Could energy intensive industries be powered by carbon-free electricity?

David J C MacKay

This technical report is similar to the following journal article, published January 2013: Could energy-intensive industries be powered by carbon-free electricity? Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. 2013 371 20110560; doi:10.1098/rsta.2011.0560 Abstract | pdf
The figures from this technical report and from the published paper are available at the following links: 'Map of the World' figures | Figures from paper

Abstract

While the main thrust of the meeting on Material efficiency: providing material services with less material production was to explore ways in which society's net demand for materials could be reduced, this paper examines the possibility of converting industrial energy demand to electricity, and switching to clean electricity sources. This paper quantifies the scale of infrastructure required in the UK, focusing on wind and nuclear power as the clean electricity sources, and sets these requirements in the context of the decarbonization of the whole energy system using wind, biomass, solar power in deserts and nuclear options. The transition of industry to a clean low-carbon electricity supply, although technically possible with several different technologies, would have very significant infrastructure requirements.

postscript (Cambridge UK).

pdf (Cambridge UK).


related publications.
David MacKay's: home page, publications. bibtex file.
Canadian mirrors: home page, publications. bibtex file.