Low Carbon Energy
International Parliamentary
Conference on Climate Change
Professor Jim Skea
Research Director, UK Energy Research Centre
Park Plaza, Westminster Bridge, London
15 July 2010
 Decarbonisation: the big
picture
 Power sector
 Transport
 Bringing it all together
The decarbonisation story…
Reducing power sector emissions:
Renewables (Wind, solar, tidal and marine, biomass), nuclear, CCS
Application of
power to transport
and heat
Reducing transport
emissions:
• Fuel efficiency
• Electric/plug-in hybrids
• Sustainable Bio fuels
Source: Committee on Climate Change
Reducing heat emissions:
• Energy efficiency
• Behaviour change
• Electric heat (e.g. heat
pumps, storage heating)
• Biomass boilers
• CCS in industry
Therefore we need to
significantly
decarbonise
electricity generation
by 2030
600
600
500
500
400
400
300
300
200
200
100
100
0
0
2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 2040 2045 2050
Carbon-intensity
Source: Committee on Climate Change
Total generation
Total electricity generation (TWh)
The electrification
of other sectors will
see demand increase
in 2020s and 2030s
Carbon-intensity of electricity
(gCO2/kWh)
Decarbonising power
Generic options for reducing CO2
behaviour
bio-energy
fossil fuels with carbon
capture and storage
renewables
efficiency
nuclear
Renewables
Global wind capacity
Source: Global Wind Energy Council
Costs of generating power
Source: ExxonMobil
Integrating low carbon power
 We built our grids, markets and
regulatory systems for coal and gas
generation
 Need arrangements for low carbon
energy that has:
 high capital costs
 low running costs
 We need to cope with intermittent
renewable energy
CO2 emissions – new UK cars
Source: SMMT
Incremental transport improvements
Source: ExxonMobil
Electrification of transport…
mild hybrid
battery electric
full hybrid
plug-in hybrid
And don’t forget……..
biofuels
the hydrogen
economy
The smart grid
Source: Wang
Technology’s contribution to a 2OC world
Source: IEA
UK Energy Research Centre
+44 (0)20 7594 1574
www.ukerc.ac.uk