Good morning.

Today I will share two stories with you. The first is an extension to my gas story from last week, and the second is a real feel-good story about something very dear to me. So put on a fresh-brewed coffee, and prepare for your Sunday morning read!

/Morten B. Reitoft
Editor

Gas

Natural Gas is greener than oil/coal, but it's still a fossil fuel. Natural Gas is primarily Methane, and as you may know, while we still use CO2 as a measure for reduction objectives, a small 'e' has been added, so the correct emission target is set as CO2e - where the 'e' is short for 'equivalent.' The equivalent refers to all greenhouse gasses, and to put it in perspective, Methane has 80 times the warming power of CO2, so this is one of the critical greenhouse gasses that needs to be addressed. Methane is also why agriculture, especially cattle, is under scrutiny to deliver reduction targets.

When Natural gas is burned, it burns cleaner and has a considerably lower CO2 emission than other fossil fuels. But there is a dark horse in the room. The impact is vast when gas is loaded/unloaded or goes through pipes or in other ways. Nobody has spent much time evaluating the impact and volume. Still, in a recent episode of the German (English-speaking channel DW-Planet), the reporters asked different sources, and the numbers vary from a bit more than 1% to as much as 7%. As the consumption of Natural Gas is increasing, the emissions have such a significant impact that some are now questioning whether Natural Gas has a similar emissions footprint to coal and oil. The only way to improve the use of Natural Gas is to carefully measure and encapsulate emissions to avoid these being led into the atmosphere.
In the DW Planet episode, Natural Gas is seen as a "bridge" to renewable and green energy. Still, as Natural Gas is delivered and monitored by the same companies that had oil and coal, this needs actions from politicians.

The Power to X (PTX) I described last Sunday is probably one of the most promising solutions to the global energy demand, as well as solving the greenhouse problem.

And now to something entirely different.
I have a passion for wine. I probably drink too much of it, and I must admit that sometimes I drink a glass of red wine since I use it to reward myself after work, work, work, work! And here we are.

A tiny headline in the media gave me such great pleasure. The wine harvest of 2022 excels in previous years in both volume and quality. When wine prices are also reaching new insane levels - which I don't really understand - great harvest and quality should promise great wines in the coming years. The reason why I don't understand the increased prices of wine, for example, is simple. The wines I drink are often 3-4 years old, so these were produced WAY before Corona, War in Ukraine, higher energy prices, and inflation - so are these bottles used to compensate for all of the above in the wine shops and supermarkets?

I was just wondering, as with so little pleasure in the world these days, if a good bottle of red wine priced like in the good old times would be a band-aid to my soul, or what do you think?

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and see you again soon!