The transition to a greener future involves addressing the environmental legacy of past fossil fuel use, particularly abandoned oil and gas wells, while simultaneously accelerating the adoption of renewable energy technologies and innovative solutions for decarbonization across various sectors.
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we start with a look at why our
transition to a Greener future can mean
dealing with the legacy of our past
fossil fuels like oil and gas have been
powering the world for decades but they
often leave behind facilities that
continue to pollute long after they've
been shut down I traveled to America's
forgotten oil country to meet the people
sealing off our abandoned
Wells on a cold day in Autumn these
workers are helping clean up part of
America's petroleum
past old oil and gas Wells left
abandoned for generations and they're
not always where you might
expect when you picture oil country you
probably think of the oil fields down in
Texas but we are in a residential
neighborhood in Upstate New York here
just outside of Buffalo this abandoned
gas well is being sealed off in the
middle of someone's front yard we've had
some wells that are literally feet from
a house when they were drilled 100 to
150 years ago a lot of these houses
didn't exist at the time so over time as
as uh areas get developed you have
structures and houses being built uh
right up against them
sometimes it's part of the nation's
fossil fuel Legacy just a couple of
hours south in Titusville Pennsylvania
likely the first modern oil well was
drilled back in
1859 it sparked an oil rush across the
region by the 1880s Pennsylvania Rock
oil made up more than 3/4 of the global
Supply but the boom eventually dried up
and now decades later abandoned Wells
like this are still polluted so this is
an abandoned well it's one of hundreds
of thousands scattered across the United
States and every single one of them
could still be emitting methane a
greenhouse gas several times more potent
than carbon dioxide up until very
recently um methane emissions was not
that much of a concern and it's only
been recent science that has shown how
damaging methane actually can be so even
Trace Amounts of methane that is leaking
out of these Wells can be um pretty
impactful to The Climate uh and so we're
we're doing everything we can to be sure
that we seal those up over beyond the
rig here we have a freshwater tank
plants is the CEO of plants and Goodwin
a third generation oil services company
and business is an overdrive in 2021 a
federal infrastructure Bill set aside
some $4.7 billion for capping old Wells
the most ever spent on the problem a few
years ago nobody really cared about
these orphan Wells so through various uh
Avenues the government was able to come
up with some money and inject that into
each state to help solve this problem
but the solution injecting concrete deep
underground can be slow and sometimes
dangerous so this well had some
obstructions only 50 ft down uh in the
well that we didn't know we were going
to run into uh when we entered it the
challenge there is as you clean those
obstructions out there could be
significant gas pressure behind them so
you always have to be mindful of Well
Control uh so that you don't take a a
large explosion or or kick up at surface
and the scale of the problem is vast
there are more than
120,000 documented sites stretching
across the United States it's estimated
the true number could be in the millions
leaking nearly 3% of the nation's total
methane emissions this year we're
projected to uh successfully
decommission somewhere around 150 to 200
of these Wells but when we're talking
about the problem of wells in the
thousands tens of thousands hundreds of
thousands obviously that's not going to
quite get it done we're actively hiring
more people we are buying more equipment
um we're doing everything that we can in
order to ramp up quickly um and address
this issue cleaning up the pollution of
the past creating a new green boom here
where the last one went
bust the people that drilled these Wells
and the companies that drilled these
Wells haven't been in business for 50
years or 100 years in some cases and so
now just kind of left with what's called
their the the Legacy Wells um the legacy
of 100 Years of unregulated oil and gas
exploration now we're coming back and
and trying to clean up and and do right
by the communities that were affected by
it all right let's talk more now about
energy emissions and why cleaning them
up could make a big difference here's
the BBC's former science editor David
shookman if you want to try to limit the
rise in temperatures limit the explosion
of extreme weather events that we're see
seeing being so destructive at the
moment one of the best things that can
be done is to limit the leaking of
methane into the atmosphere the oil
industry has been talking about this has
been accused for years of allowing
methane to escape into the atmosphere
there are many other sources of it as
well and the Hope has to be that at last
people start to understand that the more
they can limit the venting of methane
The Escape of methane from leaky pipes
for example the bigger the difference
it'll make and it'll have a difference
that's not just significant in scale but
also in speed we really now need quick
action on climate change curbing methane
will be a great way to do that so what
will the energy of the future look like
the good news is a lot of the technology
that we need is already here wind and
solar energy made up 12% of our Global
electricity Supply in 2022 and that was
a new record 2023 could be even higher
that's thanks at least in part to solar
plants built on a massive scale recently
Paul Carter visited the largest solar
plant in the world on the edge of the Sahara
Sahara
Desert this is no a solar power station
putting Morocco at the Forefront of
pioneering renewable
technology this is not an ordinary solar
field panels with over 7,000 mirrors
Sun and I can hear lots of sounds at the
moment it's quite Eerie is that the
panels moving movement uh just with a
small speed all these reflect the sun
back at this dazzling Monument 243 M up
this white hot Beacon can hit 1,000° C a
liquid salt absorbs and transports this
heat using it to produce Steam and
generate electricity on the ground while
solar is used across the globe what's
special here is the molten salt which
retains energy 8 hours after dark even
with all the progress that we've made on
Renewables some energy experts say we're
going to need more a lot more one report
from the International Energy agency
says the world should Tri Le its
Renewable Power capacity by the year
2030 as part of a plan to limit global
warming to 1.5° C and avoid the worst
effects of climate change for more on
where we're at and where we need to go
when it comes to Renewables I spoke with
the ia's senior energy analyst Amy Bahar
can you give us the good news on
renewable energy what are you seeing in
terms of global growth over the last few
years we have been seeing record level
new uh power plants being installed year
after year uh last year there was again
an important jump of 15% more uh
capacity that's being deployed uh this
is great policy makers are introducing
new policies or implementing faster
their existing policies and the costs
are coming down now the iea has released
a report and it says that the world
needs to Triple its Renewable Power
capacity by 2030 in order to stay on
track to meet our goals in the Paris
agreement of 1.5° C warming tell me more
about that tripling number and what
needs to happen to achieve that goal we
see that this tripling uh is ambitious
but achievable uh and this ambition is
will be defined by government's policies
and how they approach and how they push
this tripling capacity in the coming
eight years basically now it's a very
short period of time in order to solve
the challenges that is upcoming big or
small Renewables can offer a solution
and the government slowly discovered
that it used to be climate change
mitigation then energy security come
into the picture and show the
governments that actually deploying
Renewables faster is a solution to
energy security issues as well so in
that sense I think Renewables have
proven to be U resilient and offering
solutions to the challenges that that
the world is facing let's talk economics
because for a long time Renewables were
seen as more expensive than fossil fuels
is that still the case I can give you
the the good news on this one especially
for solar PV and wind which which
account for majority of this tripling
growth that we need they are in the
majority of the countries not maybe most
countries in the world they are uh
cheaper than fosil fuel Alternatives uh
both natural gas and coal so the cost
discussion is almost over in my opinion
Greening the world's energy Supply is
obviously a a big challenge what gives
you the biggest reason for optimism that
we can do it in time the big optimism
that I have uh first of all is the costs
because if they were not economically
available in our hands the government or
Society will have a different view uh on
the clean energy transition this is an
important turning point I think to a
achieve this faster expansion of
Renewables in that sense um governments
are still behind Renewables not
providing subsidies though more and more
they are providing the framework a
better framework that they can operate
in rather than providing them cash so
that's the thing that needs to continue
because Renewables require a stable
policy environment uh which many
governments today are able to provide
and uh it is important that they keep
doing it now to a city that's truly
walking the walk when it comes to
renewable energy you might know
Burlington Vermont as the home of Ben
and Jerry's ice cream but it's also the
first US city to get 100% of its
electricity from renewable sources and
one of more than 40 cities globally the
head of the city's electric company gave
me the inside scoop I just want to start
with this statistic which is really
striking 25% of Burlington's energy came
from renewable energy sources just a
decade later you're now at 100%
renewable energy what changed how did
you get to 100% Renewables yeah it's a
great story uh for Burlington uh in 2004
we were 25% renewable the electric
commission uh and the electric
Department set a goal of moving to
become 100% renewable but over the
course of that 10year period Burlington
electric was able to contract for
different wind projects to increase its
Reliance on hydrop power uh to start to
add solar uh to its mix as well and in
2014 the last step uh in that process
was purchase of a local hydropower Dam
called the wooki one that we now own and
operate that was the last piece of the
puzzle this is Vermont that we're
talking about so obviously the sun
doesn't always Shine the wind doesn't
always blow are there days when it's
difficult to close that Gap and power
your City without having to resort to
dirtier sources of electricity well it's
exactly right that uh wind and soul are
really important resources but they are
variable resources so we rely on the
ability to run our wood chip plant where
we can store fuel on site and dispatch
it when it's needed and we definitely
rely on hydr power increasingly we're
going to see battery storage uh play an
important role there as well you
mentioned this wood ship plant it's
often called biomass it's essentially
burning wood to generate electricity
that does come with its its own
drawbacks its own impacts on on the
environment how do you balance that what
are the drawbacks when it comes to using
biomass which I believe is is about a
third of your electricity Supply we're
using local wood residue and essentially
when when Foresters are going out and
harvesting for other higher value
operations to get wood for timber for
furniture for construction there's
leftover wood product tops and limbs
diseased and damaged trees we're able to
take that leftover product and use it
for electricity um so that has a very
different carbon profile than if
somebody was going out and just clear
cutting trees specifically for energy
converting an entire city to 100%
renewable electricity is not an easy
task how did you go about getting the
community on board what's been the
reaction from citizens there in in
Burlington Vermont so I think that it's
partly that we have a committed
population that supports uh these types
of initiatives and it's also that we're
trying to do so in a way that's
economically beneficial and hopeful you
know hopefully that's replicable uh for
other communities as well Burlington is
a smaller City around 50,000 people how
can what's been done there be scaled up
and applied to much larger cities in the
US we talk with other communities other
community leaders uh from out of state
even sometimes internationally uh we
have folks who visit Burlington and one
of the things that I like to share is
it's really important to start with a
tangible goal and I think uh every
Community has some uh renewable
resources that they can utilize some
effort that they can utilize towards
Energy Efficiency there are now
additional communities since we became
100% renewable that have joined us and
we hope to have many many more the world
continues to make progress on switching
to renewable energy but some Industries
face a tougher task than others one of
them is the aviation industry and
although air travel makes up around 2%
of the world's energy related CO2
emissions companies like Delta Airlines
say they're working hard to find ways to
decarbonize I caught up with Delta's
Chief sustainability officer Amelia
Deluga you know Aviation is really one
of the hardest Industries to try to
decarbonize I mean why is that and just
talk us through some of the challenges
that you're facing at Delta and in the
industry as a whole so let's talk about
the airline industry real quick I think
it's important to Just note that we are
two to three% of global greenhouse gas
emissions today but as a hardto
decarbonized sector that's expected to
grow as other Industries start to move
towards net zero before 2050 so what
makes us hard to decarbonize it's the
singular fact that 90% of our impact on
the planet comes from jet fuel and
putting a battery pack on an airplane
just physics means that isn't really
doable and so our Solutions aren't as
straightforward as say the automotive
industry so what is that replacement is
there a clear path right now to coming
up with a fuel that will be a lot more
sustainable than what airplanes
currently use so when we think about the
future there are lots of things we can
do as a company to be more fuel
efficient and our airplanes are
obviously more fuel efficient but that
doesn't get you to to zero and so the
answer is essentially sustainable
aviation fuel or saff and sustainable
aviation fuel is a liquid drop in fuel
it's just like the jet fuels of today
except for instead of coming from finite
resources like fossil fuels it's coming
from renewable sources could be bio or
AGG based which is what you're seeing
today in terms of used cooking oil um or
potentially a corn residue product but
in the future just like other Industries
it'll come from um synthetic sources but
that are renewable and are infinite so
things like hydrogen and carbon in the
future is what will be our fuel source
what's the timeline we're looking at
here because there has been some
criticism of the airline industry as a
whole of saying look can you speed
things up it's been it's been taking
some time right it's fascinating because
I've seen the industry really come
together with a very clear call to
action and so I think that's the
positive is that we're very United as an
airline industry that we have these Net
Zero Ambitions and we have a road map to
get there we know what we need to do but
the single biggest lever that we're
going to have to pull is the creation of
entirely new industry the sustainable
aviation fuel and when we just root
ourselves in the number even as Delta
the task is it's daunting um but we are
making progress for example I would just
call out that year-over-year for the
last number of years we've increased the
use of sustainable aviation fuel so
that's positive right it's moving up
every single year but the fact of the
matter is this year we'll probably use
about five million gallons of
sustainable aviation fuel and that's all
that we can get that's all that we can
get our hands on and we need to get to
400 million gallons by the back half of
this decade and that's still only 10% of
a replacement for jetfuel I think the
big thing is we want to be able to
decarbonize and move to Net Zero not
just for the sake of our own industry
but really for kind of the sake of the
world the fact of the matter is we still
all want to travel to see our friends
see our families often you have to get
on an airplane to do that what message
would you give to people who feel this
little bit of guilt or shame because
they know that they're flying they know
that that emits CO2 what message of Hope
can you give uh for the future for
people that want to continue to be able
to fly on airplanes I think it's
important to say we know what we need to
do to get to a net zero future that's
the first thing and I think the second
thing is we're doing everything that we
can do today to bring down our impact on
the planet and so while it may take us a
little while to get to Net Zero have the
confidence when you go through the
travel experience that you are already
seeing ways that we are starting to
bring down our greenhouse gas emissions
to bring down our footprint from
single-use Plastics a couple other
things that customers aren't always
going to see but they should be aware of
is how we're operating our planes today
are as already significantly more
efficient than it was even a couple of
years ago we're changing how we land how
we navigate through airspace we're
changing the weight that we put on board
through our Galley carts or our
servicing Provisions to try to reduce
the weight that's on that airplane or
try to operate more efficiently and so
these are things customers you may not
see when you're flying but just know
every single day we are operating more
efficiently than we did the day before
and that's already starting to move us
towards a better
future as we just heard there has been
some progress on making air travel more
sustainable like this Royal Air Force
flight in 2022 now it was the first in
the UK to be powered by cooking oil the
90-minute flight was also the first time
that a military aircraft of that size
flew on sustainable fuel the RF says
waste-based fuels could lower carbon
emissions by up to
80% okay now to something that may seem
like science fiction Conjuring energy
out out of thin air well two scientists
have developed a device that uses a
natural protein and moisture in the air
to generate a small continuous electric
current and they think it could be a
GameChanger I spoke to one of the
scientists behind the project electrical
engineer Jun Yao pulling electricity out
of the sky I mean this is an idea that
goes all the way back to Nicola Tesla in
the 20th century right but you think
that you might have figured this out
today in the lab there's possibility for
that although I think we have a way to
go to scale this up from the lab
prototype device to a much larger device
that can be deployed in the for example
ambient environment what will it take to
scale that up I understand that the
current device can generate enough power
to turn on one pixel of a TV screen that
that's not a whole lot of electricity
correct so if I mean you can't imagine
the th air probably cannot boast in
terms of energy density but I think it
can boast in terms of volume because the
entire Earth is covered with a very
thick lay atmospheric uh humidity if
this does become successful Professor do
you imagine this being used in our homes
is this something that might power our
refrigerator or our TV uh why not I
think it probably it's it could be more
attractive than solar panel because why
the solar panel uh uh still competes uh
with space or actually can it can be
ugly right deploying on on the roof but
imagine this this does not compete with
uh any kind of existing space because
humidity is 247 continues uh it's day
and night it's everywhere and once we
create energy it's also crucial that we
find ways to store it for that we go
from air to sand and the world's first
battery I'm here in the municipal
swimming pool in cankan Pai Western
Finland this beautiful pool very barmy
all year round but the heat that's in
here comes from a rather surprising
Source from
Sand the sand in question sits inside
this Silo in a power plant on the the
edge of this small finished town it's
the first commercial installation of a
potentially important technology that
works in a surprisingly simple way
electricity from wind or solar power is
converted into heat which warms the sand
up to around 500° C crucially the sand
can keep this heat without loss
potentially for
months and finally if you've ever
traveled on the London Underground then
you know just how hot it can get down
there but what if all that hot air could
be put to good use well at one abandoned
Tube Station it's being harnessed to
heat buildings up above Jamie Morland
discovered how it works everyone knows
how hot the underground can get people
crowded onto trains friction between the
rails and wheels here they're taking
that heat and using it to warm up homes
and businesses down there is the
northern line and this used to be a
passenger your walkway now when air is
pushed through from the trains it goes
up this ventilation shaft here which
used to be where the lifts were the warm
air is sucked up the ventilation shaft
by a
fan and this is the top of the
ventilator shaft the air is pumped from
ground the warm air heats the water in this
this tank
tank
and that hot water is pumped to more
than 1,000 nearby Council buildings such
as homes Leisure centers and Morland
Primary School who knew an abandoned chb
station could reduce carbon emissions
and make London more
self-sufficient and before we go a quick
reminder if you want to get more from
future Earth delivered each week
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future Earth newsletter in it you'll
find behind the scenes reporting from me
the week's top climate stories and
insights from our entire BBC climate
change team I'm Carl nasman thanks for
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