How’s that for a headline!
“The world seems to be simultaneously on fire and flooding, and the latest expert report indicates that we've just about run out of time to avoid even more severe climate change. All of that should have us looking for ways to cut carbon emissions as quickly and economically as possible.
“Some good news in that regard came via the recent release of a paper that looks at how much each power plant contributes to global emissions. The study finds that many countries have many power plants that emit carbon dioxide at rates well above either the national or global average. Shutting down the worst 5 percent of this list would immediately wipe out about 75 percent of the carbon emissions produced by electricity generation.”
More specifics:
“The authors looked at how much of a country's pollution was produced by the worst 5 percent when all of the country's power plants were ranked by carbon emissions. In China, the worst 5 percent accounted for roughly a quarter of the country's total emissions. In the US, the worst 5 percent of plants produced about 75 percent of the power sector's carbon emissions. South Korea had similar numbers, while Australia, Germany, and Japan all saw their worst 5 percent of plants account for roughly 90 percent of the carbon emissions from their power sector.”
Fascinating.
It seems like a no-brainer, really, to shut these down and make do with the rest.
But this is humanity we’re talking about.
Clearly, it wouldn’t be easy to just shut down the worst on the list just like that.
So the authors proposed other options:
“The big winner is carbon capture and storage. Outfitting the worst of the plants with a capture system that was 85 percent efficient would cut global power sector emissions in half and total global emissions by 20 percent. Countries like Australia and Germany would see their power sector emissions drop by over 75 percent.
“Overall, these are massive gains, considering that it's not unreasonable to think that the modifications could be done in less than a decade. And they show the clear value of targeting the easiest wins when it comes to lowering emissions. That function could be accomplished by governmental planning, but placing a significant price on carbon could also force the private sector to plan based on emissions efficiency—something it currently has little or no incentive to do in many countries.”
If there’s a will, there’s a way.
[Cover photo by Andreas Felske on Unsplash]