Lecture 1 Introduction

Gang He

August 29, 2023

Welcome and icebreaker

• Rose: “something that is working well or something positive”
• Thorn: “something that isn’t working or something negative”
• Bud: “an area of opportunity or idea yet to be explored”

What brings you here?

• Concerned topics?
• Motivations?
• Dream jobs?

US IRA in its first year

How to evaluate its impact to the emission reduction?

Why PAF4199?

• Policy matters
  • Research
  • Jobs
• Clean energy transition to achieve climate goals

Organization

• Syllabus
• Blackboard
• Course website: https://drganghe.github.io/energy-climate-society/
• Policy response (10): 20%
• Assignments (5): 30%
• Proposal: 10%
• Final presentations: 20%
• Policy memo: 20%

Contents

• Climate change
  • Impact
  • Mitigation
  • Adaption
  • Governance

• Energy systems
  • Supply
  • Demand
  • Economics
  • Technology

• Tools/skills
  • Data analysis
  • Economic analysis
  • Energy-economy-environment

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

Climate and energy systems are both complicated

The Energy Trillemma: Balancing trade-offs

Energy security: Ensure reliable energy supply

Energy equity: Provide universal access to reliable, affordable, and abundant energy

Environmental Sustainability: Avoid environmental harm or climate impact

Those goals sometimes conflict with each other, and decisions has to make trade-offs between them

Energy, economy, and environment

Economy: Decent living? Growth? Degrowth?

Environment: Emissions, ecosystems constraints/goals

Energy: Work within constraints

Energy great achievements

Energy grand challenges: SDGs

Energy grand challenges: net-zero

Renewables are achieving grid parity

Implications are profound

References

Grant, Neil, Adam Hawkes, Tamaryn Napp, and Ajay Gambhir. 2021. “Cost Reductions in Renewables Can Substantially Erode the Value of Carbon Capture and Storage in Mitigation Pathways.” One Earth 4 (11): 1588–1601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.10.024.

He, Gang, Jiang Lin, Froylan Sifuentes, Xu Liu, Nikit Abhyankar, and Amol Phadke. 2020. “Rapid Cost Decrease of Renewables and Storage Accelerates the Decarbonization of China’s Power System.” Nature Communications 11 (1): 2486. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16184-x.

IEA. 2021. “Net Zero by 2050.” International Energy Agency.

IRENA. 2021. “Renewable Power Generation Costs in 2021.” Abu Dhabi: International Renewable Energy Agency. https://www.irena.org/publications/2022/Jul/Renewable-Power-Generation-Costs-in-2021.