November 10th, 2015 Lux Research hosted the webinar: “The New Carbon Economy: Evolution of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Reduction”. If you didn’t get a chance to listen to Yuan-Sheng (Ur) Yu in real time, we highly recommend taking 30 mins to watch the webinar. You can find it here: http://web.luxresearchinc.com/download-webinar-alternative-fuels-11_10_15-0
Mr Yu, an analyst for Lux on the Alternative Fuels team based in Singapore, does an excellent job of presenting the team’s work by summarizing the current state of commercial bio fuels and identifying opportunities for next generation CO2-based products including fuels and commodity chemicals.
The primary focus of the webinar is on Transportation Fuels. According to Lux Research’s data, 23% of CO2 emissions come from transportation. Breaking this 23% down into various sector results in: 15% Rail/Sea, 10% Aviation, 75% Road Transportation.
A highly educational and engaging discussion of the carbon intensity of various transportation fuel types sets the stage for discussing the various alternative fuels available today. The carbon intensity value discussed by Mr Yu includes the carbon released over the entire lifecycle of the fuel – he best describes it as the CO2 involved from well-to-wheel. Throughout the webinar benchmarks are visually illustrated, demonstrating the impact different fuel types can have on the carbon intensity of transportation fuels.
Initially, the outlook is quite dire, but with Mr Yu’s well placed humor, we begin to see that not all is lost. Lux Research’s analysis does an excellent job of highlighting the various pathways, technologies, and companies involved in the various stages of development and commercialization of next generation products from CO2 and waste streams, while emphasizing the economics essential to successful commercialization.
SOFI’s two cents:
From algae to waste streams to direct chemical conversion of CO2 to fuels, Lux covers all possibilities in its economic assessment of the alternative fuels field. Mr Yu’s and Lux Research’s optimism for next generation CO2 utilization technologies is encouraging and motivating. And brings an economic perspective to the table that is accessible to those working in at the lab-bench.
Again, we highly recommend you spend some time watching this webinar, and consider subscribing to Lux Research’s newsletter.