Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
.
Part of the emissions reduction
emissions in
can come from ef
ciency measures that reduce demand;
the rest has to come from emission-free or low-emission
sources. Making it even harder is the difference between
output and capacity in solar and wind power. Output is
typically
%to
% of capacity for solar and
%to
% for wind. All
the wind, solar, and geothermal
power generated in
Quads in the
United States. Even the simplest goal, a replacement of
totaled
.
Quads of energy with the renewables by
,isa
problem, and the replacement of about
Quads by
is a much larger problem. While the numbers in
other industrialized countries are different the shape
of the graph will be about the same. Getting emissions
to
is a huge job. All the tools
in the chest will have to be used, including nuclear
power, and carbon capture and storage if it can be
shown to work. We can do these things, but how long
it will take and how much it will cost is uncertain. It will
not be easy.
Shaded areas are reductions required to meet various
goals. The TPES numbers for
% below those of
and
are DOE
EIA actuals. The shaded areas for
are
actual emission-free energy including nuclear, big hydro,
and
What has to be done is to displace sources with emissions with sources
without such emissions. Most of the non-emitting technologies are
designed to produce electricity. A very rough guide is that for every
Quad of fossil-generated electricity that is replaced by solar, wind,
geothermal, nuclear, or hydro, primary fossil energy is reduced by
Quads because of the way the bookkeeping is done. The reduction
expected in the transportation sector from the new CAFE standard is
included in the EIA projection.
