Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 16-4
Cutting emissions under Kyoto treaty. (Source: United Nations.)
compensate, the government is to step up intervention in energy market and
force a switch to greater use of nonfossil alternatives. Other industrial coun-
tries have serious commitments to reduce pollution of the environment.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency of the U.S.A., the electric
power industry is the nation's largest polluter. It is responsible for emitting
66 percent of SO
, and
21 percent of mercury. The 160 countries, gathered in Kyoto, Japan, in
December 1997 under the U.N. Convention on Climate Change, agreed to
work on reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases
as per the national and regional goals depicted in
Figure 16-4
.
The U.S. has
promised a 7 percent cut by the year 2008-2012 measured against the base
year of 1990. Because the U.S. economy would grow by then since 1990, the
real cut required would be over 30 percent from the current level of emission.
This is a significant challenge and would certainly require an aggressive
policy on the renewable energy sources.
The developing countries have additional reason for promoting wind and
pv programs. With significant rural population, they would benefit from the
distributed power generation near the loads.
, 29 percent of NOx, 36 percent of manmade CO
2
2
16.2
Wind Future
The U.S. Department of Energy reports that wind is experiencing the stron-
gest growth among the renewable energy sources with the falling generation
