Electricity System

  • Electricity is a significant energy use in our society
  • Electricity is primarily generated with coal which creates climate
  • Incredibly large and complex
  • Evolved over time
  • Has significant problems
  • How can we get services from electricity with the least environmental impact?

Electricity Advantages

  • can be created from several sources
  • very versatile form of energy
  • very high quality form of energy

Electricity Disadvantages

  • easy to overuse for low-quality services
  • very expensive and difficult to store

African Transmission Network

Our Electricity System is Fragile

Electricity and Environmental Justice

  • Benefits of electricity do not extend to everyone
  • Nuclear accidents are a by-product of our electricity system
  • Fossil fuel pollution, coal mining, and air pollution are by-products of our electricity system
  • Negative by-products of our electricity system are not shared equally

Flow Diagrams

Sankey Energy Diagram

Sankey Carbon Diagram

Flow Diagrams

US Energy Sankey

US Carbon Sankey

Electricity Sources and Carbon Intensities

  • Coal 2249 lb CO2/MWh
  • Natural Gas 1135 lb CO2/MWh
  • Sonoma Clean Power 64–80 lb CO2/MWh
  • Solar
  • Wind

EIA Residential Electricity Data

Efficient Devices

  • Heat Pumps
    • Replace fossil fuel heaters and resistive heaters
  • LED lighting
    • Incandescent lighting replaced kerosene
    • CFL bulbs more efficient than incandescent
    • LED bulbs more efficient than LED
    • Daylighting plus LED often used
  • Variable speed drives
    • Motor control technology lowers energy needed to move water and air
  • AC to DC conversion
    • Switching power supplies smaller and more energy efficient than older transformer designs

Co-Benefits

In addition to carbon reductions, electrification can create other benefits, called co-benefits.

  • Quieter cars
  • Reduced asthma from vehicle PM2.5
  • many others