Electrification
- Switching fossil fuel devices to electric power
Carbon Intensity
- Carbon intensity is the carbon emitted per unit of service delivered
- For electrical grids that is kilowatt-hour or megawatt-hour
- Carbon Intensity of Electricity (Our World in Data)
Decarbonization
- Lowering the mass of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of electrical energy generated.
Lower carbon sources of electricity are often called “clean electricity”.
Co-Benefits of Electrification
- Reduced air pollution
- Lower operating volumes for motors
Challenges
- Variability
- Wind and solar power vary with wind speed, time of day, and cloud cover
- Electricity that doesn’t vary is often called “firm electricity”.
- Transmission
- Wind and solar resources are not always close to populations
- This often requires new and expensive transmission lines
- Distribution
- New electricity loads may require new and expensive upgrades to our distribution system
- New environmental impacts
- New types of pollution from production and use
- Rare Minerals
- Many materials used in electrification expose human rights and geopolitical issues
- Earth Abundant Batteries
- Earth Abundant Solar Materials