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
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