A study showing that development of a full portfolio of advanced generation technologies could reduce the economic cost of cutting future American carbon dioxide emissions by more than half has been released by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).
By developing advanced technologies, such as ‘smart’ electricity grids, new nuclear reactors, and clean coal technologies with carbon capture and storage, cuts could be accomplished at much lower cost. This contrasts with previous EPRI work, which has shown that without investment in advanced technologies, significant reductions in future emissions will result in higher prices for electricity and gas. Aggressive development of alternatives may save as much as $1 trillion in future US economic growth under some scenarios analysed by the institute.
“EPRI’s analysis clearly shows that if we can deploy a ‘full technology portfolio’, we can provide lower-carbon electricity throughout the economy while simultaneously meeting additional demand for electricity due to population growth and economic expansion,” said Steve Specker, EPRI president and chief executive officer.
The study, The Power to Reduce CO2 Emissions – The Full Portfolio, is available in the on the epri-website.
