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Davis SJ, Lewis NS, Shaner M, Aggarwal S, Arent D, Azevedo IL, Benson SM, Bradley T, Brouwer J, Chiang YM, Clack CTM, Cohen A, Doig S, Edmonds J, Fennell P, Field CB, Hannegan B, Hodge BM, Hoffert MI, Ingersoll E, Jaramillo P, Lackner KS, Mach KJ, Mastrandrea M, Ogden J, Peterson PF, Sanchez DL, Sperling D, Stagner J, Trancik JE, Yang CJ, Caldeira K. Net-zero emissions energy systems. Science 2018; 360:360/6396/eaas9793. [PMID: 29954954 DOI: 10.1126/science.aas9793] [Citation(s) in RCA: 316] [Impact Index Per Article: 52.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Some energy services and industrial processes-such as long-distance freight transport, air travel, highly reliable electricity, and steel and cement manufacturing-are particularly difficult to provide without adding carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Rapidly growing demand for these services, combined with long lead times for technology development and long lifetimes of energy infrastructure, make decarbonization of these services both essential and urgent. We examine barriers and opportunities associated with these difficult-to-decarbonize services and processes, including possible technological solutions and research and development priorities. A range of existing technologies could meet future demands for these services and processes without net addition of CO2 to the atmosphere, but their use may depend on a combination of cost reductions via research and innovation, as well as coordinated deployment and integration of operations across currently discrete energy industries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Steven J Davis
- Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA. .,Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Nathan S Lewis
- Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
| | - Matthew Shaner
- Near Zero, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Doug Arent
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA.,Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis, Golden, CO, USA
| | - Inês L Azevedo
- Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Sally M Benson
- Global Climate and Energy Project, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.,Precourt Institute for Energy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.,Department of Energy Resource Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Thomas Bradley
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
| | - Jack Brouwer
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.,Advanced Power and Energy Program, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Yet-Ming Chiang
- Department of Material Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | | | | | - Jae Edmonds
- Pacific National Northwestern Laboratory, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Paul Fennell
- Department of Chemical Engineering, South Kensington Campus, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Joint Bioenergy Institute, 5885 Hollis Street, Emeryville, CA, USA
| | | | | | - Bri-Mathias Hodge
- National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, CO, USA.,Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.,Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA
| | | | | | - Paulina Jaramillo
- Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Klaus S Lackner
- The Center for Negative Carbon Emissions, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Katharine J Mach
- Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | | | - Joan Ogden
- Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Per F Peterson
- Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Daniel L Sanchez
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Daniel Sperling
- Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Joseph Stagner
- Department of Sustainability and Energy Management, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Jessika E Trancik
- Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, USA
| | | | - Ken Caldeira
- Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, CA, USA.
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Prăvălie R, Bandoc G. Nuclear energy: Between global electricity demand, worldwide decarbonisation imperativeness, and planetary environmental implications. JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 2018; 209:81-92. [PMID: 29287177 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2017.12.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2017] [Revised: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 12/17/2017] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
For decades, nuclear energy has been considered an important option for ensuring global energy security, and it has recently started being promoted as a solution for climate change mitigation. However, nuclear power remains highly controversial due to its associated risks - nuclear accidents and problematic radioactive waste management. This review aims to assess the viability of global nuclear energy economically (energy-wise), climatically and environmentally. To this end, the nuclear sector's energy- and climate-related advantages were explored alongside the downsides that mainly relate to radioactive pollution. Economically, it was found that nuclear energy is still an important power source in many countries around the world. Climatically, nuclear power is a low-carbon technology and can therefore be a viable option for the decarbonization of the world's major economies over the following decades, if coupled with other large-scale strategies such as renewable energies. These benefits are however outweighed by the radioactive danger associated to nuclear power plants, either in the context of the nuclear accidents that have already occurred or in that of the large amounts of long-lived nuclear waste that have been growing for decades and that represent a significant environmental and societal threat.
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Affiliation(s)
- Remus Prăvălie
- University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography, Center for Coastal Research and Environmental Protection, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu Str., 010041, Bucharest, Romania.
| | - Georgeta Bandoc
- University of Bucharest, Faculty of Geography, Center for Coastal Research and Environmental Protection, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu Str., 010041, Bucharest, Romania.
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