Energy

Revolution

PHENOMENON

TIME FOR CHANGE

 


C a r bon Di o xide Emission (g C O2eq/k W h)I 2014 Ene r gy global G ene r a tion ( P e r c e n tage %) 2014 Oil C oal N a tu r al G as Biomass S olar W ind H y d r op o w er Nuclear Ene r gy G eothe r mal 778 820 490 230 48 11 24 12 38 31 28 21 10 0,4 1 2,7 6 0,7 N a tu r al G as C oal Oil W ind S olar Nuclear Ene r gy H y d r op o w er G eothe r mal Biomass Low-carbon powers (such as wind power, solar power, hydropower and nuclear power) are technologies that, produce power with lower amounts of carbon emissions. But today high-carbon energy remains the dominant source of energy. 900 g CO2eq 600 g CO2eq 300 g CO2eq C a r bon Di o xide Emission (g C O2eq/k W h)I 2014 820 490 230 38 24 12 48 11 778 31.5% 21% 10.5% 28% 21% 10% 0.7% 2.7% 6% 0.4% 1% 31% Ene r gy global G ene r a tion ( P e r c e n tage %) 2014 Source: 2014 IPCC,Energy Police

ENERGY CONSUMPTION

This visualization aims to show total energy consumption proportion of top 20 countries which consume low-carbon energy from 2007 to 2016.As developing countries are rapidly industrializing, they have plenty of demand for energy and mainly consume high carbon energy. Developed countries such as Europe, North America are leading the world in low-carbon energy applications and energy transformation.

flow Source: BP

THE PERCENTAGE INCREASEMENT OF LOW-CARBON ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Over the past years, significant findings regarding global warming highlighted the need to curb carbon emissions. From this, the idea for low-carbon power was born. Internationally, the most prominent early step in the direction of low carbon power was the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, under which most industrialized countries committed to reduce their carbon emissions. (Wikipedia)

Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is an important topic for heated discussions and deliberations. The signing of the Kyoto Protocol has made the most prominent early step in the direction of using low carbon energy to mitigate the problems of climate change. From 2008-2016 low carbon energy like hydropower, geothermal, wind, solar energy have grown considerably.

Low-carbon energy has grown increase rapidly, in the following section, it will be analyzed the efficiency of the low- carbon energy.


Source: BP

REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS

2000-2016 LOW-CARBON ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN THE GLOBLE

From 2000 to 2016, hydro power and nuclear energy accounted for a large proportion of the consumption of low-carbon energy.


Source: BP

OVERVIEW OF GLOBAL LOW-CARBON ENERGY

(OVERNIGHT CAPITAL EXPENDITURE)

"Overnight capital cost is a term used in the power generation industry to describe the cost of building a power plant overnight. It is a measure of a power source which attempts to compare different methods of electricity generation on a consistent basis."(Wikipedia)

For years, many debates on the future of the electricity system centered on getting the balance right between higher costs and lower environmental impacts. However, the price remains too high for the amount of low-carbon energy produced.

Source:IPCC

LAND CONSUMPTION FOR LOW-CARBON TECHNOLOGIES

Source: U.S.NRC

"The relationship between electricity systems (power plants and associated networks) and the land area that they occupy forms a significant element of their sustainability appraisal. Low-carbon energy generators have therefore been evaluated in order to determine their energy densities and spatial footprints on a life-cycle."(Vincent K.M.Cheng,Geoffrey P.Hammond)

This chart shows to match the electricity produced annually by a 1000-Mw nuclear power plant wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric technologies require more land.

According to the analysis of low- carbon energy efficiency, nuclear energy not only cost-effective but also is a good measure of reducing carbon emissions. In the following section,it will be analyzed the nuclear energy.

Nuclear energy

WHAT IS NUCLEAR ENERGY SITUATION?

This chart shows global nuclear energy consumption from 1965 to 2016. The growth in nuclear consumption is related to nuclear accidents and anti-nuclear movement. World nuclear power generation decreased 0.7% in recently ten years. This is down from 2005, largely as a result of reactors being taken offline post-Fukushima nuclear accident.

timeline-final 196519701975198019851990199520002005201020156000500040003000200010000 Source: Wikipedia

WHO IS BUILDING NEW REACTORS?

Today, the most of the world’s reactors are concentrated in three regions: the united states; Europe and Asia. For some countries, this technology is gradually eliminated. European nuclear reactors are shut down gradually. Italy has shut down all of their reactors. Germany’s are being phased out. By contrast, Asian countries like China plans to increase the nuclear power plants to reduce carbon emission.

 

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Source: IAEA

DISTRIBUTION OF AGE OF REACTORS

The age distribution has a regional difference. In the case of generating capacity, the world’s top nuclear power plants are the US, France, China, Russia and South Korea. But the age of reactors has distinct differences. The US has the world’s oldest reactors, with an average age of 36. EU average around 30 years. Over the past years, Asia has been developing emphasis nuclear technology. China has the world’s youngest reactors, with an average age around eight.


 

Source: IAEA

Our energy consumption has increased year by year. Mitigating climate change relies on the use of low-carbon energy. Nuclear energy is a non-polluting, long lasting, high output energy source relative to space taken up by the other low carbon energies. However, one of the main disadvantages is the difficulty in the management of nuclear waste and nuclear safety. It needs to spend much time on eliminating the radioactivity and risks. For people, the advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy is a double-edged sword which has made this energy becoming the most controversial on the market.