From subsurface hydrogen disputes and aviation feasibility to the uncooked materials limits of Internet Zero, Better of Face to Face 2025 captures essentially the most consequential debates EnergyNews.biz hosted this 12 months.
These conversations introduced collectively engineers, geoscientists, economists, and traders who overtly challenged prevailing narratives, uncovered structural bottlenecks, and questioned whether or not present transition pathways are grounded in bodily and financial actuality. Moderately than consensus, these face-to-face exchanges revealed the place vitality considering is colliding with geology, infrastructure, capital, and scale.
World hydrogen demand at present consumes near 100 million tonnes yearly for refining and ammonia manufacturing, creating a possible marketplace for pure hydrogen if technical and industrial challenges will be resolved. A December panel dialogue that includes three consultants with divergent views revealed basic disagreements about useful resource evaluation methodologies, restoration mechanisms, and timelines to commercialization that expose the nascent sector’s uncertainty.
World renewable investments topped $1.8 trillion in 2023, but fossil fuels nonetheless provide over 80% of the world’s main vitality. On this dissonance, EnergyNews.biz staged a uncommon debate that minimize by way of inexperienced gloss and industrial bravado. Karim Megherbi, renewable professional and govt at Orisun Make investments, sparred with standard vitality investor and vitality economist Lars Schernikau in a no-filter face-off.
The aviation business accounts for two.5% of world CO2 emissions. Because the world grapples with the pressing have to decarbonize, the sector faces mounting strain to innovate.
Hydrogen aviation has emerged as a possible answer, however its viability stays a topic of intense debate. Can hydrogen really revolutionize air journey, or is it merely a high-altitude dream? Bernard van Dijk and Dr. Swapnil Jagtap mentioned this in our newest Face 2 Face.
The worldwide push towards Internet Zero emissions is reshaping industries, economies, and societies, with electrification, renewable vitality, and battery know-how on the forefront of this transformation. Nonetheless, the transition faces important challenges, significantly in scaling applied sciences and securing the uncooked supplies wanted for battery manufacturing. A latest dialogue that includes consultants Cédric Philibert, Karim Megherbi, and Simon Michaux highlighted the complexities and alternatives of this transition, emphasizing the necessity for innovation, collaboration, and strategic coverage interventions.
The worldwide ambition to transition from fossil fuels has catapulted the demand for important minerals into uncharted territory. Present estimates counsel that assembly net-zero emissions targets by 2050 would require a quantum leap in mineral manufacturing. Copper, the spine of electrification, illustrates the magnitude of this problem. In his evaluation of system-wide electrification, Simon Michaux estimates that 6.1 billion tons of copper can be wanted to section out fossil fuels.
