Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
carbon-intensive energy system. Substantial amounts of fossil fuels (coal, oil and
natural gas) are burned, both in power and heat production and in all the sectors
using energy.
According to the IPCC 5th report:
Warming of the climate system is
unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the observed changes are unprecedented
over decades to millennia. The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of
snow and ice have diminished, sea level has risen, and the concentrations of
greenhouse gases have increased.
uence on the climate
system is clear. This is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations
in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding
of the climate system
Furthermore,
Human in
[ 15 ].
It is also well known that achieving the 2
C target in the long term (after 2100)
would require atmospheric GHG concentration levels well below 550 ppm CO 2
equivalent (broadly consistent with 450 ppm of CO 2 alone). Furthermore stabil-
ization at 500 ppm requires that emissions be
°
7GtC/yr below Business as Usual in
2050 [ 24 ]. According to IPCC [ 16 ], to keep temperature increase below 2
°
C
emissions must be reduced in comparison to 2010 by 40
70 % by 2050 and by
almost zero by 2100. This entails radical technological and institutional change, and
an important transformation in lifestyles.
This ambitious objective is not easy to achieve. In fact how to encourage the use
of energy sources, alternative to fossil fuels, is a difcult task facing numerous
policy challenges. There is still not consensus about how this objective should be
pursued and unsolved questions still remain, even though the real problems are
pressing and a deal of work has to be undertaken in the theoretical and empirical
analysis that tries to deal with these challenges [ 1 ].
In principle the objective can be achieved by pursuing energy ef
-
ciency, the
decarbonization of the supply of electricity and fuels (by means of fuel shifting,
carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy and renewable energy) and using bio-
logical storage in forests and agricultural soils [ 8 ]. All these alternatives have been
tried, in one or more countries, but the concrete structure of policy measures varies
a great deal. The general movement towards the use of renewable sources of energy
seemed to be a
some years ago. Now the question about whether
renewable energy should be the central component of a low-carbon future is not as
clear as the deep economic recession has put the high economic costs of this
solution into perspective.
From the preceding discussion we can easily infer that the three core objectives of
any sensible energy policy nowadays are (1) security of supply, (2) competitiveness,
and (3) sustainability. Renewable energy and energy ef
focal point
ciency investments are
crucial if we are to make energy supplies more sustainable, competitive and secure.
These goals support each other. More sustainable energy sources, such as renew-
ables, help the energy sector to be more competitive, as well as diversifying and
securing its energy supply. Yet implementing policies to promote green energy and
ef
culties facing the
regulation needed in the energy sector and to analyze the key concepts and the main
markets failures that characterize the energy markets. It will also review the main
ciency is no easy task. This chapter seeks to discuss the dif
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