Low-carbon electricity orlow-carbon power iselectricity produced with substantially lowergreenhouse gas emissions over the entire lifecycle thanpower generation usingfossil fuels.[citation needed] Theenergy transition to low-carbon power is one of the most important actions required tolimit climate change.[1]
Low carbon power generation sources includewind power,solar power,nuclear power and mosthydropower.[2][3] The term largely excludes conventionalfossil fuel plant sources, and is only used to describe a particular subset of operating fossil fuel power systems, specifically, those that are successfully coupled with aflue gascarbon capture and storage (CCS) system.[4] Globally almost 40% of electricity generation came from low-carbon sources in 2020: about 10% being nuclear power, almost 10% wind and solar, and around 20% hydropower and other renewables.[1] Very little low-carbon power comes from fossil sources, mostly due to the cost of CCS technology.[5]
During the late 20th and early 21st century significant findings regardingglobal warming highlighted the need to curb carbon emissions. From this, the idea for low-carbon power was born. TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), established by theWorld Meteorological Organization (WMO) and theUnited Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in 1988, set the scientific precedence for the introduction of low-carbon power. The IPCC has continued to provide scientific, technical and socio-economic advice to the world community, through its periodic assessment reports and special reports.[6]
Internationally, the most prominent[according to whom?] early step in the direction of low carbon power was the signing of theKyoto Protocol, which came into force on 16 February 2005, under which most industrialized countries committed to reduce their carbon emissions. The historical event set the political precedence for introduction of low-carbon power technology.
| Technology | Min. | Median | Max. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Currently commercially available technologies | |||
| Coal –PC | 740 | 820 | 910 |
| Gas –combined cycle | 410 | 490 | 650 |
| Biomass – Dedicated | 130 | 230 | 420 |
| Solar PV – Utility scale | 18 | 48 | 180 |
| Solar PV – rooftop | 26 | 41 | 60 |
| Geothermal | 6.0 | 38 | 79 |
| Concentrated solar power | 8.8 | 27 | 63 |
| Hydropower | 1.0 | 24 | 22001 |
| Wind Offshore | 8.0 | 12 | 35 |
| Nuclear | 3.7 | 12 | 110 |
| Wind Onshore | 7.0 | 11 | 56 |
| Pre‐commercial technologies | |||
| Ocean (Tidal andwave) | 5.6 | 17 | 28 |
1 see alsoenvironmental impact of reservoirs#Greenhouse gases.
| Technology | g/kWh CO2eq | |
|---|---|---|
| Hard coal | PC, withoutCCS | 1000 |
| IGCC, withoutCCS | 850 | |
| SC, withoutCCS | 950 | |
| PC, withCCS | 370 | |
| IGCC, withCCS | 280 | |
| SC, withCCS | 330 | |
| Natural gas | NGCC, withoutCCS | 430 |
| NGCC, withCCS | 130 | |
| Hydro | 660 MW[10] | 150 |
| 360 MW | 11 | |
| Nuclear | average | 5.1 |
| CSP | tower | 22 |
| trough | 42 | |
| PV | poly-Si, ground-mounted | 37 |
| poly-Si, roof-mounted | 37 | |
| CdTe, ground-mounted | 12 | |
| CdTe, roof-mounted | 15 | |
| CIGS, ground-mounted | 11 | |
| CIGS, roof-mounted | 14 | |
| Wind | onshore | 12 |
| offshore, concrete foundation | 14 | |
| offshore, steel foundation | 13 | |
List of acronyms:
There are many options for lowering current levels of carbon emissions. Some options, such as wind power and solar power, produce low quantities of total life cycle carbon emissions, using entirely renewable sources. Other options, such as nuclear power, produce a comparable amount of carbon dioxide emissions as renewable technologies in total life cycle emissions, but consume non-renewable, but sustainable[11] materials (uranium). The termlow-carbon power can also include power that continues to utilize the world's natural resources, such as natural gas and coal, but only when they employ techniques that reduce carbon dioxide emissions from these sources when burning them for fuel, such as the, as of 2012, pilot plants performingCarbon capture and storage.[4][12]
Because the cost of reducing emissions in the electricity sector appears to be lower than in other sectors such as transportation, the electricity sector may deliver the largest proportional carbon reductions under an economically efficient climate policy.[13]
Technologies to produce electric power with low-carbon emissions are in use at various scales. Together, they accounted for almost 40% of global electricity in 2020, with wind and solar almost 10%.[1]
| Source:[14] |
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The 2014 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report identifies nuclear, wind, solar and hydroelectricity in suitable locations as technologies that can provide electricity with less than 5% of the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of coal power.[15]
Hydroelectric plants have the advantage of being long-lived and many existing plants have operated for more than 100 years. Hydropower is also an extremely flexible technology from the perspective of power grid operation. Large hydropower provides one of the lowest cost options in today's energy market, even compared tofossil fuels and there are no harmful emissions associated with plant operation.[16] However, there are typically low greenhouse gas emissions withreservoirs, and possibly high emissions in the tropics.
Hydroelectric power is the world's largest low carbon source of electricity, supplying 15.6% of total electricity in 2019.[17]China is by far the world's largest producer ofhydroelectricity in the world, followed byBrazil andCanada.
However, there are several significant social and environmental disadvantages of large-scale hydroelectric power systems: dislocation, if people are living where the reservoirs are planned, release ofsignificant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane during construction and flooding of the reservoir, and disruption of aquatic ecosystems and birdlife.[18] There is a strong consensus now that countries should adopt an integrated approach towards managing water resources, which would involve planning hydropower development in co-operation with other water-using sectors.[16]
Nuclear power, with a 10.6% share of world electricity production as of 2013, is the second largest low-carbon power source.[19]
Nuclear power, in 2010, also provided two thirds of the twenty seven nationEuropean Union's low-carbon energy,[20] with some EU nations sourcing a large fraction of their electricity from nuclear power; for exampleFrance derives 79% of its electricity from nuclear. As of 2020 nuclear power provided 47% low-carbon power in the EU[21] with countries largely based on nuclear power routinely achieving carbon intensity of 30-60 gCO2eq/kWh.[22]
In 2021United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) described nuclear power as important tool to mitigate climate change that has prevented 74Gt of CO2 emissions over the last half century, providing 20% of energy in Europe and 43% of low-carbon energy.[23]
Nuclear power has been used since the 1950s as a low-carbon source ofbaseload electricity.[25] Nuclear power plants in over 30 countries generate about 10% of global electricity.[26] As of 2019, nuclear generated over a quarter of alllow-carbon energy, making it the second largest source after hydropower.[27]
Nuclear power's lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions—including the mining and processing ofuranium—are similar to the emissions from renewable energy sources.[28] Nuclear power uses littleland per unit of energy produced, compared to the major renewables. Additionally, Nuclear power does not create local air pollution.[29][30] Although theuranium ore used to fuel nuclear fission plants is a non-renewable resource, enough exists to provide a supply for hundreds to thousands of years.[31][32] However, uranium resources that can be accessed in an economically feasible manner, at the present state, are limited and uranium production could hardly keep up during the expansion phase.[33] Climate change mitigation pathways consistent with ambitious goals typically see an increase in power supply from nuclear.[34]
There is controversy over whether nuclear power is sustainable, in part due to concerns aroundnuclear waste,nuclear weapon proliferation, andaccidents.[32] Radioactive nuclear waste must be managed for thousands of years.[32] For each unit of energy produced, nuclear energy has caused far feweraccidental and pollution-related deaths than fossil fuels, and the historic fatality rate of nuclear is comparable to renewable sources.[35]Public opposition to nuclear energy often makes nuclear plants politically difficult to implement.[32]
Reducing the time and the cost of building new nuclear plants have been goals for decades butcosts remain high and timescales long.[36] Various new forms of nuclear energy are in development, hoping to address the drawbacks of conventional plants.Fast breeder reactors are capable ofrecycling nuclear waste and therefore can significantly reduce the amount of waste that requiresgeological disposal, but have not yet been deployed on a large-scale commercial basis.[37]Nuclear power based on thorium (rather than uranium) may be able to provide higher energy security for countries that do not have a large supply of uranium.[32]Small modular reactors may have several advantages over current large reactors: It should be possible to build them faster and their modularization would allow for cost reductions vialearning-by-doing.[38]
Several countries are attempting to developnuclear fusion reactors, which would generate small amounts of waste and no risk of explosions.[39] Although fusion power has taken steps forward in the lab, the multi-decade timescale needed to bring it to commercialization and then scale means it will not contribute to a 2050 net zero goal for climate change mitigation.[40]
Wind power is the use ofwind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used bysails,windmills andwindpumps, but today it is mostly used to generateelectricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity generation.Today, wind power is generated almost completely usingwind turbines, generally grouped intowind farms and connected to theelectrical grid.
In 2022, wind supplied over 2,304TWh of electricity, which was 7.8% of world electricity.[41]With about 100GW added during 2021, mostlyin China and theUnited States, global installed wind power capacity exceeded 800 GW.[42][43][44] 32 countries generated more than a tenth of their electricity from wind power in 2023 and wind generation has nearly tripled since 2015.[41] To help meet theParis Agreement goals tolimit climate change, analysts say it should expand much faster – by over 1% of electricity generation per year.[45]
Wind power is considered asustainable,renewable energy source, and has a much smallerimpact on the environment compared to burningfossil fuels. Wind power isvariable, so it needsenergy storage or otherdispatchable generation energy sources to attain a reliable supply of electricity. Land-based (onshore) wind farms have a greater visual impact on the landscape than most other power stations per energy produced.[46][47]Wind farms sited offshore have less visual impact and have highercapacity factors, although they are generally more expensive.[42] Offshore wind power currently has a share of about 10% of new installations.[48]
Wind power is one of the lowest-cost electricity sources per unit of energy produced. In many locations, newonshore wind farms are cheaper than newcoal orgas plants.[49]
Regions in the higher northern and southern latitudes have the highest potential for wind power.[50] In most regions, wind power generation is higher in nighttime, and in winter whensolar power output is low. For this reason, combinations of wind and solar power are suitable in many countries.[51]
Solar power is the conversion ofsunlight into electricity, either directly usingphotovoltaics (PV), or indirectly usingconcentrated solar power (CSP). Concentrated solar power systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. Photovoltaics convert light into electric current using thephotoelectric effect.[52]
Commercial concentrated solar power plants were first developed in the 1980s. The 354 MWSEGS CSP installation is the largest solar power plant in the world, located in theMojave Desert of California. Other large CSP plants include theSolnova Solar Power Station (150 MW) and theAndasol solar power station (150 MW), both in Spain. The over 200 MWAgua Caliente Solar Project in the United States, and the 214 MWCharanka Solar Park in India, are theworld's largestphotovoltaic plants. Solar power's share of worldwide electricity usage at the end of 2014 was 1%.[53]
Geothermal electricity iselectricity generated from geothermal energy. Technologies in use include dry steam power plants, flash steam power plants and binary cycle power plants. Geothermal electricity generation is used in 24 countries[54] whilegeothermal heating is in use in 70 countries.[55]
Current worldwide installed capacity is 10,715 megawatts (MW), with the largest capacity in theUnited States (3,086 MW),[56]Philippines, andIndonesia. Estimates of the electricity generating potential of geothermal energy vary from 35 to 2000 GW.[55]
Geothermal power is considered to besustainable because the heat extraction is small compared to the Earth's heat content.[57] Theemission intensity of existing geothermal electric plants is on average 122 kg ofCO
2 per megawatt-hour (MW·h) of electricity, a small fraction of that of conventional fossil fuel plants.[58]
Tidal power is a form ofhydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity or other useful forms of power. The first large-scale tidal power plant (theRance Tidal Power Station) started operation in 1966. Although not yet widely used, tidal power has potential for future electricity generation. Tides are more predictable than wind energy and solar power.
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) captures carbon dioxide from theflue gas of power plants or other industry, transporting it to an appropriate location where it can be buried securely in an underground reservoir. Between 1972 and 2017, plans were made to add CCS to enough coal and gas power plants to sequester 171 million tonnes ofCO
2 per year, but by 2021 over 98% of these plans had failed.[59] Cost, the absence of measures to address long-term liability for stored CO2, and limited social acceptability have all contributed to project cancellations.[60]: 133 As of 2024, CCS is in operation at only five power plants worldwide.[61]
TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stated in its first working group report that "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase inanthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations, contribute toclimate change.[62]
As a percentage of all anthropogenicgreenhouse gas emissions,carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for 72 percent (seeGreenhouse gas), and has increased in concentration in the atmosphere from 315 parts per million (ppm) in 1958 to more than 375 ppm in 2005.[63]
Emissions from energy make up more than 61.4 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions.[64] Power generation from traditional coal fuel sources accounts for 18.8 percent of all world greenhouse gas emissions, nearly double that emitted by road transportation.[64]
Estimates state that by 2020 the world will be producing around twice as much carbon emissions as it was in 2000.[65]
TheEuropean Union hopes to sign a law mandatingnet-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the coming year for all 27 countries in the union.
World energy consumption is predicted to increase from 123,000 TWh (421 quadrillion BTU) in 2003 to 212,000 TWh (722 quadrillion BTU) in 2030.[66] Coal consumption is predicted to nearly double in that same time.[67] The fastest growth is seen in non-OECD Asian countries, especially China and India, where economic growth drives increased energy use.[68] By implementing low-carbon power options, world electricity demand could continue to grow while maintaining stable carbon emission levels.
In the transportation sector there are moves away from fossil fuels and towards electric vehicles, such asmass transit and theelectric car. These trends are small, but may eventually add a large demand to the electrical grid.[citation needed]
Domestic and industrial heat and hot water have largely been supplied by burning fossil fuels such as fuel oil or natural gas at the consumers' premises. Some countries have begun heat pump rebates to encourage switching to electricity, potentially adding a large demand to the grid.[69]
Coal-fired power plants are losing market share compared to low carbon power, and any built in the 2020s risk becomingstranded assets[70] orstranded costs, partly because theircapacity factors will decline.[71]
Investment in low-carbon power sources and technologies is increasing at a rapid rate.[clarification needed] Zero-carbon power sources produce about 2% of the world's energy, but account for about 18% of world investment in power generation, attracting $100 billion of investment capital in 2006.[72]
... nuclear plants ... currently provide 1/3 of the EU's electricity and 2/3 of its low-carbon energy.
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) The European Strategic Energy Technology Plan SET-Plan Towards a low-carbon future 2010. Nuclear power provides "2/3 of the EU's low carbon energy" pg 6.