Sep 30 2008

Who's the Cleanest of Them All?

There's no such thing as perfectly clean energy: even a person riding a bicycle generator exhales carbon dioxide. And once you factor in the energy and materials used to produce and transport wind turbines or solar panels, those renewable sources have their modest downsides, too.

So if our goal is to do the least damage to the environment, and in particular to climate stability, it's important to analyze all the lifecycle implications of our energy choices.

Benjamin K. Sovacool, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, did just that in a recent issue of Energy Policy magazine. His ranking probably comes as no surprise, but his numbers highlight the enormous difference between alternative technologies.

In terms of grams of total lifecycle carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt hour of electricity, here's how several major sources of energy stack up:

Posted by: Jonathan Marshall | Comments (0) digg delicioussend to a friendprint entry

 

Categories

Climate Change , Energy

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Recent Comments

  • This is being rather generous to Lutz. 1. The "Volt", in no small part, will be targeted as a product to people who care about energy and environmental issues. These people don't embrace Lutz' antideluvian concepts of rejecting science. How responsible is it for a GM executive to be rejecting the science? 2. As well, Lutz didn't exactly sound too enthusiastic about the Volt itself. 3. And, GM public communications has 'defended' Lutz in rather absurd ways. -A Siegel
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  • This article is right on - small businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. Not only do they add up in aggregate, but many small businesses operate in industries that can have a significant environmental impact depending on the exact practices, like dry cleaners, auto repair shops, etc. Green is also starting to affect the bottom line more and more, customers are increasingly voting with their feet for more sustainable businesses as can be seen from the growth of sites like http://www.ecovian.com. This is also a huge opportunity for small businesses to leapfrog their bigger brothers by being more agile in adopting these measures. -Emily
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  • Great entry, Katie. Love the level of detail you managed to get in there! Probably won't be able to compete with coal and oil any time the next decade, but definitely a great technology to look into! Keep it up :) -Rune (Norway)
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