Renewable energy- Sarah Chapman

 


The climate crisis has increased in urgency over the last decade. Carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and electrical generation. Net Zero has been a recently developed solution to relieve the environment from the impacts of climate change due to human activity. According to the EPA: net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere and back into the ground. So with net zero, the goal is to produce much less CO2 in the atmosphere and have an equivalent amount taken out through carbon sequestration and carbon capture. Both methods store carbon in either solid or liquid form and keep it from entering the atmosphere. There are two different forms in which fossil fuel is burned, there is the point of use which is where burning fossil fuels in the same device emits carbon directly. Some examples are pumping gas, gas stoves, water heaters gas fireplaces. And then there is electrical generation in which fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas, are burned to generate electricity. That electricity is then moved along the grid to reach where it is needed. Where do our carbon emissions come from? Transportation makes up 37% of US carbon emissions, and industrial, commercial, and residential uses makeup 63% of carbon emissions. The US electrical grid is powered by 60% fossil fuel and 40% renewable energy including nuclear. To reach net zero we need to take all of the points of source and convert that electricity instead of burning fossil fuels. Electricity still comes from fossil fuels so we have to convert our electrical system to be powered by renewable energy. Wind and solar energy have been a rising approach to obtaining energy.  These are considered fuel-saving technologies, wind and solar energy are considered “free” and are constantly being produced naturally with zero fuel costs. From an economic standpoint, there is avoided fuel costs and societal benefits as there would be no added emissions and pollution. While there are no fuel costs wind and solar energy have a significant upfront cost as it is relatively expensive to build. There is also a limitation as both supply and demand are variable and based on different factors. Overall renewable energy such as wind and solar pave the way to reach net zero emissions and to improve the health of the environment. 


https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/net-zero-coalition

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