Introduction[edit]

There are a large number of proposed methods for de-carbonizing Europe each with different costs and technology mixes and pros and cons. They are listed here

Nuclear energy[edit]

In this scenario, base load electricity is generated in nuclear power stations and used for all transport and building heating purposes in addition to the present uses for power ie motors in industry, lighting etc. large scale nuclear is incompatible with eg wind energy ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

District heating and combined heat and power[edit]

Existing and or new power stations located near heat loads are used to provide waste heat to heat legacy cities via district heat networks which also can take in geothermal, industrial waste heat, waste from refuse incineration, solar and wind derived heating energy, with large thermal stores used for heat storage. Detailed academic studies indicate this is one of the lowest cost route to secure decarbonization ^[5]

Pros – known technology

Cons – expensive, widespread disruption due to pipe installations

Super energy conservation[edit]

Retrofitting energy conservation to existing buildings and making all new buildings highly energy efficiency.

Pros – known technology

Cons – Difficult to get more than 30% reduction in building carbon costs without excessive costs on legacy buildings. Slow turnover and impact of new buildings. Uncertain effects^[6] compared to predicted from modelling. Possible health effects of reduced ventilation and hot water use.^[7]

Use of individual heat pumps for heating[edit]

Pros – known technology

Cons – Increases load on already overloaded electric networks. Do not work well during cold weather.

Increased use of wind energy[edit]

Pros – known technology

Cons – Offshore is more expensive than gas or nuclear. Intermittent / variable so needs firm generation for no wind periods. Incompaitble with large scale nuclear penetration ^{[8] [9][10]}

See also[edit]

• Renewable energy
• Lists of renewable energy topics
• Wind power
• Intermittent energy source
• Solar energy
• Heat pump
• Geothermal energy
• Anaerobic digestion
• Cost of electricity by source
• Carbon footprint
• Global warming
• Energy conservation
• List of low-energy building techniques

References[edit]