Unexpected Trend: Industries Seek More Patents for Fossil Fuel Cleanup Than for Generating Clean Energy

Written by Roberta Souza

Published on 15/02/2023 at 19:55

Updated on 15/02/2023 at 22:39

Foto: Reprodução brasilescola

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New Technologies Are Being Used Only to Clean Up the “Mess,” Not to Prevent Its Production

A survey conducted in patent databases around the world showed that there are some unexpected trends in R&D (Research and Development) of new technologies in the energy sector. The findings reveal that industries are more committed to new technologies for extracting fossil fuels than to the search for truly green and renewable energy technologies.

The report was compiled by the companies IFI and Digital Science and focused on two categories of patent applications. The first is represented by land drilling for oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials, or slurries of minerals from wells. The second involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions related to the generation, transmission, or distribution of energy.

New Drilling Technologies Rank 3rd Among the Fastest Growing

Data from the study reveals that new drilling technologies used by industries rose to 3rd place among the top 10 fastest-growing technologies of 2022, after being in 6th place in 2021. According to Mike Baycroft from IFI, “at the corporate R&D level, purely renewable energy doesn’t seem to be attracting the necessary funding for the widespread adoption needed to bring the world to net zero emissions.”

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On the other hand, it is noted that patents exclusively related to renewable energy have fallen significantly behind those filed or granted for drilling technology in the pursuit of fossil fuels.

“Energy companies continue to invest in R&D and seek decades of patent protection to extract fuel from the ground. According to our analysis, the majority of ‘green’ patents are focused on mitigating the negative effects of conventional energy sources, such as fossil fuels – to make these sources of energy ‘cleaner’ – rather than renewable sources receiving R&D investment. This suggests that fossil fuels will continue to be part of the energy landscape in the coming decades,” adds Baycroft.

Patents Applied for by Industries for Fossil Fuel and Renewable Energy

According to Technological Innovation, the top three industries investing in fossil fuel drilling technology in the past five years were:

Halliburton Energy Services Inc. (7,153 patent applications)
Saudi Arabian Oil Co. (3,423 patent applications)
Schlumberger Technology Corp. (2,854 patent applications)

The leading companies investing in renewable energy technology in the past five years (by field), which represent a much smaller number, were:

Wind Energy: Vestas Wind Systems AS (988 patent applications)
Geothermal: Ice Thermal Harvesting LLC (27 patent applications)
Green Hydrogen: Toshiba Corp. (104 patent applications)
Photovoltaic (Solar): Samsung Display Co Ltd. (2,369 patent applications)

Unexpected Trend: Industries Seek More Patents for Fossil Fuel Cleanup Than for Generating Clean Energy

New Technologies Are Being Used Only to Clean Up the “Mess,” Not to Prevent Its Production

New Drilling Technologies Rank 3rd Among the Fastest Growing

Patents Applied for by Industries for Fossil Fuel and Renewable Energy

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Unexpected Trend: Industries Seek More Patents for Fossil Fuel Cleanup Than for Generating Clean Energy

New Technologies Are Being Used Only to Clean Up the “Mess,” Not to Prevent Its Production

New Drilling Technologies Rank 3rd Among the Fastest Growing

Patents Applied for by Industries for Fossil Fuel and Renewable Energy

With billions in loans, China is rebuilding Nigeria’s railway network from scratch, abandoning the British colonial tracks that have turned to scrap and creating a corridor of over 1,300 km to take the load off the roads of Africa’s largest economy.

Forget petroleum-based asphalt: a Scottish company transforms 684,000 plastic bottles into one kilometer of road that is 60% more resistant and up to 10 times more durable, and the technology has already started replacing traditional asphalt in more than 30 countries.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Spain installs two giant pipelines 2.2 km off the coast to draw water from the Mediterranean and supply a megafacility capable of producing 200 million liters of drinking water per day.

A 250-ton transformer traveled 1,929 km by road in India on a slow and planned journey that demonstrates how the power grid relies on giant loads, detours, and impossible routes for regular trucks.

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