{"id":16861,"date":"2011-11-25T09:56:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-25T17:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=16861"},"modified":"2011-11-25T09:56:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-25T17:56:00","slug":"huge-transformation-required-to-meet-california-climate-goals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2011\/11\/25\/huge-transformation-required-to-meet-california-climate-goals\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge Transformation Required to Meet California Climate Goals"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study suggests one word: Electrification<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A new study suggests that massive electrification will be required to meet California's 2050 goal for greenhouse has reductions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chances are you’ve at least heard about California’s legal requirement to wind back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. But the state has a longer-term goal to knock another 80% off that by 2050. Is that even possible?<\/p>\n

A new study suggests that it is — but not without a wholesale transformation from an “oil economy” to an “electric economy.”<\/p>\n

The study<\/a>, a collaboration of economists and energy forecasters at several institutions, including Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, three fundamental resets will be required to make that goal:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Continued advances in energy efficiency<\/strong>, at home and at work<\/p>\n

\u2022 A<\/strong> grid powered with nearly carbon-free electricity<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 Massive electrification<\/strong> of — well, most things, including transportation<\/p>\n

The study suggests that biofuels (principally ethanol and algae-based biodiesel) could cover the gap where it’s impractical to electrify transport, such as long-haul trucking and airline fleets.<\/p>\n

The authors ran the numbers to see how much each measure would have to contribute, concluding that more than half the headway could come from a combination of energy efficiency gains (28%) and replacing fossil fuel power plants with renewable energy (27%). California currently requires utilities to get a third of their power from renewable sources by 2020. Most appear to be on a path to meet that goal.<\/p>\n

Other measures would include so-called “smart growth” planning strategies<\/a>, greater use of rooftop solar panels and biofuels. But 16% of the solution would require the massive conversion to electrical power of things that typically run on other fuels today; motor vehicles, public transit, industrial processes and heating of buildings.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Graph shows the roles that various measures could play in meeting California's 2050 target for greenhouse gas emissions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The article, by James H. Williams and seven co-authors, appears at Sciencexpress.org<\/a>, a publication of the AAAS. Downloading the full article requires a subscription.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new study suggests: Electrify nearly everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":221,"featured_media":16872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[189,264],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-16861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-business","category-power","tag-electricity","tag-greenhouse-gas-emissions"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nHuge Transformation Required to Meet California Climate Goals | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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