Facing the threat of climate change, countries across the globe are trying to shift their energy consumption pattern away from fossil fuels by adding capacity in renewable power generation and focusing on implementation of energy efficiency measures. However, these efforts alone might not prove effective in combating the menace of climate change. A credible solution lies in de-carbonising fossil fuels, which are expected to dominate the primary energy basket in the foreseeable future despite the declining trend.
?We cannot afford to delay further action to tackle climate change if the long-term target of limiting the global average temperature increase to 2 degree centigrade, as analysed in the 450 Scenario, is to be achieved at reasonable cost. In the New Policies Scenario, the world is on a trajectory that results in a level of emissions consistent with a long-term average temperature increase of more than 3.5 degree Celsius. Without these new policies, we are on an even more dangerous track, for a temperature increase of 6 degree Celsius or more?, warn the World Energy Outlook 20011 released by the International Energy Agency recently.
But developing new technologies to burn coal and petroleum fuels at near-zero emissions calls for global efforts. Government, industry and research need to work in a coordinated manner to find suitable technological solutions for clean energy.
The Indian industry has already started to think along this line. The feasibility of technology options like carbon sequestration, gassification of coal and petroleum coke and use of advanced ultra-supercritical power equipment were discussed in a conference, ‘Clean Coal India 2011’, held by industry body CII recently in Delhi.
The IEA report warns that the clock is ticking away on the climate change front and any delay in action will add to the cost. ?Four-fifths of the total energy-related carbon emissions permissible by 2035 in the 450 Scenario are already ?locked in? by our existing capital stock (power plants, buildings, factories, etc.). If stringent new action is not forthcoming by 2017, the energy-related infrastructure then in place will generate all the carbon emissions allowed in the 450 Scenario up to 2035, leaving no room for additional power plants, factories and other infrastructure unless they are zero-carbon, which would be extremely costly. Delaying action is a false economy: for every $1 of investment avoided in the power sector before 2020 an additional $4.3 would need to be spent after 2020 to compensate for the increased emissions,? the report says.
Comparison is instructive with the 450 Scenario, which works back from the international goal of limiting the long-term increase in the global mean temperature to two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, in order to trace a plausible pathway to that goal. ?The wide difference in outcomes between these three scenarios underlines the critical role of governments to define the objectives and implement the policies necessary to shape our energy future,? the report says.
