Energy Sprawl or Energy Efficiency: Climate Policy Impacts on Natural Habitat - Recent Advances and Issues in Environmental Science - page 19

impacted, although the magnitude of the effect is policy specifi c. Under the Core Cap-
and-Trade Scenario, the burning of energy crops for electricity becomes profi table
after the price of electricity rises due to the cap-and-trade system, resulting in a large
new areal impact. Similarly, wind power is very important in the Few Options Scenario,
where new electric production from coal and nuclear is not an option, and causes a
large new areal impact. Conversely, in scenarios where there is not control on carbon
emissions (Reference Scenario) or in cases where CCS is viable (e.g., CCS Scenario),
coal production has a large new areal impact. The infrastructure for CCS is actually a
small fraction of the area impacted by coal mining itself, so the major land-use change
implication of the viability of coal with CCS is the continuation of coal mining.
Figure 4. Greenhouse gas emissions and total new area impacted with a Cap-and-Trade system.
Arrows depict the difference between the Reference Scenario, with no Cap-and-Trade system, and
three other scenarios where a Cap-and-Trade system is implemented. Greenhouse gas emissions
measured in million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
Our results stress the importance of energy conservation for reducing energy
sprawl. Relative to the Reference Scenario, all Cap-and-Trade Scenarios involve a
reduction in energy consumed (Figure 1B), because of energy effi ciency and foregone
consumption due to higher energy prices. This energy conservation is primarily in the
electricity market, which is more elastic than demand for liquid fuels. Electricity con-
servation avoids impacts on at least 49,600 km 2 in the Core Cap-and-Trade Scenario,
while at least 2,500 km 2 will be saved due to liquid fuel conservation, compared to the
Reference Scenario. The EIA assumptions about the potential for energy conservation