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Energy and Environment
Published in T.M. Aggarwal, Environmental Control in Thermal Power Plants, 2021
The incentive to use 100% renewable energy, for electricity, transport, or even total primary energy supply globally, has been motivated by global warming and other ecological as well as economic concerns. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that there are few fundamental technological limits to integrating a portfolio of renewable energy technologies to meet most of total global energy demand. In reviewing 164 recent scenarios of future renewable energy growth, the report noted that the majority expected renewable sources to supply more than 17% of total energy by 2030, and 27% by 2050; the highest forecast projected 43% supplied by renewables by 2030 and 77% by 2050. Renewable energy use has grown much faster than even advocates anticipated.[111] At the national level, at least 30 nations around the world already have renewable energy contributing more than 20% of energy supply. Also, Professors S. Pacala and Robert H. Socolow have developed a series of “stabilization wedges” that can allow us to maintain our quality of life while avoiding catastrophic climate change, and “renewable energy sources,” in aggregate, constitute the largest number of their “wedges.”
Complexity and Communication
Published in Susan Krumdieck, Transition Engineering, 2019
One of the most persistent themes amongst environmental groups and sustainability advocates is the proposition that we can continue the march of progress by substituting clean energy sources for fossil fuels. Companies and cities around the world are setting goals of achieving 100% renewable energy. The United States is the most technologically advanced and resource-rich country. The United States has emitted more greenhouse gas than any other country and thus has a large responsibility for the cumulative warming effect. The United States has the largest installed geothermal electricity capacity and is second only to China in installed hydroelectricity capacity. The United States was the pioneer of concentrating solar power generation and is second only to China in solar PV installations. This renewable electricity capacity, together with the congressionally mandated and subsidized development of corn ethanol conversion capacity, makes the United States a leader in renewable energy development. However, we saw from the data in the previous section that the renewable energy substitution in the United States is objectively small (World Energy Council, 2016). The EIA scenarios are based on future demand, and they do not show any switch to renewable energy.
Exergy Analysis of Intelligent Energy Systems in the Built Environment
Published in Evanthia A. Nanaki, George Xydis, Exergetic Aspects of Renewable Energy Systems, 2019
In many countries or, at times, at the city level there are declared goals of reaching a 100% fossil-free overall energy mix by the years 2040 or 2050, with various milestones such as 100% Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the heat and/or electricity and/or transport sectors etc. The importance of keeping momentum in the investment ecosystem is critical [Seljom and Tomasgard, 2015]. Even though several countries – at least in Northern Europe have relatively large capacities on cross-border energy trading and balancing to and from other neighboring countries the multi-faceted interconnection issue is starting to challenge the future prospects of the ambitious energy plans. Moreover, due to convincing and dynamic national plans in a number of renewable energy projects, the interconnectors between neighboring countries has been severely limited in recent years, due to congestions and co-generation. This results many times in curtailment, a large number of hours of negative prices every year, and wasted energy. The need for finding a more concrete solution for a more flexible system that will incorporate various loads and minimize energy wasted – especially within cities – is huge.
Sustainability assessment of electricity generation technologies: a transition pathway for Pakistan
Published in International Journal of Sustainable Energy, 2022
Syed Muhammad Ali Haider Rizvi, Ali Bastas, Kapila Liyanage
The sustainability assessment of electricity generation technologies was conducted in line with the methodology encapsulated in Figure 1. First, the sustainability dimensions essential in context of this study were identified and then, relevant electricity generation technologies for the case study were chosen. Appropriate sustainability indicators were next identified through the literature and in the fourth step, sustainability performance of each electricity generation technology accounting technical, economic, environmental, and social dimensions was established. Next, sustainability impact score was ascertained and based on equal weighting of both sustainability dimensions and indicators, a comparison among electricity generation technologies was drawn. In the final step, an emphasis was laid on decarbonisation in future by transitioning from non-renewable to renewable energy-based electricity generation and eventually achieving a 100% renewable energy scenario.
Surveying the applicability of energy recovery technologies for waste treatment: Case study for anaerobic wastewater treatment in Minnesota
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2021
Aduramo Lasode, Emma Rinn, William F. Northrop
Renewable energy goals are being adopted, renewed or reevaluated across the global energy landscape. Countries like Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Scotland, China, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua have set targets of 80–100% renewable energy standards for 2030 or 2050 (Institute on the Environment 2019). Similarly, in the United States, Hawaii, Vermont, California, Washington, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Nevada and Washington D.C. have set targets of 80–100% clean energy standards for a timeline as early as 2030 through 2050 (Institute on the Environment 2019). The primary focus of renewable energy efforts is to reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, among others. Sectors of interest have traditionally included electricity production and transportation, though there have been recent efforts to improve the renewability of waste treatment (Institute on the Environment 2019). Waste treatment in its many forms, solid, wastewater and dairy sources is globally recognized as one of the largest sources of methane emissions (Bogner et al. 2007; Shih et al. 2008). Methane has high climate impact, with emissions from landfills and wastewater alone constituting up to 4.6% of total greenhouse gas emissions in Argentina (Santalla, Córdoba, and Blanco 2013). Mitigating its emission through energy recovery efforts can make a significant difference in addressing up to 1,500 ktC02e per year (Quiroz-Castañeda et al. 2013; Santalla, Córdoba, and Blanco 2013). Several technoeconomic studies focusing on different regions of the world have estimated potential energy production at levels sufficient to supplement main power grids; 2–560 Gigawatt capacity in multiple countries can make up 2% of their total power generation mix (Carreras-Sospedra, Williams, and Dabdub 2016; Stillwell, Hoppock, and Webber 2010; Tercan, Cabalar, and Yaman 2015), and up to 68 Kilowatts per plant can serve seven people in rural households (Hossain 2020).
Assessing electric mobility and renewable energy synergy in a small New Caledonia Island community
Published in International Journal of Green Energy, 2023
Frédéric Babonneau, David Chotard, Alain Haurie
• Two optimistic scenarios (Optimistic and Optimistic 100%) in which the electric system and the transportation sector are optimized by the unconstrained model. EV charging can be optimized to 80%, and V2G is fully deployed. In the Optimistic 100% scenario, a 100% renewable energy target for electricity generation is imposed in 2030.