Opportunities for low-carbon energy technologies for electricity generation to 2050

Abstract

Energy use, and its impact on the environment, is one of the most important technical, social and public-policy issues that face mankind today. There is a very strong correlation between GDP and energy consumption, as shown in Figure 1. This means that increased economic growth in many large and rapidly developing countries will inevitably result in a significant increase in total world energy consumption in the decades to come. Today, more than 85 per cent of all the energy we use is derived from fossil fuels which ultimately results in high levels of carbon emissions. While a low-carbon world may be desirable, it cannot be achieved overnight, since there is so much invested in the existing predominantly carbonbased energy systems. In order to make progress towards a low-carbon future, however, we need to be aware of the impacts of our energy use, all the way from the primary energy source through to the final end-use.