Net-zero emissions energy systems
- Creators
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Davis, Steven J.
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Lewis, Nathan S.
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.
Additional Information
© 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License. Received 11 January 2018; accepted 25 May 2018. The authors extend a special acknowledgment to M.I.H. for inspiration on the 20th anniversary of publication of (1). The authors also thank M. Dyson, L. Fulton, L. Lynd, G. Janssens-Maenhout, M. McKinnon, J. Mueller, G. Pereira, M. Ziegler, and M. Wang for helpful input. This Review stems from an Aspen Global Change Institute meeting in July 2016 convened with support from NASA, the Heising-Simons Foundation, and the Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research. S.J.D. and J.B. also acknowledge support of the U.S. National Science Foundation (INFEWS grant EAR 1639318). D.A., B.H., and B-M.H. acknowledge Alliance for Sustainable Energy, the manager and operator of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under contract DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding was in part provided by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the U.S. government. The U.S. government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S. government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for U.S. government purposes.Errata
Correction (29 June 2018): Figure 2 has been revised; "Other industry" has been correctly labeled "14%".Attached Files
Supplemental Material - aas9793-Davis-SM.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 87478
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20180629-133032793
- NASA
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research (FICER)
- EAR-1639318
- NSF
- DE-AC36-08GO28308
- Department of Energy (DOE)
- Created
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2018-06-29Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field