International plan makes efficiency top priority

By Elisa Wood

July 8, 2010

While several clean energy technologies play an important role in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, none compare to energy efficiency, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency.

“Increasing energy efficiency, much of which can be achieved through low-cost options, offers the greatest potential for reducing CO2 emissions over the period to 2050,” says Energy Technology Perspectives 2010. “It should be the highest priority in the short term.”

The report offers a “Blue Map” that lays out least-cost action to guide policymakers. Under the game plan, efficiency, by far, produces the greatest gains. End-use fuel and electricity efficiency provide 38% of the cuts in CO2 and power plant efficiency an additional 5% over the next 40 years. Carbon capture and storage comes next at 19%, renewable energy 17%, end-use fuel switching 15% and nuclear power 6%.

In the US, Europe and other developed parts of the world, retrofitting buildings will be key to success, according to IEA.

“Direct emissions from buildings account for around 10% of global CO2 emissions; including indirect emissions from the use of electricity in the sector increases this share to almost 30%,” the report said. “Most buildings have long life spans, meaning that more than half of the current global building stock will still be standing in 2050. The low retirement rate of buildings in the OECD [Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries] and in economies in transition, combined with relatively modest growth, means that most of the energy and CO2 savings potential lies in retrofitting and purchasing new technologies for the existing building stock,” the report said.

Great attention also needs to be paid to efficiency in developing nations, given the “startling” fact that they will be source of most of the growth in energy demand. Separately, the US Energy Information Administration reports that demand for energy will increase by 84% in developing nations, and only 14% in advanced economies through 2035. The largest and fastest growing developing countries are Brazil, China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa.

On the plus side, these nations will construct new buildings, so efficiency measures can be installed from the get-go, offering quick and strong energy savings, the report said.

An executive summary of the IEA report is available athttp://www.iea.org/techno/etp/.

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Reasons for efficiency: Plain as the smudge on your face

By Elisa Wood

February 11, 2010

Remember soot? A long time ago, before global warming, getting rid of soot was considered a good reason to make our energy supply cleaner and more efficient. These small dirty particles, created from auto and power plant combustion, discolor walls and do worse to our lungs. Their harm is immediate, yet we seem to have forgotten this, as we’ve become consumed in energy debate about future worries.

Maybe this is because new technologies have helped reduce soot in our environment. But soot (also called particulate matter) has not gone away. In fact, it may be doing more damage to mountain glaciers than carbon dioxide emissions, according to research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

A form of soot, black carbon, appears to be a major reason why Himalayan glaciers are disappearing, a huge concern because they feed rivers that provide water for more than a billion people in China and India.

Black carbon, which comes mostly from burning fossil fuels and biomass, absorbs sunlight, so when the snow becomes dirty, it melts faster.

This kind of soot has increased with economic growth in India and China — by 46 percent from 1990 to 2000 and by another 51 percent from 2000 to 2010, according to Surabi Menon, lead LBNL scientist on the project.

The findings are significant because they offer a simple way to slowdown snow melt, almost immediately, Menon says, in an article posted on the LBNL site.http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2010/02/03/black-carbon-himalayan-glaciers. “Carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 100 years, but black carbon doesn’t stay in the atmosphere for more than a few weeks, so the effects of controlling black carbon are much faster. If you control black carbon now, you’re going to see an immediate effect.”

Soot is just one of the plain-as-the-smudge-on-your face reasons we’re aiming for a more efficient energy supply. Efficiency also cuts manufacturing expenses, reduces the cost to society of building generating plants and power lines and increases energy independence. These may be obvious, yet we tend not to see them in the US as we become consumed in carbon cap and trade debate.

See the LBNL paper, “Black carbon aerosols and the third polar ice cap,” athttp://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/26593/2009/acpd-9-26593-2009.html

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