Global Climate Change: Mitigation Options

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Global Climate ChangeMitigation Options

• The Changing Climate Issue
• Reporting Ahead of the Curve
• October 27, 2007
• Bob Therkelsen

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Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)

• Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon
• dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have
  increased
• markedly as a result of human activities since
  1750
• and now far exceed pre-industrial values
  determined
• from ice cores spanning many thousands of
  years.
• The global increases in carbon dioxide
  concentration
• are due primarily to fossil fuel use and
  land-use
• change, while those of methane and nitrous
  oxide
• are primarily due to agriculture.

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What are the solutions?

• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Increase carbon sequestration
• Develop adaptation strategies
• Continue research

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Oregons GHG Emissions
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Oregon CO2 Emissions (2002)
Source Oregon Governors Advisory Group on
Global Warming, 2004
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Oregon Electricity Sources (2002)
Source Governors Advisory Group on Global
Warming, 2004
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California CO2 Emissions (2004)
Source California Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Inventory, 2006
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Oregons GHG Emission Goals
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Policy and Action Options

• Regulations and standards
• Taxes and charges
• Tradable permits
• Financial incentives (subsidies / tax credits)
• Voluntary agreements
• Research Development Demonstration

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Climate Change Solutions

• Energy Efficiency
• Electricity Generation Alternatives
• Transportation Fuel Alternatives

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1. Energy Efficiency
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Impact of CA Efficiency Programs
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2001 Energy Crisis Conservation75 of
Households Reported Conservation Actions
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Motivations to Conserve
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Reasons for Less ConservationFollowing the Crisis

• With crisis gone, no more need -12
• Just easy to slip back into old ways - 46
• No need after summer - 34
• Security reasons - 7
• Too difficult or inconvenient - 2

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2. Generation Alternatives
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Renewable Technologies
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Renewable Generation

• Advantages
• Low carbon
• Renewable!
• Home grown
• Diverse
• Low fuel costs
• Relatively clean

• Disadvantages
• Higher initial costs
• More expensive (solar)
• Not always available
• (solar and wind)
• Remote development
• (geothermal)

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Nuclear ????
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What about Offsets?

• Cancels out emissions
• Recorded in a GHG ledger
• (or the atmosphere)
• The end effect as if the cancelled
• emissions had not occurred!

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The Committment an Offset Makes A Compensating
Equivalent to Facility Reductions
The Committment An emitter must invest in its
own facility to implement facility reductions.
As an alternative, when investing offsite (in
offsets) for reductions, the project must
similarly be dependent on offset funding.


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Cap and Trade
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3. Transportation Alternatives

• Efficiency
• Biofuels
• Gases
• Electricity
• Hydrogen
• Public Transportation

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Alternative Fuels
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Hydrogen Energy Station Concept
Reformate FC, Direct H2 FC, High pressure H2 FC
FC Coolant (heat) Reformer exhaust (heat) PSA
Tailgas (low Btu gas)
Blower for SMR,Compressor for ATR, C/E for ATR
Cogen
50 kWe FuelCell
Air
Reformer
Hydrogen Storage
Natural Gas
Purification
Dispenser
SMR (1 atm), SMR (10 atm), ATR (10 atm)
Eliminate compressor with 10 atm reformer
PSA, Membrane, Fluorinated Hydride
(diagram from TIAX)
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Alternative Fuels

• Advantages
• Lower carbon
• Energy independence
• Other economic
• benefits
• Prepare for peak oil

• Disadvantages
• Cost
• Infrastructure
• Convenience
• Food vs. Fuel

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Transportation and Land Use Planning
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Sequestration

• Biological
• Forests
• Riparian areas
• Ocean
• Geological
• Old oil and gas fields

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Clean Coal
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OR Principles to Guide Actions

• Meaningful, grounded in science,
• and effective
• Commensurate with the states share
• Begin with cost-effective solutions
• Serve long- term economic well-being
• and climate stabilization
• Recognize tradeoffs
• Be a leader but dont hurt short-term
• competitiveness

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OR Principles to Guide Actions

• Have safety valves to relieve short-term
• competitive pressures
• Profit from others tools and lessons
• Dont impair energy reliability
• Support innovation
• Partner with others
• Equally allocate costs and benefits

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Oregons Proposed Actions

• Energy Efficiency
• Expand utility efficiency programs
• Amend building codes
• Adopt appliance efficiency standards
• Electricity Generation
• Establish an electric utility carbon cap
• Increase renewbles

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Oregons Proposed Actions

• Transportation
• Adopt greenhouse gas tailpipe standard
• Promote biofuels
• Improve land use and transportation planning
• Waste
• Achieve recycling goals
• Collect and burn landfill gas

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Oregons Proposed Actions
Source Governors Advisory Group on Global
Warming, 2004
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Climate Change MitigationA couple of small (?)
problems

• Scale of the problem
• No single (or simple) solution
• Lack of political will
• Requires changes in human behavior
• Delay in feedback
• Time lag

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Sources

• Oregon Strategy for Greenhouse
• Gas Reductions (2004)
• www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/GBLWRM/docs/GWReport-FInal.
  pdf
• IPCC Mitigation of Climate Change -
• Summary for Policy Makers (2007)
• www.ipcc.ch/SPM040507.pdf
• Proposed Early Actions to Mitigate
• Climate Change in California (2006)
• www.climatechange.ca.gov/climate_action_team/repor
  ts/2007-04-20
• _ARB_early_action_report.pdf