A Global Environmental Assessment of Electricity Generation Technologies with Low Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Limiting climate change by stabilizing the global temperature requires the near complete phase-out of conventional fossil fuel power generation and its replacement through technologies with low greenhouse gas emissions, such as renewable energy, nuclear power, and fossil fuel power plants with CO2 capture and storage. We investigate the environmental and resource co-benefits and adverse trade-offs for a wide range of candidate electricity generation technologies using an integrated life cycle approach. Most renewable energy technologies provide substantial benefits in terms of emission reductions. Additional material demand for manufacturing energy conversion devices ranges between 0.1 and 3 times annual global production in 2010.