A Sustainable Energy Scenario for the United States: Year 2050

Abstract

This paper presents a scenario depicting life in the United States in the year 2050. The scenario is designed to achieve energy sustainability: fossil fuels and corn ethanol have been replaced by other sustainable and inexhaustible energy sources. The scenario describes the disappearance of the suburbs, replaced by a mix of high density urban centers and low density eco-communities. A suite of advanced technologies and significant social changes underpin the scenario. Analysis of the energy implications inherent in the scenario suggest that total US energy consumption would be around 100 quads in 2050, approximately the same as in the year 2010 despite a forecasted population increase of 130 million.

Resource Demand Growth and Sustainability Due to Increased World Consumption

“…One can imagine that as a result of the recent crisis and pressures, we will develop a new paradigm for economic growth where GDP and income will grow without the attendant increase of resource consumption to match the growing demand. There have been proposed a number of theories promoting economic growth not linked to resource consumption, for instance, R&D-based models [38], use of technology advancement [39], economic integration [40], social organization [41] or human capital [42] as engines for economic development. Another feasible option, which some countries are considering along with renewables [13], is the increased use of nuclear energy as a stable and long-term energy source capable of feeding manufacturing [43].…”

A sustainable energy portfolio for Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area towards the mid-century

“…Scenarios have been used in previous studies such as the Climate Change Emissions Scenarios of IPCC ( Nakicenovic and Swart, 2000 ), Visions for a sustainable Europe ( Rotmans et al., 2000 ), Bridging the gap between socio-economic storylines and energy modeling ( Fortes et al., 2015 ), exploring alternative energy pathways in California ( Ghanadan and Koomey, 2005 ) , The development of strategies for renewable energy in Germany ( Pregger et al., 2003 ), universal access to modern electricity by 2030 for sub-Saharan Africa ( Bazilian M. et al., 2012 ), analysis of the Energy Demand for China in 2030 ( SHAN et al., 2012 ), analysis of a sustainable energy scenario for the USA for the year 2050 ( Tonn et al., 2010 ) and many other studies. Therefore, the development and evaluation of a sustainable energy portfolio for GKMA towards the mid-century follows a similar paradigm.…”

Engineering and Sustainability: Attitudes and Actions

“…Some specific aspects of sustainability in engineering have been the topic of investigations, such as efficiency [38] and life cycle sustainability assessment [39]. Applications of sustainability concepts in engineering have been reported in such areas as energy [40][41][42][43][44], infrastructure [45,46] and manufacturing [37,47]. Investigations in sustainability science, which are related to engineering sustainability, have also been reported [28,[48][49][50][51].…”