G development to address distributive injustice and differing vulnerabilities (Turkewitz 2018 & McKenzie). 2019 saw the passage of SB-181 which made a big difference in the permitting process for O&G to emphasize public health, safety, and welfare. Over the next two-year period, the state experienced a significant restructuring of its O&G regulations and regulatory bodies (Jaffe 2022).
