2013-07-22 Carbon Budgets and Switching to Renewables
This paper assembles a chain of evidence from the global Carbon Budget for permissible climate change to the choice of components of the solution based on their Energy Return on (Energy) Invested (EROI). It shows that for an 80% chance of limiting global warming to 2 C, only 565 GtCO2 can be emitted (up to 2050).
With carbon emissions increasing at about 3% a year, this would be reached in about 16 years, i.e. by 2028. An early energy transition is also prompted by EROIs. That of high-carbon conventional oil is about 15, ultra-deepwater oil 7 to 4, tar sands oil is from 7 to 3, and shale oil is from 2 to 1.5. However, the EROIs of low-carbon Wind Turbines producing electricity are around 50 to 35, and with Power-to-Gas conversion producing methane, may be about 10, and with further conversions producing gasoline, may be about 7. Moreover, the EROIs of high-carbon conventional oil are falling with depletion, whereas those for low-carbon renewable synthetic fuels are rising due to increased scale and learning. Furthermore, the scale of the wind and solar resources are ample, and of the Power-to-Fuels plants are feasible, with plausible energy savings, to meet the demands of developed countries for electricity, fuels and heat.
In the above document, page 4, here is the reference 'Das e-gas Projekt von Audi: Power-to-Gas im Verkehrssektor.'
2013-07-22 Carbon Budgets and Switching to Renewables
This paper assembles a chain of evidence from the global Carbon Budget for permissible climate change to the choice of components of the solution based on their Energy Return on (Energy) Invested (EROI). It shows that for an 80% chance of limiting global warming to 2 C, only 565 GtCO2 can be emitted (up to 2050).
Recent articles
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