Lecture 5 Climate Mitigation

Gang He

September 14, 2023

A five points “climate haiku”

1. It’s warming
2. It’s us
3. We’re sure
4. It’s bad
5. We can fix it

IPAT

\(I(mpact) = P(opulation) \times A(ffluence) \times T(echnology)\)

\(I(mpact) = \frac{P(opulation) \times A(ffluence)}{T(echnology)}\)

• Technology: renewable energy, energy efficiency, innovations

Kaya identify

\(F=P \times \frac{G}{P} \times \frac{E}{G} \times \frac{F}{E}\)

Where:

• F: global CO2 emissions from human sources
• P: global population
• G: world GDP
• E: global energy consumption

And:

• G/P: GDP per capita
• E/G: energy intensity of the GDP
• F/E: emission intensity of energy

Emissions gap

Not on the right trajectory

Climate wedges

Energy sector emissions

Energy sector mitigation factors

Renewables are getting cheap

Transport sector

Transport emission mitigation

\(E = vehicles \times \frac{Miles}{vehicle} \times \frac{gallon}{mile} \times \frac{carbon}{gallon}\)

Carbon remove technologies

Role of CDR

Non-CO2 by gas

Case study: high appliance efficiency standards

Case study: Empire State Building retrofit

• Save 38% of energy use with a 3-year payback
• Remanufacturing 6,500 windows onsite into super windows
• Installing better lights and equipment
• Envelope improvements and reduced internal loads allowed for a smaller cooling system

References

Ehrlich, Paul R., and John P. Holdren. 1971. “Impact of Population Growth: Complacency Concerning This Component of Man’s Predicament Is Unjustified and Counterproductive.” Science 171 (3977): 1212–17. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.171.3977.1212.

Fridley, David, Nina Z Khanna, Nan Zhou, and Michael McNeil. 2016. “Impacts of China’s 2010 to 2013 Mandatory Product Energy Efficiency Standards: A Retrospective and Prospective Look.” In. ACEEE. https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2016/data/papers/5_131.pdf.

Kaya, Yoichi, and Keiichi Yokobori, eds. 1997. Environment, Energy, and Economy: Strategies for Sustainable. Tokyo: United Nations Univ. https://archive.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/uu17ee/uu17ee00.htm.

Pacala, Stephen, and Robert Socolow. 2004. “Stabilization Wedges: Solving the Climate Problem for the Next 50 Years with Current Technologies.” Science 305 (5686): 968–72. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1100103.