Heat Decarbonization In The Us Northeast

The world is transforming its energy system from one dominated by fossil fuel combustion to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the primary anthropogenic greenhouse gas. This energy transition is critical to mitigating climate change, protecting human health, and revitalizing the U.S. economy. To help policymakers, businesses, communities, and the public better understand what a net-zero transition would mean for the United States, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine convened a committee of experts to investigate how the U.S. could best decarbonize its transportation, electricity, buildings, and industrial sectors. This report, Accelerating Decarbonization of the United States Energy System, identifies key technological and socio-economic goals that must be achieved to put the United States on the path to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The report presents a policy blueprint outlining critical near-term actions for the first decade (2021-2030) of this 30-year effort, including ways to support communities that will be most impacted by the transition.

"This study draws on recent advances in climate modeling to assess how global warming may further affect the Northeast's climate. Using projections from three state-of-the-art global climate models, we compare the types and magnitude of climate changes that will result from higher emissions of heat-trapping gases versus lower emissions. The first scenario is a future where people--individuals, communities, businesses, states, and nations--allow emissions to continue growing rapidly, and the second is one in which society transitions onto a pathway of economic development with substantially lower emissions."--P. 1.

Addressing climate change is essential and possible, and it offers a host of benefits - from better public health to new economic opportunities. The United States has a historic opportunity to lead the way in decarbonization by transforming its current energy system to one with net-zero emissions of carbon dioxide. Recent legislation has set the nation on the path to reach its goal of net zero by 2050 in order to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. However, even if implemented as designed, current policy will get the United States only part of the way to its net-zero goal. Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States provides a comprehensive set of actionable recommendations to help policymakers achieve a just and equitable energy transition over the next decade and beyond, including policy, technology, and societal dimensions. This report addresses federal and subnational policy needs to overcome implementation barriers and gaps with a focus on energy justice, workforce development, public health, and public engagement. The report also presents a suite of recommendations for the electricity, transportation, built environment, industrial, fossil fuels, land use, and finance sectors.

Time is of the essence. Climate change looms as a malignant force that will reshape our economy and society for generations to come. If we are going to avoid the worst effects of climate change, we are going to need to effectively "decarbonize" the global economy by 2050. This doesn't mean a modest, or even a drastic, improvement in fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. It means 100 percent of the cars on the road being battery-powered or powered by some other non-carbon-emitting powertrain. It means 100 percent of our global electricity needs being met by renewables and other non-carbon-emitting sources such as nuclear power. It means electrifying the global industrials sector and replacing carbon-intensive chemical processes with green alternatives, eliminating scope-one emissions—emissions in production—across all industries, particularly steel, cement, petrochemicals, which are the backbone of the global economy. It means sustainable farming while still feeding a growing global population. Responding to the existential threat of climate change, Michael Lenox and Rebecca Duff propose a radical reconfiguration of the industries contributing the most, and most harmfully, to this planetary crisis. Disruptive innovation and a particular calibration of industry dynamics will be key to this change. The authors analyze precisely what this might look like for specific sectors of the world economy—ranging from agriculture to industrials and building, energy, and transportation—and examine the possible challenges and obstacles to introducing a paradigm shift in each one. With regards to existent business practices and products, how much and what kind of transformation can be achieved? The authors assert that markets are critical to achieving the needed change, and that they operate within a larger scale of institutional rules and norms. Lenox and Duff conclude with an analysis of policy interventions and strategies that could move us toward clean tech and decarbonization by 2050.

With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

With twenty-two chapters written by leading international experts, this volume represents the most detailed and comprehensive Handbook on electricity markets ever published.

This dissertation investigates options that exist to reduce emissions from residential space and water heating over the next few decades. There are four main research questions that I aim to answer: 1. What is the most promising route to decarbonizing residential space and water heating? 2. If heating becomes electrified, what new electric loads should we expect? 3. How might the building stock transition to electrified heating, and how can this transition occur at minimum cost? 4. What policy changes are necessary in California to encourage electrification? These research questions are tackled one at a time, in each of the main chapters of the dissertation. In Chapter One I look specifically at California and build the case for why energy efficiency with electrification of heating is the most likely path to achieve the large carbon emission reduction needed from this sector. I examine alternative decarbonization strategies, such as solar thermal, biogas, synthetic natural gas, and electrification and show why electrification is likely to be the most promising path. I evaluated these options across the dimensions of scale, cost, and suitability. I find that electrification has the potential to serve all heating loads, while the other options may serve only 2-70% of loads. I also expect that electrification could reduce emissions from this sector at less than 1/2 the cost of other options. While electrification may be the most promising path in California, it is not necessarily the most promising path in all regions. The benefits of electrification and its limitations are discussed. In Chapter Two, I estimate what new electric loads might look like if existing natural gas space and water heating transition to electric heat pumps. In order for electrification to gain support from policymakers, system operators, and utilities we need to better understand what impacts electrification of space and water heating would have on the grid. The electricity grid needs to be prepared for the additional load, and in order to do that we need to better understand the characteristics of new heating loads. I present a new method for estimating hourly residential space heating and water heating demand using hourly electricity consumption data (smart meter data) and daily natural gas data. This estimate was done using a dataset of 30,000 customer accounts in Northern California. I applied linear regression at both the individual house level and to hourly, climate-band-averaged whole-home electricity consumption, climate-band-averaged whole-home gas consumption, and outdoor air temperature data to determine both the hours when heating is more active and the outdoor temperature dependence of that consumption. This varying temperature responsiveness allowed me to assign varying amounts of space heating load to different hours. I then scaled up the results to the entire utility service area to show when and where electric heating will impact peak demand. About 1/2 of the residential space and water heating gas use could be electrified without any impact on peak demand. I also find that electrification of space and water heating would increase the load factor by at least 5%--and even more if heating loads are controllable. While electrification of heating would have little impact on peak demand on a systemwide basis (until very high penetration), at the distribution level electrifying heating loads may have an impact on peak demand for feeders that are mostly residential. In Chapter Three I show how California could deploy hot water heaters to meet different emissions targets at lowest cost. I describe several scenarios and show what the lowest cost pathway would be as emissions are constrained. Different water heating technologies are considered, such as gas tank, gas tankless, electric resistance, and electric heat pump, and high efficiency electric heat pump with CO2 refrigerant. Emissions from natural gas leakage and refrigerant leakage are both considered. I have developed a linear program that minimizes total present operating and capital cost of statewide residential water heating. Relative to the lowest cost case, adding cumulative emissions targets can lower emissions from 71% to 77% without early retirement of water heating appliances. In order to meet a 90% reduction goal from the sector in 2050 (while minimizing cumulative emissions), heat pump water heaters need to have full market share in new construction immediately unless efficiency standards are increased, and most scenarios suggest that the lowest cost pathway include a transition to electric water heating that should have already occurred. Heat pumps need to begin replacing existing gas water heaters by the early 2030s at the latest, while most scenarios suggest that this transition should have already happened to minimize cost. Given projections for gas and electricity prices and costs of water heating equipment, an emissions target of a 90% reduction in 2050 relative to 2010 emissions could be met at a cost of $97-153/ton CO2 relative to the unconstrained, lowest cost case. Delaying action beyond 2017 makes the cumulative emissions target unreachable in two scenarios, while a third scenario allows delay until 2029, at a carbon cost of over $200/ton CO2. Finally, in Chapter Four I examine potential policy changes that could be made to encourage a transition to electric space and water heating. Current energy policies and economics give an advantage to natural gas appliances over electric appliances. Simultaneously, California's climate policy is aiming for very large reductions in emissions, which will either be impossible or costly without a phase out of many natural gas end uses. Aligning energy and climate policy is possible, but will require several changes. Some potential suggestions are offered in this chapter mostly related to changes to the building energy code. In addition to changes to building codes, other options are also possible such as redesigning electricity rates that properly reward flexible loads. Specific legislation may also be required to jump start a transition to electric heating. Such policies have been put in place in the past to support other technologies that may have even less climate benefit per dollar.

The International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES) have been prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division in close cooperation with countries and other international/regional organizations and adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission in February 2011. IRES was developed to assist countries in the establishment and strengthening of their energy statistical programmes. In particular, IRES provides data compilers with a complete set of recommendations covering all aspects of the statistical production process from basic concepts, definitions, classifications and measurement units to data sources, institutional and legal framework, data compilation strategies, energy balances, data quality and statistical dissemination. It also contains the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC) which is the first internationally agreed classification of energy products. IRES is a multipurpose document intended to address the need of various user groups including data producers and data users

Renewable Heating and Cooling: Technologies and Applications presents the latest information on the generation of heat for industry and domestic purposes, an area where a significant proportion of total energy is consumed. In Europe, this figure is estimated to be almost 50%, with the majority of heat generated by the consumption of fossil fuels. As there is a pressing need to increase the uptake of renewable heating and cooling (RHC) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, this book provides a comprehensive and authoritative overview on the topic. Part One introduces key RHC technologies and discusses RHC in the context of global heating and cooling demand, featuring chapters on solar thermal process heat generation, deep geothermal energy, and solar cooling technologies. Part Two explores enabling technologies, special applications, and case studies with detailed coverage of thermal energy storage, hybrid systems, and renewable heating for RHC, along with case studies in China and Sweden. Users will find this book to be an essential resource for lead engineers and engineering consultants working on renewable heating and cooling in engineering companies, as well as academics and R&D professionals in private research institutes who have a particular interest in the subject matter. Includes coverage on biomass, solar thermal, and geothermal renewable heating and cooling technologies Features chapters on solar thermal process heat generation, deep geothermal energy, solar cooling technologies, and special applications Presents case studies with detailed coverage of thermal energy storage, hybrid systems, and renewable heating for RHC Explores enabling technologies and special applications