Do we have enough energy resources for a net-zero 2050?

Speaker, Jennifer Hawkin, Department of Engineering

To address climate change, governments and industries have developed net-zero emissions strategies which may dominate future investment and policy decisions. These are resource-intensive, and it is unclear whether there will be sufficient fundamental resources to meet the accumulated demands.

This study uses a simple linear framework to quantify total energy resources implicitly demanded by global proposals. The final demand is given in terms of Non-Emitting Electricity, Biomass, and Negative Emissions Technologies; considered as the “primes” of non-emitting energy since they can produce all other energy carriers, but cannot be produced without losses from any other quantifiable source.

This talk is part of the Darwin College Science Seminars series.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Tamsin Samuels.