This trend is unstoppable, but as the review of our World Energy Transitions Outlook highlights, there is a huge amount to be done. Our 1. The At the end of , global renewable generation capacity amounted to 2 GW with hydropower still accounting for the largest share 1 GW although solar and wind are catching up fast.
In , President Xi Jinping stated that China aims to be carbon neutral by , and the country is taking steps to get there. China is a leader in the solar industry, and it seems to have cracked the code for the entire solar supply chain. According to MIT researchers , economies of scale have been the single-largest factor in continuing the cost decline for the last decade. In other words, as the world installed and made more solar panels, production became cheaper and more efficient.
This year, solar costs are rising due to supply chain issues, but the rise is likely to be temporary as bottlenecks resolve. Nickel has emerged as an important battery metal, and these ten nickel mining companies are producing the nickel needed for EV batteries. As the world transitions towards electric vehicles and cleaner energy sources, nickel has emerged as an essential metal for this green revolution.
Needed for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, wind turbines, and nuclear power plants, nickel is also primarily used to make stainless steel alloys more resistant to corrosion and extreme temperatures. Using data from Mining Intelligence , this graphic shows the top 10 companies by nickel production along with their market cap.
As countries and industries realize the importance of nickel for the development of sustainable technologies, nickel mining companies will be at the forefront of supplying the world with the nickel it needs. Nickel and palladium miner and smelter Nornickel leads the list with kt of nickel produced in , the majority coming from its Norilsk division of flagship assets in Russia.
Vale follows closely behind in production and in its carbon footprint goals. With the top two companies producing more than half of the nickel produced by the top 10 miners, their efforts in decarbonization will pave the way for the nickel mining industry.
Alongside the decarbonization of the nickel mining process, nickel itself powers many of the technologies crucial to the energy transition.
With a history of being used in nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride batteries, nickel is now being increasingly used in lithium-ion batteries for its greater energy density and lower cost compared to cobalt.
The more common form of the metal, nickel laterites , are still useful in forming the alloys that make up the frames and various gears of wind turbines. Nickel is also essential to nuclear power plants, making up nearly a quarter of the metals needed per megawatt generated. In , Bell Labs introduced the first PV device to produce a useable amount of electricity. During the s, there was a major interest in using solar energy to produce electricity for homes and businesses because of the energy crisis.
Because of extremely high prices, the large-scale application was impractical. Additionally, you can finance solar panels for your home. Why solar energy? Solar energy has several great benefits, including eliminating electric bills and avoiding utility inflation. Additionally, many states offer tax incentives, rebates, and credits for installing solar energy panels on your home.
For investors, was a year in which nearly every asset class finished in the green, with commodities providing some of the best returns. This graphic from U.
Global Investors tracks individual commodity returns over the past decade, ranking them based on their individual performance each year. After a strong performance from commodities metals especially in the year prior, was all about energy commodities. The top three performers for were energy fuels, with coal providing the single best annual return of any commodity over the past 10 years at According to U. Global Investors, coal was also the least volatile commodity of , meaning investors had a smooth ride as the fossil fuel surged in price.
The only commodities in the red this year were precious metals, which failed to stay positive despite rising inflation across goods and asset prices. Gold and silver had returns of Aside from the precious metals, every other commodity managed double-digit positive returns, with four commodities crude oil, coal, aluminum, and wheat having their best single-year performances of the past decade.
The partial resumption of travel and the reopening of businesses in were both powerful catalysts that fueled the price rise of energy commodities. Natural gas prices also rose significantly High electricity demand saw coal return in style, especially in China which accounts for one-third of global coal consumption. Investors turned to equities, real estate, and even cryptocurrencies to preserve and grow their investments, rather than the traditionally favorable gold Platinum and palladium also lagged behind other commodities, only returning In a year of over and underperformers, grains kept up their steady track record and notched their fifth year in a row of positive returns.
Both corn and wheat provided double-digit returns, with corn reaching eight-year highs and wheat reaching prices not seen in over nine years. As inflation across commodities, assets, and consumer goods surged in , investors will now be keeping a sharp eye for a pullback in To uncover the major sectors where these emissions originate, this graphic from Our World in Data pulls in data from courtesy of Climate Watch and the World Resources Institute, when total emissions reached Global GHG emissions can be roughly traced back to four broad categories: energy, agriculture, industry, and waste.
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