Freeing Energy from Carbon

Nakicenovic, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7176-4604 (1996). Freeing Energy from Carbon. IIASA Research Report (Reprint). IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: RR-97-004. Reprinted from Daedelus, 125(3):95-112 [1996].

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Abstract

This article discusses energy industries and systems, and the desire to free carbon use from these systems. The large secular decrease in energy requirements throughout the world is associated with a greater knowledge of making, operating and using energy systems. The emissions of carbon dioxide from energy systems have also decreased per unit of energy consumed, and this decarbonization is shown not only to be emblematic of its evolution, but also a highly desirable objective. Five countries (China, France, India, Japan, and the USA), representing diverse economic and energy systems, are analyzed in terms of the decarbonization process. A global history of energy and carbon savings and the reasons for them are discussed, and whether future savings may be sufficient to allay environmental concerns associated with carbon is examined. Energy substitution is discussed as a means to a non-carbon energy future, which would result in a major transformation of the industrial ecosystem. This could accommodate the foreseeable levels of population and economic activity.

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