Integrated energy planning: Strategies to mitigate climate change

Conference · Sun Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1997

OSTI ID:478190

Ortiz, J N; Sheffield, J W

The Framework Convention on Climate Change, signed by more than 150 governments worldwide in June 1992, calls on parties to the Convention to undertake inventories of national sources and sinks of greenhouse gases and to develop plans for responding to climate change. The energy sector is comprised of the major energy demand sectors (industry, residential and commercial, transport, and agriculture), and the energy supply sector, which consists of resource extraction, conversion, and delivery of energy products. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions occur at various points in the sector, from resource extraction to end use application, and accordingly, options for mitigation exist at various points. In most countries, the energy sector will be a major focus of GHG mitigation analysis. The primary focus of this paper is on the identification of strategies that can mitigate climate changes on the basis of integrated energy planning analysis. The overall approach follows a methodology developed by the U.S. Country Studies Program under the framework of the Convention`s commitments. It involves the development of scenarios based on energy end uses and evaluation of specific technologies that can satisfy demands for energy services. One can compare technologies based on their relative cost to achieve a unit of GHG reduction and other features of interest. This approach gives equal weight to both energy supply and energy demand options. A variety of screening criteria including indicators of cost-effectiveness as well as non-economic analysis concerns, can be used to identify and assess promising options, which can then be combined to create one or more mitigation scenario. Mitigation scenarios are evaluated against the backdrop of a baseline scenario, which simulates the events assumed to take place in the absence of mitigation efforts. Mitigation scenarios can be designed to meet specific emission reduction targets or to simulate the effect of specific policy interventions.

• OSTI ID: 478190
• Report Number(s): CONF-961173--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AGRICULTURE
CLIMATIC CHANGE
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
GREENHOUSE EFFECT
GREENHOUSE GASES
INDUSTRY
INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS
MITIGATION
PLANNING
POWER GENERATION
RESIDENTIAL SECTOR