Not all low-carbon energy pathways are environmentally "no-regrets" options
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Authors
Mourão, ZS
Richards, Keith
Kopec, GM
McMahon, Richard
Publication Date
2015-11Journal Title
Global Environmental Change
ISSN
0959-3780
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Volume
35
Pages
379-390
Language
English
Type
Article
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Konadu, D., Mourão, Z., Allwood, J. M., Richards, K., Kopec, G., McMahon, R., & Fenner, R. (2015). Not all low-carbon energy pathways are environmentally "no-regrets" options. Global Environmental Change, 35 379-390. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.10.002
Abstract
Energy system pathways which are projected to deliver minimum possible deployment cost, combined with low Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, are usually considered as ‘no-regrets’ options. However, the question remains whether such energy pathways present ‘no-regrets’ when also considering the wider environmental resource impacts, in particular those on land and water resources. This paper aims to determine whether the energy pathways of the UK’s Carbon Plan are environmental “no-regrets” options, defined in this study as simultaneously exhibiting low impact on land and water services resulting from resource appropriation for energy provision. This is accomplished by estimating the land area and water abstraction required by 2050 under the four pathways of the Carbon Plan with different scenarios for energy crop composition, yield, and power station locations. The outcomes are compared with defined limits for sustainable land appropriation and water abstraction.
The results show that of the four Carbon Plan pathways, only the “Higher Renewables, more energy efficiency” pathway is an environmental “no-regrets” option, and that is only if deployment of power stations inland is limited. The study shows that policies for future low-carbon energy systems should be developed with awareness of wider environmental impacts. Failing to do this could lead to a setback in achieving GHG emission reductions goals, because of unforeseen additional competition between the energy sector and demand for land and water services in other sectors.
Keywords
Carbon Plan, Low-carbon energy pathways, Environmental no-regrets, Land-use change, Water abstraction, Energy–land–water nexus
Sponsorship
This work has been funded by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Whole System Energy Modelling (wholeSEM) consortium. EPSRC Grant number EP/K039326/1
Funder references
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K039326/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2015.10.002
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/252367
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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