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| 1 |
ID:
121391
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Trends in increasing urbanization, paired with a lack of ambitious action on larger scales, uniquely position cities to resume leadership roles in climate mitigation. While many cities have adopted ambitious long-term emission reduction goals, few have articulated how to reach them. This paper presents one of the first long-term scenarios of deep greenhouse gas abatement for a major U.S. city. Using a detailed, bottom-up scenario analysis, we investigate how Seattle might achieve its recently stated goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2050. The analysis demonstrates that a series of ambitious strategies could achieve per capita GHG reductions of 34% in 2020, and 91% in 2050 in Seattle's "core" emissions from the buildings, transportation, and waste sectors. We examine the pros and cons of options to get to, or beyond, net zero emissions in these sectors. We also discuss methodological innovations for community-scale emissions accounting frameworks, including a "core" emissions focus that excludes industrial activity and a consumption perspective that expands the emissions footprint and scope of policy solutions. As in Seattle, other communities may find the mitigation strategies and analytical approaches presented here are useful for crafting policies to achieve deep GHG-reduction goals.
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| 2 |
ID:
088025
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2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Hydrogen is an energy carrier able to be produced from domestic, zero-carbon sources and consumed by zero-pollution devices. A transition to a hydrogen-based economy could therefore potentially respond to climate, air quality, and energy security concerns. In a hydrogen economy, both mobile and stationary energy needs could be met through the reaction of hydrogen (H2) with oxygen (O2). This study applies a full fuel cycle approach to quantify the energy, greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), and cost implications associated with a large transition to hydrogen in the United States. It explores a national and four metropolitan area transitions in two contrasting policy contexts: a "business-as-usual" (BAU) context with continued reliance on fossil fuels, and a "GHG-constrained" context with policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. A transition in either policy context faces serious challenges, foremost among them from the highly inertial investments over the past century or so in technology and infrastructure based on petroleum, natural gas, and coal. A hydrogen transition in the USA could contribute to an effective response to climate change by helping to achieve deep reductions in GHG emissions by mid-century across all sectors of the economy; however, these reductions depend on the use of hydrogen to exploit clean, zero-carbon energy supply options.
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| 3 |
ID:
132606
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2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has allowed industrialized countries to buy credits from developing countries for the purpose of meeting targets under the Kyoto Protocol. In principle, the CDM simply shifts the location of emission reductions, with no net mitigation impact. Departing from this zero-sum calculus, the Cancun Agreements reached at the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in 2010 called for "one or more market-based mechanisms" capable of "ensuring a net decrease and/or avoidance of global greenhouse gas emissions", an intention reiterated at COP 17 and COP 18. This article explores the extent to which the CDM may or may not already lead to such a "net decrease." It finds that the CDM×s net mitigation impact likely hinges on the additionality of large-scale power projects, which are expected to generate the majority of CDM credits going forward. If these projects are truly additional and continue to operate well beyond the credit issuance period, they will decrease global greenhouse gas emissions. However, if they are mostly non-additional, as research suggests, they could increase global greenhouse gas emissions. The article closes with a discussion of possible means to increase mitigation benefit.
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