Page - 15 - in Clean Water Using Solar and Wind - Outside the Power Grid

Water and energy – for all 15 1.5 CLIMATE CHANGE CONSEQUENCES A major and critical contribution of renewable energy is its impact on climate change, which is also one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (see Chapter 2). The present global energy system contributes about 60% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions (IEA, 2017a). In particular, generation of electric power contributes over 40% of combustion-related CO2 emissions. The carbon footprint varies vastly between different technologies and depends on power plant type, components, fuel types and waste intensity. The combination of improved energy efficiency and renewable energy can give the world a realistic chance of limiting global warming to 2°C. At the same time, it will reduce air pollution, both locally and globally. This will have profound health effects from the public-health to the individual-household level. Solar PV generation and wind turbines reduce global CO2 emissions compared to fossil fuel energy production. The estimates of total global warming emissions depend on several factors. For solar PV it depends on the total solar irradiation and the number of sunshine hours. For wind turbines it depends on the wind speed and percentage of time the wind is blowing. The material composition of the solar cells or the wind turbines also contributes to carbon emissions. According to NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) (2012a), solar PV will generate around 40 g CO2eq/kWh. Most estimates of wind turbine lifecycle global warming emissions are in the range 9–18 g CO2eq/kWh. As a comparison, estimates of lifecycle global warming emissions for natural-gas-generated electricity are between 270 and 900 g CO2eq/kWh and estimates for coal-generated electricity are 600–1,600 g CO2eq/kWh (IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), 2011). 1.6 THE NEED FOR COOPERATION To make clean water accessible it is necessary but not sufficient to engage electrical engineering professionals to supply the electricity. Replacing fossil fuels with solar PV generation and wind turbines will reduce global CO2 emissions. Downloaded from https://iwaponline.com/ebooks/book-pdf/520710/wio9781780409443.pdf by IWA Publishing user