Electricity generation technologies: Comparison of materials use, energy return on investment, jobs creation and CO2 emissions reduction

Zoltán Kis, Nikul Pandya and Rembrandt H.E.M. Koppelaar

Energy Policy, 2018, vol. 120, issue C, 144-157

Abstract: Shifting to a low-carbon electricity future requires up-to-date information on the energetic, environmental and socio-economic performance of technologies. Here, we present a novel comprehensive bottom-up process chain framework that is applied to 19 electricity generation technologies, consistently incorporating 12 life-cycle phases from extraction to decommissioning. For each life-cycle phase of each technology the following 4 key metrics were assessed: material consumption, energy return ratios, job requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. We also calculate a novel global electricity to grid average for these metrics and present a metric variability analysis by altering transport distance, load factors, efficiency, and fuel density per technology. This work quantitatively supports model-to-policy frameworks that drive technology selection and investment based on energetic-economic viability, job creation and carbon emission reduction of technologies. The results suggest energetic-economic infeasibility of electricity generation networks with substantial shares of: i) liquefied natural gas transport, ii) long distance transport based hard and brown coal and pipeline natural gas, and iii) low-load factor solar-photovoltaic, concentrated solar power, onshore and offshore wind. Direct sector jobs can be expected to double in renewable-majority scenarios. All combustion-powered technologies without natural (biomass) or artificial carbon capture (fossil fuels) are not compatible with a low carbon electricity generation future.

Keywords: Electricity technology comparison; Net electricity; Electricity generation supply chain; Electricity generation jobs; Electricity generation greenhouse gas emissions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421518303239
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:120:y:2018:i:c:p:144-157

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2018.05.033

Access Statistics for this article

Energy Policy is currently edited by N. France

More articles in Energy Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().