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from the did-you-check-to-turn-the-lights-off dept.
Germany's economy nowadays emits as much carbon dioxide as it did in the 1950s, when it was 10 times smaller.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), carbon dioxide emissions trends for 2019 suggest clean energy transitions are underway. Global power sector emissions declined by some 170 Mt, or 1.2%, with the biggest falls taking place in the advanced economies of the European Union, Japan and the United States. There, CO2 emissions are now at levels not seen since the late 1980s, when electricity demand was one-third lower.
In these advanced economies, the average CO2 emissions intensity of electricity generation declined by nearly 6.5% in 2019. This is a rate three times faster than the average over the past decade.
This decline is driven by a switch from coal to natural gas, a rise in nuclear power and weaker electricity demand, combined with the seemingly unstoppable growth in renewables. These now constitute over 40% of the energy mix in Germany (wind power +11%) and the United Kingdom, where rapid expansion in offshore wind power generation is happening.
The bummer lies with the rest of the world.
There emissions continue to expand with close to 400 Mt last year. About 80% of that increase is happening in Asia. Coal demand here continues to expand, accounting for over 50% of energy use.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Sulla on Wednesday February 12 2020, @08:47PM (1 child)
Wew thats expensive when we could go with better sources for cheaper.
2018 Numbers
Currently fossil fuels represent ~60% of US power generation, with ~30% of that being from Coal. Nuclear power is 20% of current power generation at 98 operating plants.
New nuclear plants cost between 6 and 9 billion each for a 1100 MW plant. If we wanted to take that 60% fossil and convert to Nuclear it would cost 2.352 Trillion on the low end and 3.528 Trillion on the high end.
I will vote for anyone who ran on this platform.
If we were to just replace Coal it would cost between 882B and 1,323B, also very reasonable.
As a side benefit it would bring the cost of consumption as well
Economic growth due to cheaper prices
Energy independence
No need for foreign oil wars
Clean
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 12 2020, @11:52PM
It is about siphoning off large sums of money. As is exemplified by totally opposing nuclear energy which could give those results in a practical, tried way, and instead peddling one expensive physics-defying fantasy scheme after another.