Introduction
To address the challenge of climate change, scientists recommend that we reduce fossil fuel greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 to 20% of the value they had in 1990. What does this mean for Nevada? In 1990 Nevada power consumption was 13.3GW; by 2014 this had increased to 22GW. The goal is to reduce fossil fuel consumption by 2050 to 2GW. There are various ways this can be done, this tool enables you to explore these pathways and make your own choices. This web tool was designed and written by George Rhee, with assistance from Corwin Grigg.
Select Demand Choices
The first task is to make demand choices. For example, you can choose to electrify transport. Each calculator page starts with a table that lists total fossil fuel demand in 2050. By adjusting the demand choices you can minimize direct fossil fuel demand. The starting demand is 27GW. When you have made your demand choices, there will be an increased electricity demand resulting in increased fossil fuel demand. The next task is to generate the required electricity using a mix a renewables to achive a fossil fuel use of about 2GW.
Match the increased electricity demand by increasing the electricity supply from renewables
Minimizing fossil fuel use can only be achieved in this calculator by increasing electricity demand. The second challenge is to match the increased electricity demand by increasing the electricity supply from renewables. There are ten choices on the supply side that can be used to generate clean electricity. We have included nuclear energy in this list since it does not produce significant greenhouse gas emissions.
For each supply and demand choice there are four options in the dropdown menu;
The first option corresponds to an extrapolation to 2050 of current trends which could be thought of as business as usual, a minimal effort on renewables. The second option is viewed as ambitious, but reasonable by most experts. The third option is viewed as unlikely to occur without significant change from the current system and/or significant technological breakthroughs. The fourth option represents the upper end of what is thought to be plausible by the most optimistic observer or the maximum available resource in the case of renewables supply.
There are four ways to view the results; these can be accessed by clicking on the menu options at the top of the page. The Energy option plots electricity supply and demand options from 2015 to 2050 for the chosen pathway. The various options are color coded so you can see the effect of each choice. The Flows option uses what is called a sankey diagram to plot energy flows on the supply and demand side. The Map option shows the amount of land use involved in Nevada to achieve these options for solar and wind renewables. The Numbers option lists all the numbers in a table so the user can see how much energy is involved in each of the choices as well as the total chosen supply and demand.
The units of power we use are Gigawatts (GW). Gigawatts can be converted to Kilowatthours per year by multiplying by ten. We choose units of Gigawatts because for Nevada calculations this typically yields numbers lying between 0 and 20.
You can click on the choice next to the dropdown menu (eg Nuclear Energy) and a short one page pdf explanation will appear outlining the basis for the choices.