Harnessing fossil fuels to generate energy –for electricity, transportation, heating and cooling– has enabled massive global growth over the past 250 years. Simultaneously, burning those fossil fuels has released, and continues to release, more greenhouse gases than can be absorbed. They have thus become the major cause of global warming and all its consequences.
In the U.S., the energy sector is the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, the energy system is affected by climate impacts such as heat and sea level rise, which then affects other sectors such as water and transportation.
It is clear that a massive energy transformation is required to mitigate climate change. The 2024 UN Emissions Gap Report grimly concludes that the world is far off from meeting Paris agreement targets, but notes that a clean energy transition could change this trajectory.
We need both energy experts and environmental experts to collaborate with business and government in shifting from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to one based on clean energy. The Biden administration’s Infrastructure legislation and the IRA it passed in 2022 are pouring billions of dollars into this effort.
There are a wide variety of energy-related topics that we need to understand and acknowledge in our quest to preserve a livable planet. They include the development of renewables, of course, and the quest for safer nuclear (a clean energy source in so far as greenhouse gases are concerned). Natural gas, which burns “cleaner” than coalor oil (and cheaper), has become a major player but, if safety measures aren’t carefully in place, it also releases methane (among other things), a powerful greenhouse gas, making it no kind of real solution.
This ENERGY section intends to clarify the way energy currently works by explaining its sources, the role of utilities and transmission, and the way energy is used (in transportation, electricity, cooling and heating, for example). It also explores the way a transition to renewables could look as we modify the grid, create energy storage through new battery technology and more exotic techniques, shift to electricity as our primary form of energy and, of course, find ways to conserve, one of the most important “sources” of energy-needs reduction — from light bulbs to smart thermostats and just plain reduction of use.
Primary energy sources include fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal), nuclear energy, and renewable sources of energy. Electricity is a secondary energy source that is generated (produced)from primary energy sources.
CREDIT: EIA
The type and amount of emissions produced in your region depend on how electricity is generated. Go here and type in your zip code (or select a region) to view your power profile.
There are various emerging “drawdown” techniques, which promise to reduce the CO2 load, but also involve capturing and storing carbon. Many of these NEW TECHNOLOGIES are covered here.
Energy is also fundamentally a climate justice issue. Power plants release dangerous emissions, and they are disproportionately located in communities of color and low-income communities, due to environmental racism and redlining practices. As the Fifth National Climate Assessment notes, extreme weather events are increasingly threatening the energy sector, having “profound effects on human lives and livelihoods, with already-overburdened communities bearing a disproportionate share of the risk.”
Every year, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and the Department of Energy has been producing Sankey flow diagrams showing where U.S. energy comes from and where it goes. The first thing that grabs attention every year is how much of our energy consumption is “rejected energy,” –wasted as heat goes up the chimney or out the exhaust pipe. The most obvious and disturbing number on the chart is the total of petroleum, coal, and natural gas being used. Fossil fuel-powered cars are one of our biggest problems. They are grossly inefficient. When we electrify them, the total energy going to EVS is only a quarter of what it is to fossil fuel-powered cars.
The 2023 energy flow chart released by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory details the sources of energy production, how Americans are using energy and how much waste exists. (Click image to enlarge or download a PDF version.)
