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A Prospective Net Energy and Environmental Life-Cycle Assessment of the UK Electricity Grid
Content Provider | MDPI |
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Author | Raugei, Marco Kamran, Mashael Hutchinson, Allan |
Copyright Year | 2020 |
Description | National Grid, the UK’s largest utility company, has produced a number of energy transition scenarios, among which “2 degrees” is the most aggressive in terms of decarbonization. This paper presents the results of a combined prospective net energy and environmental life cycle assessment of the UK electricity grid, based on such a scenario. The main findings are that the strategy is effective at drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions (albeit to a reduced degree with respect to the projected share of “zero carbon” generation taken at face value), but it entails a trade-off in terms of depletion of metal resources. The grid’s potential toxicity impacts are also expected to remain substantially undiminished with respect to the present. Overall, the analysis indicates that the “2 degrees” scenario is environmentally sound and that it even leads to a modest increase in the net energy delivered to society by the grid (after accounting for the energy investments required to deploy all technologies). |
Starting Page | 2207 |
e-ISSN | 19961073 |
DOI | 10.3390/en13092207 |
Journal | Energies |
Issue Number | 9 |
Volume Number | 13 |
Language | English |
Publisher | MDPI |
Publisher Date | 2020-05-02 |
Access Restriction | Open |
Subject Keyword | Energies Environmental Engineering Environmental Sciences Lca Eroi Net Energy Energy Scenario Energy Transition Electricity Grid Mix Storage Decarbonization |
Content Type | Text |
Resource Type | Article |