scholarly journals Thirty years of climate mitigation: lessons from the 1989 options appraisal for the UK

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eoin Lees ◽  
Nick Eyre
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Renewable Electricity ◽  
Mitigation Options ◽  
Support Unit ◽  
The Uk

AbstractIn April 1989, the UK Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, convened a full cabinet meeting on climate change addressed by leading scientists. The presentation on mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions was made by the Head of the Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU), Ken Currie, and identified the key potential options for mitigation by 2020. In this paper, we compare the mitigation potential identified for each proposed option with the 2019 outturn. The largest mitigation options identified were improved end use energy efficiency across the economy and the generation and use of low carbon electricity. Our analysis finds that these have been the key options adopted. Reductions in primary energy use, resulting from improvements in energy efficiency were concentrated in the period 2005–2012 which in 1989 were widely considered to be ambitious. Decarbonisation of electricity has been achieved by the displacement of coal, initially by gas and more recently by renewable electricity. Renewable electricity has exceeded 1989 expectations in the last 5 years and is now the biggest source of CO2 reductions from electricity generation. The contribution envisaged by nuclear electricity has not occurred, largely due its failure to compete in liberalised generation markets. In all cases, the policy environment has been important. We draw lessons for mitigation options to achieve the goal of net zero emissions in the next 30 years. The contribution of demand side and other modular options will remain crucial, as mass-produced technologies tend to improve more quickly than those requiring large construction projects. Environmental, social and political factors will be important, so analysis should not be a purely techno-economic assessment.

scholarly journals Generic Feasibility Assessment: Helping to Choose the Nuclear Piece of the Net Zero Jigsaw

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1229
Author(s):  
William Bodel ◽  
Kevin Hesketh ◽  
Grace McGlynn ◽  
Juan Matthews ◽  
Gregg Butler
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Climate Change Policy ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Feasibility Assessment ◽  
Change Policy ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The Uk

The United Kingdom has declared a climate change policy of 100% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Efforts thus far have been limited solely to electricity generation methods. While progress has been admirable, effort now must be directed at the nation’s non-electrical energy use. Nuclear energy is an essential part of any energy future, since it is low-carbon, firm and supplies synchronous electricity; however the nation’s nuclear strategy to date has been erratic, costly and lacking in strategic oversight. A multitude of reactor designs are on offer for potential uptake, and decision-makers must have clarity of vision on what these systems must deliver before forming a strategy. Choosing between these systems, given the uncharted energy future faced by the UK is a daunting prospect. Generic feasibility assessment offers a tool for decision-makers to assist them in selecting the most suitable nuclear system for chosen future conditions. Generic feasibility assessment offers an alternative to traditional multi-attribute decision analyses, which can be confusing to even committed stakeholders when large numbers of attributes are weighted and compiled. Generic feasibility assessment forms part of a toolkit which will be of utility in achieving net zero by 2050, given the short time that remains.

GREENING THE UK BUILDING STOCK: Historic Trends and Low Carbon Futures 1970-2050

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
A I Brown ◽  
G P Hammond ◽  
C I Jones ◽  
F J Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Co2 Emissions ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Industrial Processing ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
The Uk

Historic trends and future projections of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions associated with the United Kingdom building stock are analysed for the period 1970-2050. Energy use in housing is found to rise at a slightly slower rate than the increase in household numbers, which totalled some 25.5 million in 2000. It appears feasible to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the UK domestic building stock by more than 65% by 2050. But this would require a significant take-up of energy saving measures and the adoption of various low or zero carbon (LZC) energy technologies. Non-domestic buildings consisted of some 1.98 million premises in 2000. Anticipated changes in the UK Building Regulations will lead to reductions in energy use and carbon emissions of up to 17% and 12% respectively for 2010 standard buildings. Improvements in the non-domestic building stock and industrial processing could lead to a reduction of nearly 59% in CO2 emissions, via the adoption of LZC energy technologies. Thus, the potential for ‘greening' the UK building stock – making it environmentally benign - is large, but the measures needed to achieve this would present a significant challenge to the UK government, domestic householders, and industry in the broadest sense.

Balancing the competing needs of climate change, biodiversity and rural communities

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 249-249
Author(s):  
H Prosser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
New Technology ◽  
The Uk

The work of the UK Climate Change Commission (UKCCC) in recommending targets and options for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases is focusing attention on what agriculture and land use can contribute to deliver these targets. Although overall the major issue is the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from energy use, agriculture and land use are significant emitters of methane and nitrous oxide. UKCCC has identified three main routes by which emissions can be reduced• Lifestyle change with less reliance on carbon intensive produce -eg switching from sheep, and beef to pig, poultry and vegetables.• Changing farm practices – eg to improve use of fertilisers and manures• Using new technology on farms – eg modifying rumen processes, anaerobic digestion.

Scenarios for examination of highly distributed power systems

2008 ◽  
Vol 222 (7) ◽  
pp. 643-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
C N Jardine ◽  
G W Ault
Keyword(s):  
Power Systems ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Power Flow ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Housing Stock ◽  
Distributed Power ◽  
Distributed Power Systems ◽  
Network Operation ◽  
The Uk

A set of three scenarios has been created in order to examine the incorporation of extensive penetrations of micro-generators into electricity networks (termed ‘highly distributed power systems’). The scenarios have been created as a synthesis of the Future Network Technologies scenarios and the UK domestic carbon model, and yields energy use and carbon dioxide emissions of the UK housing stock from inputs of household numbers, house type, thermal efficiency, appliance efficiency, as well as the number and efficiency of micro-generators used. The centralized supply mix also varies between scenarios and features extensive penetrations of large-scale renewables. The scenarios illustrate the scale of change required to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 per cent by 2050, which has substantial impacts for electricity network operation. Moving from a centralized system to the one where one-third of electricity comes from distributed sources poses significant challenges including: reverse power flow on networks, load balancing, storage requirements, phase unbalance, harmonics, and ancillary services.

Changing Efficiencies in Petroleum Energy Use in New Zealand

1995 ◽  
Vol 13 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 187-198
Author(s):  
A.J. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Petroleum Products ◽  
History Of ◽  
Investment Capital ◽  
Improved Design ◽  
Energy Efficiency And Conservation

The paper introduces the work of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority relating to gas and petroleum usages, with the dual imperatives to gain technical and economic efficiencies; and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Factors inhibiting greater efficiency include current investments, competition for new investment capital, price structures, and public attitudes. The current usage of petroleum products is presented with trends in sectors. Current gas use, from our history of development, wastes resources and produces high carbon dioxide emissions. Alternative trends can gradually be imposed to improve efficiency and lower environmental effects. Particular opportunities are in substituting direct use of natural gas and cogeneration for gas-fired electricity generation. There is a continuing upward trend in transport fuel use. Changing utilisation efficiencies in various modes of transport are reviewed and compared with overseas trends. While some progress has been made, considerable further improvement is possible by implementing regulatory, behavioural, and technical changes. The rising diesel and petrol usage relating to CNG and LPG is of concern. Overall, improvements in energy efficiency in New Zealand do not compare well with most OECD countries, but there are some positive trends in a number of sectors. The scope for improved efficiencies in New Zealand from newer technologies is reviewed with respect to domestic, commercial, industry and transport sectors. Means are outlined for taking opportunities with today's technologies through changing attitudes, standards, improved design of buildings, improved industrial processes, and financial packaging.

Current and future test reference years at a 5 km resolution

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 389-413
Author(s):  
C Liu ◽  
W Chung ◽  
F Cecinati ◽  
S Natarajan ◽  
D Coley
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Computer Modelling ◽  
Weather Data ◽  
Energy Estimates ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Building Simulations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

Frequently, the computer modelling of the natural and human-made environment requires localised weather files. Traditionally, the weather files are based on the observed weather at a small number of locations (14 for the UK). Unfortunately, both the climate and the weather are known to be highly variable across the landscape, so the small number of locations has the potential to cause large errors. With respect to buildings, this results in incorrect estimates of the annual energy use (sometimes by a factor of 2), or of overheating risk. Here we use a validated weather generator running on a 5 × 5 km grid to create probabilistic test reference years (pTRYs) for the UK at 11,326 locations. We then investigate the spatial variability of these pTRYs and of annual energy estimates and temperatures in buildings generated by them, both now and in 2080. Further pTRYs targeted at understanding the impact of minimum and maximum temperatures are proposed and produced at the same locations. Finally, we place these pTRYs, which represent the first set of reference weather files at this spatial resolution in the world and that include the urban heat island effect, into a publicly accessible database so researchers and industry can access them. Practical applications: Insufficiently localised weather data for building simulations have limited the accuracy of previous estimations of energy use and overheating risk in buildings. This work produces localised probabilistic test reference years (pTRYs) across the whole UK for now and future climates. In addition, a new pTRY method has been proposed in order to overcome an unexpected shortcoming of traditional pTRYs in representing typical maximum and minimum temperatures. These current and future weather data will be of interest to various disciplines including those interested in low carbon design, renewable energy and climate resilience.

scholarly journals Contribution of air conditioning adoption to future energy use under global warming

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (19) ◽  
pp. 5962-5967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas W. Davis ◽  
Paul J. Gertler
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Global Action

As household incomes rise around the world and global temperatures go up, the use of air conditioning is poised to increase dramatically. Air conditioning growth is expected to be particularly strong in middle-income countries, but direct empirical evidence is scarce. In this paper we use high-quality microdata from Mexico to describe the relationship between temperature, income, and air conditioning. We describe both how electricity consumption increases with temperature given current levels of air conditioning, and how climate and income drive air conditioning adoption decisions. We then combine these estimates with predicted end-of-century temperature changes to forecast future energy consumption. Under conservative assumptions about household income, our model predicts near-universal saturation of air conditioning in all warm areas within just a few decades. Temperature increases contribute to this surge in adoption, but income growth by itself explains most of the increase. What this will mean for electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions depends on the pace of technological change. Continued advances in energy efficiency or the development of new cooling technologies could reduce the energy consumption impacts. Similarly, growth in low-carbon electricity generation could mitigate the increases in carbon dioxide emissions. However, the paper illustrates the enormous potential impacts in this sector, highlighting the importance of future research on adaptation and underscoring the urgent need for global action on climate change.

Impacts of COVID-19 induced energy demand changes on emissions and mitigation challenges 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Vinca ◽  
Jarmo S. Kikstra ◽  
Francesco Lovat ◽  
Benigna Boza-Kiss ◽  
Bas van Ruijven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Energy ◽  
Climate Mitigation ◽  
Economic Downturn ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Energy Technologies ◽  
Long Run

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic is causing radical temporary breaks with past energy use and GHG emissions trends. However, how a post-pandemic recovery will impact longer-term transformations to a low-carbon society is unclear. Here, we present different global COVID-19 shock-and-recovery scenarios that systematically explore economic uncertainty and the demand-side effect on emissions. We consider changes in the residential, industry and transport energy sub-sectors under diverging cases that might lead to a more carbon intensive and individualistic way of consumption, or to a policy-advised new future that supports the emission reduction opportunities seen during the pandemic. The resulting impact on cumulative CO2 emissions over the coming decade can range from 28 to 53 GtCO2 reduction depending on the depth and duration of the economic downturn and the extent and persistence of demand-side changes. Recovering from the pandemic with low energy demand practices - embedded in new patterns of travel, work, consumption, and production – reduces climate mitigation challenges in the long run. We show that a low energy demand recovery reduces carbon prices for a 1.5°C consistent pathway by 19%, saves energy supply investments until 2030 by 2.1 trillion USD, and lessens pressure on the upscaling of renewable energy technologies.  </p>

Discussion about Calculation Principle of Carbon Emission in Low-Carbon Architectures

2011 ◽  
Vol 213 ◽  
pp. 302-305
Author(s):  
Xiao Fei Zhu ◽  
Da Wei Lv
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Emissions ◽  
Carbon Emission ◽  
Building Materials ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Equipment Manufacturing ◽  
Reduce Carbon Dioxide

There are more and more low-carbon architectures around us gradually. Low-carbon architectures is to decrease the use of renewable energy, improving energy efficiency, reduce carbon dioxide emissions during materials and equipment manufacturing, construction and the whole life of building use. According to calculating carbon emissions of the building materials in production, construction, using and removal, and the process of calculation, the total sum of carbon emissions in the life cycle was calculated.

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