Community Energy Literature Review

    Introduction The need to limit the harmful effects of climate change is a powerful motive for preventing carbon dioxide emissions from entering the atmosphere, and for removing CO2 that is already there, but there can be subsidiary aims associated with carbon capture, and there are many methods of accomplishing it. According to a definition published in 2014, “Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) encompasses methods and technologies to remove CO2 from … flue gas and from the atmosphere, followed by recycling the CO2 for utilization and determining safe and permanent storage options” (RCN-CCUS, 2014a). A definition of carbon capture and storage (CCS) used by Torvanger (2020) “refers to a group of technologies that reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from coal-fired or gas-fired power stations, or from process industries." The term sequestration is also used for the removal of CO2 from the atmosphere or from combustion gases, and permanent prevention of its...

  Ammonia is of interest in the context of global decarbonisation not only because it can be used as a carrier of hydrogen, but also because it can be a carbon-free fuel in its own right. Kobayashi et al. (2019) note the difficulties of transporting and storing hydrogen, and that ammonia, which is much easier to handle, “comprises 17.8% of hydrogen by mass and can be produced from renewable hydrogen and nitrogen separated from air.” Since ammonia has long been used “as a fertilizer, chemical raw material, and refrigerant” there is ample experience in its use. The paper explores the successful use of ammonia as fuel in gas turbines and in industrial furnaces, and discusses methods of overcoming problems associated with its use, such as low combustibility and the production of nitrogen oxides (NOx). The authors have a particular interest in ammonia as a means of satisfying Japan’s need for imported carbon-free fuel, following closure of all its nuclear power plants in 2011 after th...

  What is a carbon footprint? According to Wiedmann and Minx (2008), “There is no consensus on how to measure or quantify a carbon footprint. The spectrum of definitions ranges from direct CO2 emissions to full life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions and not even the units of measurement are clear.” The authors test the concept with a series of questions, asking whether greenhouse gases other than CO2, such as methane, can be components of a carbon footprint, and even those which, like nitrous oxide, contain no carbon. They question whether the carbon footprint of a “product, process or person” should be confined to direct emissions, or whether it should “reflect all life-cycle impacts of goods and services used”. After illustrating a range of definitions found in publications in 2006-7 the writers propose their own: "The carbon footprint is a measure of the exclusive total amount of carbon dioxide emissions that is directly and indirectly caused by an activity or is accumulated ove...

  An imagined speech, the Zero-Carbon World Oration for 2050, was used by Wiseman (2017) as a vehicle “to describe one plausible narrative of the way in which a rapid energy transition might unfold, informed by a range of modelling and scenario studies”. The writer takes us through a series of supposed milestones between 2020 and 2050, including the growth of renewables, energy storage and smart grids; the attainment of carbon neutrality by leading cities; the phasing out of internal combustion engines and the use of renewable fuels and electrification for long distance transport; the demise of coal and oil; the expansion of carbon pricing; the use of emissions-free steel and concrete; and the mobilization of funds to address the impact of climate change and energy transition on the most vulnerable populations. Wiseman’s fictitious orator describes a world that in 2050 has escaped total climate disaster, and is on track to achieve a net zero carbon economy by 2060, but neverth...

  In his book on the strategy needed to enable the UK to address the threat from climate change, Chris Goodall mentions hydrogen more than a hundred times (Goodall, 2020). Describing the connection between renewable energy and hydrogen, he cites “ the great British biologist J.B.S. Haldane, who foresaw the importance of renewable electricity combined with hydrogen as the basis of the entire energy system as early as 1923”. Here is part of Haldane’s lecture, given in Cambridge:   “Personally, I think that … the power question in England may be solved somewhat as follows: The country will be covered with rows of metallic windmills working electric motors which in their turn supply current at a very high voltage to great electric mains. At suitable distances, there will be great power stations where during windy weather the surplus power will be used for the electrolytic decomposition of water into oxygen and hydrogen. These gasses will be … stored in … reservoirs, probably s...