Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×

Online ordering will be unavailable from 17:00 GMT on Friday, April 25 until 17:00 GMT on Sunday, April 27 due to maintenance. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Hostname: page-component-669899f699-g7b4s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-25T22:06:50.776Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

11 - Low-carbon energy technologies as mitigation approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2011

Edited by
Katherine Richardson ,
Will Steffen  and
Diana Liverman
Katherine Richardson
Affiliation:
University of Copenhagen
Will Steffen
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Diana Liverman
Affiliation:
University of Arizona and University of Oxford
Get access

Summary

‘The only engine big enough to impact Mother Nature is Father Greed: the Market. Only a market, shaped by regulations and incentives to stimulate massive innovation in clean, emission-free power sources can make a dent in global warming.’

Introduction

The joint climate and development imperatives described in the previous chapters demand a strong, immediate and sustained response. As outlined in Chapter 8, the global community has approximately four decades to implement a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the order of 90%.

The transition to a low-carbon/low-emissions economy will likely take many forms and be played out on local, national and regional levels as well as on the global stage (Chapter 13). While little has so far been done to initiate this transition, a diverse suite of existing and near-term technologies exist that can be components of regionally tailored low-carbon energy mixes, and which can underpin an aggressive expansion of energy efficiency worldwide. The challenge is, in effect, one of inventing and implementing a new energy economy in around four decades; i.e. in a fraction of the time it took to build the entire current industrial energy infrastructure.

A new ‘triple bottom line’ is therefore needed: one that is low-carbon, high-growth and job-creating. To further increase this challenge, this must be achieved in not only a few small segments of the global population, but also widely across industrialised and developing nations – from household and village scales, to national and regional economies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions , pp. 281 - 316
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ahn, J. and Apted, M. (eds.) (2010). Geological Repository Systems for Safe Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuels and Radioactive Waste. Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arons, S. R., Brandt, A. R., Delucchi, M. A.et al. (2007). A Low-Carbon Fuel Standard for California Part 1: Technical Analysis. Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Transportation Research Sustainability Center.Google Scholar
Bailis, R., Ezzati, M. and Kammen, D. M. (2005). Mortality and greenhouse gas impacts of biomass and petroleum energy futures in Africa. Science, 308, 98–103.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Biolite, (2009). Thermoelectrics in biomass stove systems. Presented at the UN-ASEAN Next Generation Cook Stove Workshop. 18 November, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok.
,Congressional Budget Office (2008). Nuclear Power's Role in Generating Electricity. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Budget Office, p. 28.Google Scholar
Creutzig, F., Papson, A., Schipper, L. and Kammen, D. M. (2009). Economic and environmental evaluation of compressed-air cars. Environmental Research Letters, 4, 1–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Creutzig, F. S. and Kammen, D. M. (2010). Getting the carbon out of transportation fuels. In Global Sustainability: A Nobel Cause, eds. Schellnhuber, H.-J., Molina, M., Stern, N., Huber, V. and Kadner, S.. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 307–18.Google Scholar
Duke, R. and Kammen, D. M. (1999). The economics of energy market transformation programs. The Energy Journal, 20, 15–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enkvist, P.-A., Nauclér, T. and Rosander, J. (2007). A cost curve for greenhouse gas reduction. The Mckinsey Quarterly, February.Google Scholar
,European Climate Foundation (2010). Roadmap 2050: A Practical Guide to a Prosperous, Low Carbon Europe. Den Haag, The Netherlands: European Climate Foundation, http://www.roadmap2050.eu/downloads.html.Google Scholar
Farrell, A. E., Plevin, R. J., Turner, B. T.et al. (2006). Ethanol can contribute to energy and environmental goals. Science, 311, 506–08.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fuller, M. C., Portis, S. C. and Kammen, D. M. (2009). Toward a low-carbon economy: Municipal financing for energy efficiency and solar power. Environment, 51, 22–32.Google Scholar
Galperin, A. and Raizes, G. (1997). A pressurized water reactor design for plutonium incineration: Fuel cycle options. Nuclear Technology, 117, 125–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia-Frapolli, E., Schilmann, A., Berrueta, V. M.et al. (2010). Beyond fuelwood savings: Valuing the economic benefits of introducing improved biomass cookstoves in the Purhépecha region of Mexico. Ecological Economics, 69(12), 2598–2605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granade, H. C., Creyts, J., Derkach, A.et al. (2009). Unlocking Energy Efficiency in the U. S. Economy. New York, NY: McKinsey & Company.Google Scholar
Hertel, T. W., Golub, A. A., Jones, A. D.et al. (2009). Effects of US maize ethanol on global land use and greenhouse gas emissions: Estimating market-mediated responses. BioScience, 60, 223–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (2008). Nuclear Safety Review. Vienna: IAEA.Google Scholar
,International Energy Agency (2007). World Energy Outlook 2007. Paris: International Energy Agency.Google Scholar
Ingersoll, D. T. (2009). Deliberately small reactors and the second nuclear era. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 51, 589–603.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, M. Z. and Masters, G. M. (2001). Exploiting wind versus coal. Science, 293, 1438.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, M., Rufus, E., Ghilardi, A.et al. (2009a). Quantification of carbon savings from improved biomass cookstove projects. Environmental Science & Technology, 43, 2456–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, T. M., Alatorre, C., Romo, Z. and Liu, F. (2009b). Proyecto MEDEC ‘México: Estudio Sobre la Disminución de Emisiones de Carbono’, Colombia: Banco Mundial, Mayol Mediciones.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M. and Lemoine, D. (2009). Commentary: The transition from ICVs to PHEVs and EVs. In Betting on Science: Disruptive Technologies in Transport Fuels. USA: Accenture, pp. 219–20.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M. and Nemet, G. (2005). Reversing the incredible shrinking energy R&D budget. Issues in Science & Technology, Fall, 84–88.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M. and Nemet, G. F. (2007). Energy myth 11 – Energy R&D investment takes decades to reach the market. In Energy and American Society – Thirteen Myths, eds. Sovacool, B. K. and Brown, M. A.. The Netherlands: Springer, pp. 289–310.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M. and Pacca, S. (2004). Assessing the costs of electricity. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 29, 301–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kammen, D. M., Kapadia, K. and Fripp, M. (2004). Putting Renewables to Work: How Many Jobs Can the Clean Energy Industry Generate?Berkeley, CA: University of California, Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M., Farrell, A. E, Plevin, R. J.et al. (2007). Energy and greenhouse impacts of biofuels: A framework for analysis. OECD Research Roundtable: Biofuels: Linking Support to Performance. Berkeley, CA: University of California – Institute of Transportation Studies.Google Scholar
Kammen, D. M., Clabaugh, M., Kerr, A. C. and Portis, S. C. (2008). Securing a Clean Energy Future: Opportunities for States in Clean Energy Research, Development, & Demonstration. Washington, D.C.: National Governors Association.Google Scholar
Center, Keystone (2007). Nuclear Power Joint Fact-finding. Keystone, CO: The Keystone Center.Google Scholar
Marburger, J. H. (2004). Science for the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy.Google Scholar
Margolis, R. M. and Kammen, D. M. (1999). Underinvestment: The energy technology and R&D policy challenge. Science, 285, 690–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mendonça, M. (ed.) (2007). Feed-In Tariffs: Accelerating the Deployment of Renewable Energy. London: Earthscan.Google Scholar
,Natural Resources Defense Council (2009). Issues: Global Warming, http://www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/Default.asp.Google Scholar
Nemet, G. F. and Kammen, D. M. (2007). U.S. energy research and development: Declining investment, increasing need, and the feasibility of expansion. Energy Policy, 35, 746–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,Nuclear Energy Institute (2008). New Nuclear Plant Status. Washington, D.C.: Nuclear Energy Institute.Google Scholar
O'Hare, M., Plevin, R. J., Martin, J. I.et al. (2009). Proper accounting for time increases crop-based biofuels' greenhouse gas deficit versus petroleum. Environmental Research Letters, 4, 024001.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,PCAST (1997). Report to the President on Federal Energy Research and Development for the Challenges of the Twenty-First Century. Washington, D.C.: President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology.Google Scholar
Perlack, R. D., Wright, L. L., Turhollow, A. F., Graham, R. L. and Stokes, B. J. (2005). Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry: The Technical Feasibility of a Billion-ton Annual Supply. US Department of Energy and US Department of Agriculture.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
,REN21 (2009). Renewables Global Status Report 2009 Update. Paris: Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century.Google Scholar
Richter, B., Goldston, D. L., Crabtree, G.et al. (2008). How America can look within to achieve energy security and reduce global warming. Reviews of Modern Physics, 80 S1–S109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rickerson, W. H., Sawin, J. L. and Grace, R. C. (2007). If the shoe FITs: Using feed-in tariffs to meet U.S. renewable electricity targets. The Electricity Journal, 20, 73–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riddel, M. (2009). Risk perception, ambiguity, and nuclear-waste transport. Southern Economic Journal, 75, 781–97.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, E. (2008). Europe turns back to coal, raising climate fears. New York Times, 23 April.Google Scholar
Sailor, W. C., Bodansky, D., Braun, C., Fetter, S. and Zwaan, R. (2000). A nuclear solution to climate change?Science, 288, 1177–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Searchinger, T., Heimlich, R., Houghton, R. A.et al. (2008). Use of U.S. croplands for biofuels increases greenhouse gases through emissions from land-use change. Science, 319, 1238–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, K. R. and Haigler, E. (2008). Co-benefits of climate mitigation and health protection in energy systems: Scoping methods. Annual Review of Public Health, 29, 11–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stern, N. H. (2007). The Economics of Climate Change: The Stern Review. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stokes, D. E. (1997). Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
,United Nations Environment Programme and New Energy Finance Limited (2009). Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2009. n.p.: United Nations Environment Programme.Google Scholar
,US Government Accountability Office (2004). Renewable Energy: Wind Power's Contribution to Electric Power Generation and Impact on Farms and Rural Communities. Washington, D.C.: US Government Accountability Office.Google Scholar
Wei, M., Patadia, S. and Kammen, D. M. (2010). Putting renewables and energy efficiency to work: How many jobs can the clean energy industry generate in the US?Energy Policy, 38, 919–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiser, R. and Bolinger, M. (2007). Annual Report on U.S. Wind Power Installation, Cost, and Performance Trends: 2006. Washington, D.C.: US Department of Energy – Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.Google Scholar
,World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2009). The Energy Access Situation in Developing Countries. A Review Focusing on the Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa. New York, NY: United Nations Development Programme, Environment and Energy Group.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×