EU Pathways Publications

Pathways to Sustainable European Energy Systems reports:
Click on the title to read the abstracts

  • Greenhouse gas emissions are of major importance today and the climate issue is expected to remain a question of utmost significance during coming decades and centuries. Climate models indicate how emissions interfere with climate processes and which temperature rise different emission scenarios may lead to. Through a literature survey, it has been our intention to single out some of the findings on climate change mechanisms , such as the interaction between emissions of greenhouse gases and global radiative forcing, on how the carbon and nitrogen cycles interfere with concentrations in the atmosphere and in what ways cost-effective abatement measures of greenhouse gases could be made. The focus in this respect has been on non-carbon dioxide greenhouse gases. The present basis for action is comprehensive and robust to its order of magnitude, even if there are large uncertainties involved in the overall understanding of the processes. In the strategies elaborated by different actors these large uncertainties in sources and sinks of greenhouse gases, the interconnections with the climate and available climate models, have to be considered in research projects and future action plans.
    Download The complexity of climate change mechanisms
  • The performance of future or long-term energy investments at industrial sites can be evaluated using consistent scenarios. By using a number of different scenarios that outline possible cornerstones of the future energy market, robust investments can be identified and the climate benefit can be evaluated. Consistent scenarios can be achieved by using the Energy Price and Carbon Balance Scenarios tool (the ENPAC tool) which is presented in this report. The tool is also used to develop eight scenarios from 2010 to 2050 with energy prices and associated CO2 emissions for marginal use of the energy carriers.
    Download Scenarios for assessing investments in industry report
  • Co-combustion of biomass or waste together with a base fuel in a boiler is a simple and economically suitable way to replace fossil fuels by biomass and to utilise waste. Cocombustion in a high-efficiency power station means utilisation of biomass and waste with a higher thermal efficiency than what otherwise had been possible. Due to transport limitations, the additional fuel will only supply a minor part (less than a few hundreds MWfuel) of the energy in a plant. There are several options: Co-combustion with coal in pulverized or fluidised bed boilers, combustion on added grates inserted in pulverised coal boilers, combustors for added fuel coupled in parallel to the steam circuit of a power plant, external gas producers delivering its gas to replace an oil, gas or pulverised fuel burner. Furthermore biomass can be used for reburning in order to reduce NO emissions or for afterburning to reduce N2O emissions in fluidised bed boilers. Combination of fuels can give rise to positive or negative synergy effects, of which the best known are the interactions between S, Cl, K, Al and Si that may give rise to or prevent deposits on tubes or on catalyst surfaces, or that may have an influence on the formation of dioxins. With better knowledge of these effects the positive ones can be utilised and the negative ones can be avoided.
    Download Co-combustion, a summary of technology report
  • With respect to anthropogenic emissions of CO2 there are different technological options for reducing these emissions. Widespread introduction of these measures requires research and development to improve performance, reliability and efficiency. Nevertheless, no matter how promising an option is from a technological and economic perspective, it has to be socially accepted by the public if implementation is to be successful.
    This report gives results from two different studies of public and stakeholder attitudes. The first study investigates public attitudes towards energy policy and global warming, including technical options for mitigating emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases. The study is based on surveys which poll the general public and is unique in that it compares four regions: the UK, USA, Japan and Sweden.
    The second study examines attitudes towards Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) among stakeholders active within the fields of energy and environment (public authorities, companies etc.).
    Download Public and stakeholder attitudes toward energy, environment and CCS report
  • In pace with the ever-growing complexity of environmental problems, new types of measures based on a holistic perspective are needed. Focusing on only one problem at a time is impossible, as this can at worst make another environmental problem even more serious, or at best prevent taking advantage of potential synergy effects. Biomass production for energy purposes is a good example of where a holistic perspective must be adopted. The present report deals with such so-called multifunctional bioenergy systems. These are bioenergy systems which – through well-chosen localisation, design, management and system integration – offer extra environmental services that, in turn, create added value for the systems.
    Download Multifunctional bioenergy systems report
  • Global climate change resulting from emissions of carbon dioxide and other green house gases is one of the greatest environmental problems of our time. Capture and storage of carbon dioxide has the potential to contribute to a significant and relatively quick reduction in CO2 emissions from power generation, allowing fossil fuels to be used as a bridge to a non-fossil future while taking advantage of the existing power-plant infrastructure. One capture technology is the oxy-fuel combustion process, which combines a conventional combustion process with a cryogenic air separation process. In the first part of this work, the oxy-fuel process is applied to commercial data from an 865 MWe lignite-fired reference power plant in Lippendorf, Germany. The second part focuses on the experimental and modeling work on the process carried out at the Chalmers 100 kW oxy-fuel test facility.
    Download The carbon dioxide free power plant report
  • The Chalmers database 2006 – The Chalmers databases are separated into one Supply and one Demand side and one Policy part. The Supply side consists of three sub-databases designed to give a comprehensive description of the supply side of the stationary European Energy system. The Demand side database, which is not yet ready to use, will present a comprehensive and realistic view of the demand side of the stationary energy system. The Policy part contains current European energy policies.
    Download European energy infrastructure report

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