This Week in Charts 6-13-22
This edition of This Week in Charts is presented by Griffin Review technology analyst Grant Coultrup. More episodes of the Griffin Review can be found here, and sources are hyperlinked throughout.
It was only a few months ago I recorded an audiobook titled The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which was really just another affirmation to me that one of the most important assets of the modern age is information, particularly refined information. And that, dear viewer, is what I bring you today: refined data in the form of charts, reports, and the news. Contrary to our usual program, which includes 3D printing news and fintech reporting, the show today will skim through some corporate charts and then spend most of the time breaking down some energy considerations by industry. Aside from energy, our topics include:
Another look at creative teams, and the factors of their success;
Some realities behind e-commerce;
Shifting trends in energy production;
And the way forward for carbon emissions in the United States.
With that introduction, we’ll dive right in!
When designers work within collaborative teams, good things tend to happen. According to our research, organizations with cross-functional design integration tend to have better financial performance, happier employees, more evidence of innovation, and stronger ESG impact. In the chart on-screen, the navy blue dots indicate the performance of organizations that reported excellent integration; on the other end of the scale are black dots to represent those who reported poor integration. On particular outlier is employee satisfaction, an important metric in the modern era when talent retention is very important. The other outlier with high spread is innovation; in creative fields, this can mean the difference between success and mediocrity.
E-commerce has to offer more than convenience to keep grocery shoppers coming back. Our recent research shows that fewer consumers, compared with 2020, want to engage with retailers in person. On this chart, opinion from 2020 is displayed as the dark blue point and more recent opinion from 2021 in light blue. But online grocery shoppers say e-commerce does fall short in key areas like providing fresh, quality food, and a robust selection, and is just too expensive overall. I want to keep attention drawn to the double-digit percentage drop in those top two metrics: personal contact and delivery charges. Those changes don’t really surprise me but they do concern me. We as a society seem to be withdrawing into our personal spheres. The other metric also doesn’t surprise me: inexpensive delivery charges were never going to last. The early UberEats and DoorDash models were based on discounting to try and rack up a user base. They could never last at their original price point.
The transition to a lower-carbon energy system will accelerate in the coming decades. As that happens, the energy mix could shift rapidly toward electricity and hydrogen, which together could represent 32% of global energy by the year 2035 and up to 50% by 2050. The chart on screen is a good representation of that. One source which is represented here but which I rarely hear discussed is that of bioenergy, or deriving energy from living organisms. Probably the most popular type you’ve heard discussed is ethanol, corn flour fermented and distilled. Let’s note that, at least on this chart, bioenergy is the least volatile in terms of usage and is predicted to remain at least as popular as hydrogen and natural gas.
All Sectors
Our first look is this chart which gives us a look at all categories stacked up with each other as green-house gas emitters. This breakdown should be familiar to anyone who’s watched my show for a while: industry and transport are vast contributors which are slated for reduction.
Electrical
Here we see electricity generation, with gas currently the most popular and wind predicted to be a vast contributor by 2050. Coal is to be phased out by 2025. Greater contribution by wind and solar means a significant expansion of transmission and flexibility of the power grid.
Oil & Gas
By 2030, oil and gas to drop by 30% and 20% respectively, and 40% of assets converted to electrical power. Importantly, methane emissions are to be reduced by 80% by 2030 by implementing greater efficiency and new infrastructure.
Transportation
Next is transportation. As we’ve seen before, the internal combustion engine is to be phased out by 2050, with most elimination occurring by 2030. Battery-electric vehicle technology must improve in affordability, range, and refueling capability. Accompanying this is a push for new infrastructure in alternative modes of transportation, like rail.
Agriculture
Agricultural emissions are to be reduced by 15% by the year 2030. Emissions from crops will remain steady, with planned reductions from dairy and beef by exploring alternative proteins. Regenerative agricultural practices further reductions by another 10%.
Buildings
Buildings, both residential and commercial, maintain their heavy reliance on electricity while reducing natural gas usage through energy-efficient retrofits. Low emission construction materials contribute to this, reducing embodied carbon in newly raised buildings.
Aviation
Aviation is a minor contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, clocking in at just around 2% of the total. The sector is heavily reliant on fossil fuels, though this is set to be replaced by advanced biofuels and novel propulsion systems like battery-electric and hydrogen. This industry has a greater timeline, with novel systems expected commercially available in the 2040s.
Hydrogen
In the hydrogen sector, we’ll see an explosion of use and a transformation of type. Let’s do a dive into the types of hydrogen. Grey hydrogen is derived from natural gas and fossil fuels, making it the least sustainable of the bunch, emitting a nasty ration of CO2 during use. Blue hydrogen is chemically produced the same way as grey but employs carbon capture and storage techniques during production, to repurpose CO2. While sustainable, this is an expensive process. Green hydrogen follows an entirely different production process: electrolysis, or the separating of hydrogen and oxygen by applying electricity to water. Renewables like wind or solar can generate power for this process. By 2040, the costs of those renewables and electrolysis are expected to dramatically fall, making green hydrogen a practical base of fuel.
Steel
Steel production doesn’t see too much change, and ultimately contributes less than 1% of total greenhouse gas emissions.
Ethylene
Ethylene, an important odorless, colorless gas used in a variety of medical, chemical, and manufacturing applications, converts to green hydrogen or biogas. All the same, ethylene contributes less than 1% to total emissions.
All Sectors - Recap
And that’s all the sectors of interest in American emissions reductions. Let’s wrap up by again examining the all-sector chart. The stated goals are net negative emissions by 2050 and a 50% reduction by 2030, making the 2020’s quote “the decisive decade”.
That’s about all our news for today. If you found any of this information interesting, drop us a comment below or join the conversation on Discord and we’ll bring you these kinds of topics again. As always, thanks for watching and I’ll see you next week on This Week in Charts.
