European energy and CO2 emissions trends to 2020: PRIMES model v.2

The purpose of this article is to present a summary of a consistent European Union (EU) energy and energy-related emissions outlook for the period to 2020. The material presented here is based on quantitative analysis and on a process of communication with and feedback from a number of energy experts and organizations. All the results presented for EU energy trends are based on the PRIMES partial equilibrium model for the European energy system, version 2. The PRIMES model provides simulation of the energy system and the decisions of the agents and the markets, covering in detail several sectors, uses, and technologies. The results of this analysis indicate that the EU will not meet the obligations for greenhouse gas emissions reductions it undertook at Kyoto unless it introduces policy initiatives for the abatement of energyrelated emissions. Although the industrial, tertiary, household, and transportation sectors can all make significant contributions to CO2 emissions reductions, the electricity- and steam-generation sector appears to offer the greatest potential because of its relative flexibility in terms of technology and fuel choice. Finally, when the only criterion for emissions reductions is economic efficiency, our analysis indicates that reduction levels differ significantly among EU countries

Model-based analysis of decarbonising the EU economy in the time horizon to 2050

This paper describes the methodology of using the PRIMES energy system model to quantify various scenarios accompanying the “Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050” published in March 2011 by the European Commission. The paper focuses as well on emission and cost implications.The model based analysis finds that the decarbonisation of the energy system is possible with technologies known today; the power generation sector reduces emissions the most, but also demand side sectors reduce their emissions considerably. Despite considerable restructuring towards using electricity, transportation shows residual emissions by 2050 mainly due to the long-distance road freight transport and aviation. The energy system costs for decarbonisation were found to represent between 0.24 and 1.63 percentage points of cumulative GDP over the time period 2010–2050 higher than in a Reference scenario case which obtains the Climate and Energy package targets in 2020 and a long-term target of 40% emission reductions compared to 1990. The cost range depends on the timely availability of certain decarbonisation options (e.g. CCS, electrification in transportation) and on the extent of emission reduction actions worldwide. Keywords: Energy policy, Climate policy, Energy analysis, Energy modellin

Power generation technology clusters: present status and its potential

This chapter presents a general discussion on the present state and likely future developments in a number of groups of related power generation technologies. These groups, or clusters, of technologies then form the basis of the technology scenarios presented and analysed in later chapters

Introduction: Global and European Energy and Emissions Outlook

Energy is a key issue that is present in all the sectors of modern economies. The availability of cheap, abundant and safe energy sources is indeed a requisite for sustained economic development in emerging economies. The ways in which it is consumed and used to produce welfare is the matter of several disciplinary fields. Energy technologies are important because energy is crucial in the overall economic system, not only because of the scarcity of the resources (the world energy mix is based on non renewable energy carriers), but also because of the environmental concerns. Indeed, environmental degradation is due, to a large extent, to the effects of energy production, transformation and use