Below zero

Desing, Harald

doi:10.1039/d2va00168c

Cited by 6 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…• Remine: extraction from losses, such as mine tailings (Adrianto and Pfister, 2022), landfills (Lucas et al, 2019), or other past emissions (Desing, 2022).…”

Section: Processability: Mobilizing Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, energy intensity can be reduced with technological developments for extraction and processing. For example, non-biological extraction of CO 2 from the atmosphere requires direct air capture (DAC) technologies (Desing, 2022;Climeworks, 2022), which were only invented recently. Technological improvements have the potential to reduce energy demand for DAC significantly.…”

Section: Processability: Mobilizing Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, given the urgency of climate action, energy investments need to be much larger and this feedback loop needs to be taken into account. For example, a transition within a decade may be physically feasible, if fossil energy output is increased at the beginning of the decade to provide extra energy for kick-starting RE growth (and doing so minimizes cumulative GHG emissions) (Desing andWidmer, 2021, 2022;. After the initial fast transition is complete, the infrastructure has to be replaced repeatedly, necessitating additional capacity in the RE system .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mobilizing materials to enable a fast energy transition: a conceptual framework

Desing¹,

Widmer²,

Bardi³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Limiting climate heating while meeting basic needs of all necessitates eliminating fossil carbon emissions. This paper discusses the dynamics of mobilizing materials required for large-scale deployment of renewable energy, which entail: 1) availability of resources in the environment and technosphere; 2) accessibility, which depends on resource quality and available technologies; 3) processability, which depends on energy availability, processing capacity, and environmental impacts on planetary boundaries; and 4) operability, which depends on social acceptance and geopolitical agreements. Also, materials can be mobilized through four routes: 1) increasing primary production; 2) diverting existing primary production; 3) repurposing existing in-use stocks; and 4) re-mining previous wastes and emissions. The interplay of these enabling factors determines the maximum possible rate of material mobilization and thus of the energy transition itself. This paper presents and discusses a framework to explore joint energy-material transformations, enabling to consider material aspects in transition modelling and guide technological developments.

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“…• Remine: extraction from losses, such as mine tailings (Adrianto and Pfister, 2022), landfills (Lucas et al, 2019), or other past emissions (Desing, 2022).…”

Section: Processability: Mobilizing Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Processability: Mobilizing Flowsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mobilizing materials to enable a fast energy transition: a conceptual framework

Desing¹,

Widmer²,

Bardi³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…Post‐combustion CCS is energetically less expensive to operate (EI pcCCS = 0.06 TWa/Gt (Zerobin & Pröll, 2020; X. Zhang et al., 2014)) than DAC (EI DAC = 0.2 TWa/Gt), while the embodied energy is approximately the same (EIT = 0.25 a, Section S1.3 in Supporting Information S1). Other negative emission pathways (e.g., reforestation, biochar in soils, bioenergy with CCS (Griscom et al., 2017; Desing, 2022)) are not considered as they may conflict with food security and biodiversity when deployed at large scale and depend on agricultural production factors, many of which are already beyond their sustainable limits (Steffen et al., 2015). In contrast, resource requirements for DAC (Deutz & Bardow, 2021) are not critical and it can be scaled limited only by energy (Creutzig et al., 2019).…”

Section: Model Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though current RE installation rate is at record heights (British Petroleum (BP), 2020; International Renewable Energy Agency, 2020), it is insufficient for staying below 1.5°C Cheating (Climate Action Tracker, 2021; IPCC, 2022b; Raftery et al., 2017), while the remaining carbon budget is rapidly depleted (IPCC, 2021; SEI et al., 2021). Most proposed emission pathways allow fossil CO 2 emissions to continue, offset by carbon capture and storage (CCS) either at point sources (post combustion) as well as from air with machines (direct air CCS) and plants (Anderson & Peters, 2016; Desing, 2022; International Energy Agency, 2019; IPCC, 2018, 2021; United Nations Environment Programme, 2020). Alternative pathways without carbon removal focus mostly on reducing demand (Grubler et al., 2018; Keysser & Lenzen, 2021; van Vuuren et al., 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The 3‐Machines Energy Transition Model: Exploring the Energy Frontiers for Restoring a Habitable Climate

et al. 2022

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To stabilize the climate, we need to urgently decarbonize our society and remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere. Ambitions for the transformation are ultimately limited by bio‐physical constraints, which cannot be transgressed even if all economic and societal obstacles could be overcome. Even though it is essential to know what transformation pathways are still feasible, there is a lack of studies and models exploring bio‐physical frontiers for climate action. In this paper, we take a first step to explore the energy frontier by introducing the “3‐machines energy transition model.” This simplified representation of the global energy system includes energy feedbacks and is constrained by the maximum renewable energy potential. Simulation experiments with the model show that with most ambitious actions global peak heating may exceed 1.5°C with a chance of 14%. Simultaneously, it is still energetically possible to return to 350 ppm this century, which is considered to be a safe level for atmospheric CO2 concentration. While these energy‐constrained transformation pathways show that the climate can still be stabilized with a fair chance, they also illustrate the urgency and far‐reaching change required in society.

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