Mitigating climate change is important, really important, and the sooner, the better. The first major step in this process is converting our electricity to 100% greenhouse gas (GHG) free generation. This is because all other major producers of GHG plan to use electricity as their future energy-source in lieu of their current GHG-producing methods. As an example, all types of vehicles will need to evolve to either use electricity directly or use GHG-free fuels (like hydrogen) that are produced with electric energy and/or carbon capture and sequestration. This is a process that will take several decades to reach zero-net-GHG, so it is good that we have already started and the sooner we can make electricity zero-GHG, the less GHG we will pump into the atmosphere.
My home state (California) has an official goal of reaching zero GHG electricity by 2045. However a recent report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), “Examining Supply-Side Options to Achieve 100% Clean Electricity by 2035,” suggests that the 2035 goal is achievable.
This post will examine the possibility of achieving net-zero GHG energy by 2035.