{"id":8854,"date":"2021-11-04T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T08:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/?p=8854"},"modified":"2025-04-23T09:49:21","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T09:49:21","slug":"cop26-how-emerging-technologies-are-paving-the-way-to-greener-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focus.cbbc.org\/cop26-how-emerging-technologies-are-paving-the-way-to-greener-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"COP26: How emerging technologies are paving the way to greener energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fourth in our COP26 series, we look at how companies like Oxford Instruments, Thoughtworks and XAG are driving the development of technologies that enable clean energy, zero-emission vehicles and carbon capture<\/h2>\n
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The 20th century saw unprecedented technological advances. However, in our quest for progress, we failed to heed the impact that our industries were having on the planet. Although we now know that human activity started influencing the climate as early as the 1830s, it wasn\u2019t until 1988 that Dr James Hansen, then director of NASA\u2019s Institute for Space Studies, stated \u201cThe greenhouse effect has been detected, and it is changing our climate now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nearly 35 years later, a range of approaches have been developed to address the problem. Unfortunately, we cannot simply reverse the damage, but we can adapt our actions and technologies to ensure no further damage incurs, and we can build climate resilience, in terms of our ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to climate disturbances.<\/p>\n

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As leading industrial nations, both the UK and China have a moral responsibility and practical ability to impact greenhouse gas emissions. Perhaps even more importantly, nations have a responsibility and ability to work together to address shared global challenges.<\/p>\n

One example of recent China\u2013UK collaboration is the British Standards Institution\u2019s (BSI) work with Anjie IoT, a leading Chinese technology company specialising in energy-saving and low carbon technology for clients in the construction sector, which had the objective of becoming carbon neutral. BSI took Anjie IoT through the journey to reach full carbon neutrality and demonstrate these achievements using the standard PAS 2060 Carbon Neutrality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Advancing clean energies<\/h4>\n
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In order to make the deeper cuts required to meet net zero, investment and innovation are needed to provide technologically viable and economically competitive alternatives to fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

For example, most solar panels have efficiencies of just 15\u201320%, so improving the efficiencies of solar cells, through the manufacture of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) devices or the improvement of conventional PV technologies, is a key goal. Meanwhile, an obstacle for offshore wind power is the hostile environment that requires speciality steels and high strength carbon composites making the development of advanced materials for building offshore wind farms, a crucial target.<\/p>\n