The renewable diesel market is set to triple in the next four years. Increasingly stringent environmental standards, and imperatives to reduce transport emissions, make this like-for-like replacement for conventional diesel an attractive option. This week on the show, Switched On speaks with BNEF oil demand analyst Daisy Maugouber about market players, growth, and just where all the fry grease it needs will come from. This episode is based on a report titled Renewable Diesel: A Green Light for R...
Dec 04, 2020•24 min
A net-zero target is achieved when a country or company balances out its greenhouse gas emissions with other activities that store, reduce or offset those emissions. So in the end, what you’re putting up into the air is effectively, well, nothing. This week on the show, Switched On speaks with BNEF corporate sustainability analyst Kyle Harrison about what is driving the many corporate net zero announcements of late, what net zero actually means in practice, and the bumpy ride ahead for those goi...
Nov 26, 2020•35 min
Airbus aims to have an electric airliner in service by 2035. As part of this, the company announced three electric concept planes in September that are targeted for demonstration by 2025. Today Switched On speaks with Glenn Llewellyn, vice-president of zero emission aircraft at Airbus. He speaks with BloombergNEF Sustainability Editor Bryony Collins about this effort, the tradeoffs between batteries and hydrogen, and other challenges to be overcome for no-emissions planes to become a reality. BN...
Nov 18, 2020•16 min
Minister Rachel Maclean says that for the United Kingdom to meet its 2050 net zero-emissions target, the country will need to expand the electric vehicle charging network, and offer enough EVs at the right price. During a conversation as part of the BNEF London Summit on October 20, she and Dana Perkins look at the future of transport in the UK as a whole. They discuss hydrogen, trains, planes, emissions standards, bikes, scooters and how each can contribute to the 2050 net-zero target. BNEF use...
Nov 12, 2020•23 min
Reducing methane emissions and carbon intensity of upstream operations are two main objectives of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative, or OGCI, a coalition of 12 of the world's largest oil companies brought together to drive the industry toward meeting the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. This week, Switched On speaks with its chairman, Bob Dudley, about the organization, its mission, and learnings so far. Dana Perkins, head of Europe, Middle East & Africa for BNEF did the interview as...
Oct 27, 2020•19 min
To keep up with regulations around products -- on sourcing, greenhouse gas emissions, safety -- and to answer questions from consumers, companies need a lot more visibility on their supply chains. This week, Switched On speaks with Kirti Vasta, Digital Industry Analyst for BloombergNEF. She will tell us about new developments in track and trace, and how implementing advanced technologies and systems to more deeply understand their supply chain can make a company's operations safer, more efficien...
Oct 21, 2020•23 min
Green bond issuance has hit the trillion-dollar mark, but this year appears to be the year of social bonds, up 376% in the first half of 2020 to $41.9 billion. This week Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF analysts Maia Godemer and Mallory Rutigliano about the state of sustainable finance. They will tell us about the many types of available financial products, who's using what, and trends in this fast-growing area. This episode is based on a report titled 2H 2020 Sustainable Finance Market Outl...
Oct 15, 2020•36 min
Grid operators in California face increasingly frequent decisions to abandon their operational commitment to 24/7 availability and cut service to retail customers in regions threatened by wildfires. This week Switched On speaks with Logan Goldie-Scot, head of clean energy research at BloombergNEF, and Yayoi Sekine, who leads decentralized energy coverage, about the challenges of maintaining the utility mission in the face of climate change. This episode is based on a report titled Pandemics and ...
Oct 07, 2020•27 min
Many issues are at stake in the November U.S. election, including energy and climate. This week Switched On speaks with Head of Americas Ethan Zindler, and Stephen Munro, senior policy analyst for BloombergNEF, about what wins on the Republican or Democratic side could mean for these issues. Their wide-ranging conversation speculates on the Paris Climate Agreement, the Green New Deal, coal, electric vehicles, and the two trillion dollars former Vice President Joe Biden has pledged for climate in...
Sep 25, 2020•35 min
Generous policy support in in a handful of markets has led to a rush to deploy energy storage projects. But the eagerness to deploy quickly resulted in shortcuts with alarming outcomes. There have been 29 fires at battery storage facilities in South Korea since 2017. Whether or not this should raise red flags for players is a bit more complicated. This week Switched On speaks with decentralized energy analyst Yayoi Sekine and energy storage analyst James Frith. This episode is based on a report ...
Sep 17, 2020•25 min
Food delivery services have an impact on vehicle miles traveled, at least right now. But will food delivery services be around long enough to make a dent in this metric in the long term? This week Switched On speaks with intelligent mobility analyst Andrew Grant about food delivery and the market dynamics in that sector. He'll also tell us more about why food delivery is important for BNEF to understand, how he's thinking about it, and what it could mean for our long-term transport forecast. Thi...
Aug 24, 2020•21 min
For universal electrification to become reality by 2030, some 238 million households will need to gain electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and island nations. Mini-grids can serve almost half of this total – an estimated 111 million households. This week, Switched On speaks with Takehiro Kawahara, head of Frontier Power for BloombergNEF, and senior modeling analyst Ulimmeh Ezekiel, about a report they did in collaboration with the Sustainable Energy for All initiative on the global mi...
Aug 13, 2020•35 min
We all know wind and solar are intermittent -- at some point the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing. But is wind and solar power reliable? The answer seems to be that at least with a battery, yes, it is. This week Switched On speaks with Nat Bullard, chief content officer for BloombergNEF, about the future of renewables on the grid. We discuss renewables reliability, competitiveness of gas peakers in a renewables-plus-storage world, and what to do with old wind and solar farms. This ep...
Aug 05, 2020•29 min
Mexico became one of the hottest markets for clean energy development. Newly open Mexico attracted billions in investment driven by three highly successful auctions that are tied to more than 8GW of new wind and solar capacity. But policy under president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, or AMLO, has taken a U-turn. Since taking office in late 2018, AMLO has cancelled Mexico’s renewable energy auctions and sidelined national clean energy targets. And recent regulation goes further, asserting that ren...
Jul 23, 2020•27 min
Lower manufacturing costs, innovative launch vehicles, miniaturized sub-systems and new sensor technologies have resulted in a surge in the number of satellites orbiting earth. The more than 1,300 small satellites orbiting earth means we can now scan any given location on the planet multiple times per day -- and not just with cameras, but with sensors that measure atmospheric pressure, temperature, and more. This week, Switched On speaks with technology analyst Sarrah Raza about the rapid growth...
Jul 15, 2020•25 min
The European Commission on 27 May proposed 1.85 trillion euros in stimulus spending over the next seven years, 25% of which must go to things classified as ‘green’. Notable parts of the proposed spending include building renovations to improve efficiency, a massive roll-out in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, and enough spending on hydrogen to make it competitive a lot sooner than it would be otherwise. This week, Switched On speaks with energy transition analyst Dario Traum about the p...
Jul 07, 2020•24 min
A higher carbon price and cheaper gas have made coal-fired power less competitive in Europe. Reduced demand from the pandemic have made it almost impossible for coal to keep up. This week, Switched On speaks with energy transition analyst Katherine Poseidon, and power analyst Andreas Gandolfo about how several countries have gotten away from coal entirely since the pandemic started -- a trend that is likely to continue even after things get back to normal. This episode is based on a series of re...
Jun 23, 2020•25 min
We hear a lot about growth in the electric car market, but what about electric two- and three-wheelers? In 2040 about half of the 1.25 billion mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles out on the road will be electric, and most of these will be in Asia. This week, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF mobility analysts Nick Albanese and Allen Abraham about the future of two- and three-wheeled transport. This episode is based on a report titled How Fast Will Two-Wheelers Electrify? BNEF clients can access...
Jun 11, 2020•22 min
Lithium is used the world over for electronics and, increasingly, electric cars. There is a supply and security risk in that most of this lithium comes from just a few countries, and those are not where the phones and cars get made. This week, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF metals analyst Sharon Mustri about growing demand for unconventional lithium. Alternative lithium resources that put the source of the mineral closer to the factory. This episode is based on a report titled Unconvention...
Jun 02, 2020•19 min
Companies can do everything they can to reduce their carbon footprint, and most often it is still not enough to cover all their emissions. After everything they can do themselves, they can buy carbon offsets -- investments in projects that reduce CO2, like tree-planting or cook stoves. This week, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF sustainability analyst Kyle Harrison. about growing demand for these offsets as more companies set plans to reach net-zero emissions, and challenges as this market g...
May 19, 2020•20 min
Carbon capture, utilization and storage -- taking CO2 out of the air and putting it underground or into products. The sector has had a few false starts, but appears it could be having a revival. In this episode, Switched On speaks with Julia Attwood, head of advanced materials research for BloombergNEF, and advanced materials analyst Ryan Anderson about the current state of play in CCUS. They will also introduce promising new applications that could give a boost to the sector and make a dent in ...
May 12, 2020•15 min
Solar on cars has been around for a long time. But until recently, it has either been pure gimmick or used to power small auxiliaries -- not the drive train. In this episode, Switched On speaks with Hugh Bromley, head of consumer research at BloombergNEF, about solar cars. He will tell us about how they are starting to power the wheels, even if just a bit. This episode is based on a report titled Solar-Powered Cars: Trickle or Charged? BNEF clients can access this report on bnef.com or BNEF Mobi...
May 06, 2020•13 min
In this episode, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF head of digital industry research, Claire Curry, and digital industry analyst Kirti Vasta. Claire and Kirti tell us about digital strategies in the time of Covid-19. Some companies are all-in on their digital strategies. Others have pedaled back, and are retrenched in what they know best. A few are even giving away software, on the hopes that new users they hook today, will pay up once economic conditions improve. This episode is based on a r...
Apr 28, 2020•19 min
In this episode, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF head of clean energy research, Logan Goldie-Scot, and head of transport, Colin McKerracher. Logan and Colin give the bird's-eye view of how Covid-19 will shape the year in clean energy and transport. Supply and demand balances are definitely disrupted, but order backlogs, existing stockpiles and construction queues, could provide significant buffers to short-term shocks. BNEF users can follow ongoing Covid coverage at bnef.com/series or at BN...
Apr 21, 2020•32 min
In this episode, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF head of research, Albert Cheung, and head of policy, Vicky Cuming. Albert and Vicky tell us about how electrifying more sectors of an economy can enable countries to make substantial progress toward carbon neutrality. BNEF calls it "sector coupling", and it brings both new industrial opportunities and a significant increase in total power generation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 17, 2020•22 min
In this episode, Switched On speaks with Ali Izadi-Najafabadi, head of Asia Pacific research for BloombergNEF. He'll tell us about China starting to get back to work -- how it seems ready to go, but is waiting on the rest of the world to catch up. BNEF users can follow ongoing Covid coverage at bnef.com/series . This episode of Switched On is hosted by Mark Taylor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Apr 14, 2020•12 min
What do you do when a pandemic upends every one of your forecasts and expectations for the future? This week, Switched On speaks with BNEF Head of Research, Albert Cheung, about making sense of things during Covid-19. He’ll walk us through how we started to get our heads around the problem, and the frameworks BNEF analysts developed to explain what’s happening and accommodate the ever-changing impacts the virus is having on the global economy. BNEF users can follow ongoing Covid coverage at bnef...
Apr 07, 2020•23 min
To stay competitive in a world where commodity prices fluctuate and environmental pressures grow, for miners, going digital is no longer a question of if or should, but a question of when, or how. This week Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF Digital Industry analyst Danya Liu about recent advances in mining digitalization. She’ll walk us through the ways miners are incorporating sensors, robots, drones, and more to improve operational efficiency, conserve resources, and raise their bottom line...
Mar 16, 2020•20 min
Generation oversupply, not enough transmission, and offtaker risk are just a few challenges facing clean energy developers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite these obstacles, projects continue to get built a faster rate than almost anywhere in the world. This week, Switched On speaks with energy analyst Antoine Vagneur-Jones, from BloombergNEF's EMEA team, about clean energy proliferation in this region, what's driving it, and what developers should pay attention to when exploring opportunities ther...
Feb 27, 2020•22 min
The growth of renewables and the fracking revolution has made for a lot of cheap energy in the U.S. and an energy landscape nearly unrecognizable from what it was a decade ago. This week, Switched On speaks with BloombergNEF's head of Americas, Ethan Zindler, about the changes we've seen in U.S. energy over the past decade, who is best positioned in the current market, and what to expect going forward. This episode is based on a report titled Sustainable Energy in America Factbook 2020 done by B...
Feb 18, 2020•24 min
