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1

GREEN ENERGY:
DECOUPLING AND
DECARBONISED GROWTH

ETIEMANA
IDARESIT

Contents
2

! Introduction

! Findings

! Statistical Data

! Decoupling and Decarbonised Growth

! Limits

! Conclusion

Introduction
3

! The purpose of this presentation is to explore the link
between economic growth and energy consumption
(what makes energy and economic growth go hand-in-
hand?) and consequently to highlight the key
sustainability issues associated with decoupling.

! By the end of this presentation we would know better
on the subject of decoupling and decarbonised growth.

Findings
4

! What is Energy?

! Energy can be seen simply as the ability to multiply the
work of laborers exponentially.

! To what limits can these multiplication be?

Findings (condt).
5

Agrarian Society Industrial Economy

Findings (contd.)
6

! Where once laborers did their jobs with scythes,
shovels, and other tools, energy enabled them to
increase their outputs tremendously by powering great
machines such as tractors, cranes, and pile drivers.

! Power for illumination allowed the growth of multiple
"shifts," greatly increasing the output that could be
produced over a given period of time.

Findings….
7

! It goes without saying that the use of energy as
we’ve seen brought about large opportunities for
expansion; moreso as the need for human labour
was reduced and also children and women could
replace men at the work place like we saw during
the industrial revolution.

! This Expansion led to economic growth in many
countries.

Findings….
8

! Energy is a vital ingredient to economic growth.
This has been recognized at least as long as
economic statistics have been compiled by
government, and probably for much longer than
that.

Thus we see ….

Contd.
11

! Historically, increases in the level of economic
activity have correlated strongly with increased
energy use.

GDP vs. Electricity consumption Czech Rep.
13

Contd.
14

! In the 1973–1974 oil embargo, when oil-producing
nations of the Middle East restricted supply and prices
rose fourfold in a space of a few months. The resulting
chaos in the oil-consuming economies of the
industrialized West was widely considered to be a
direct result of the embargo. In the United States alone,
Gross Domestic Product—an accepted measure of
economic activity—fell in 1974, after two decades of
steady growth. The high cost and scarcity of oil was
seen as the primary cause.

Decoupling
15

The Danger of over-
dependence on energy
as one of the inputs to
Economic growth was
revealed! This was apart
from ecological concerns.

Hence, the need for
Decoupling and De-
carbonised growth.

Decoupling (contd.)
16

! What is decoupling? Basically, it’s a concept of being
able to continue growing economic
output/development without a corresponding
increase in environmental impact.

! Today, in the globalizing world, rapidly increasing
demand for energy and dependency of countries on
energy indicate that energy will be one of the
biggest problems in the world in the next century. In
this process, the search for alternative and renewable
energy resources became important for countries.

Decoupling …
17

In this graph, it can be seen
that GDP and oil
production increased at
about the same percentage
rate from 2003 to 2005,
but since 2005 GDP has
continued to increase while
oil production has been
flat. This gap between oil
production and economic
growth is a strong sign that
peak oil is eminent.

Decarbonisation….
19

! The term "development" is synonymous with
economic growth. Theory and empirical evidence
suggests decoupling energy use from economic
growth is unlikely, thus an alternative implies an
urgent need to decarbonise energy use and supply.

! The possibility of less carbon-intensive and even
carbon-free energy as major sources of energy is
what decarbonisation is all about.

Decarbonisation ….
20

! Decarbonisation Facts today:

! One fifth of the global carbon budget for the first half of this
century has gone in just eight years
! Global carbon debt in 2000-8 roughly equivalent to the
combined 2008 emissions of China and the US
! G20 need to cut carbon intensity levels by 35% by 2020 - four
times the annual rate achieved in 2000-8
! Global emissions from energy use need to peak by around 2015,
declining to 2009 levels by 2020
! Collective policy pledges of G20 stronger than before, but still
may not be sufficient to get back on to a 2ºC trajectory by 2020

Limits
21

! “An even half-way honest analysis of current
economic and environmental trends would
demonstrate incontrovertibly that such an economy
is not compatible with sustainability. With tens of
billions of dollars spent every year exhorting
people to consume more, no amount of decoupling
can decarbonise the global economy fast enough.”
! Jonathon Porritt is founder director of Forum for the Future
(forumforthefuture.org.uk)

Limits…
22

! The decarbonization of energy generation is achievable with
relative ease due to the availability of a broad portfolio of
economically viable mitigation technologies.
These include:
! Electricity use
! Wind
! Hybrid
! Solar Energy
! Uranium (although sustainability and eco-friendliness is still
being examined)

Decarbonisation (Limits)…..
23

! Cost of Generating Electric Energy (Technology)

! Nuclear delivers significant amounts of very low-carbon
baseload electricity at stable costs over time. Nuclear
technology however requires high amounts of capital at
risk as well as the cost of decommissioning and waste
disposal together with social concerns about safety and
proliferation.

! Coal with carbon capture, this is a process of capturing
carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as fossil
fuel power plants, and storing it away from the atmosphere
by different means. However, storage doesn’t come without
its own costs. This include, geological storage, ocean
storage, mineral storage. And the highest risk is that of
possible leakages.

However, carbon capture has not yet been demonstrated at commercial
scale for power plants.

Decarbonisation (limits)….
24

! Gas presents three advantages:
! low capital costs,
! a lower CO2 profile in comparison with other fossil fuel technologies and a
! high operational flexibility. But gas-fired plants, generating costs depend
highly on gas price levels.

! On-shore wind depends on highly favourable local conditions.
However, because wind is non-dispatchable, it cannot be strictly
considered as a baseload technology.

Conclusion.
25

! Green Energy through decoupling and decarbonising would come with its own
price-

! “technological change” especially in the transportation sector.

! Lower profits for industries: This sometimes is a problem for the government which
sometimes want to raise a National Champion in various fields.
! Political: Governments play a key role when it comes to the costs of raising
financial capital. This coupled with the fact that corporations with their big monies
are calling the shots in countries and not the government.
! Social- Carbon leakage, Nuclear proliferation

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