In a nutshell, there are a lot of ways that we can do this right and get to net-zero emissions by 2050, but current policy alone will not get us there. Who is ready for IRA 2.0?
ALT: a person is standing in a field with a wind turbine in the background
We found the greatest range of outcomes related to carbon management. For example, in some cases, direct air capture was scarcely used before 2050, while in other cases it provided substantial share of the CO2 mitigation.
Because we endogenize end-use technology selection, we are able to explore the range of future electricity demand and rates of electrification. In all near-cost-optimal cases, we see substantial expansion of the power sector.
Natural gas use in 2050, though, could vary anywhere from near zero use to current levels of consumption, with most of the range occurring in the industrial sector and the potential use in direct air capture.
We see some commonalities across the 1,100 near-cost-optimal net-zero futures. No surprises: we’re going to need to build a lot of solar and wind, and burn very little coal and oil.
There is a wide array of future technology choices that allow us to achieve a net-zero energy system at *near* optimal cost. ⏰ New Paper in Nature Comms with colleagues at NC State and Carnegie Mellon where we use modeling to generate alternatives in an energy system optimization model. ⏰
Nature Communications - This study identifies near cost-optimal paths to net-zero emissions by 2050 in the U.S. It identifies four classes: essential, reduced, emerging, and rarely used, offering...
Brings the Dem-Rep tally of circuit court judges into an 89-89 tie, right?
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