Created Chen Jun
Transferred from: Science EDU 2022-02-11
Since the Industrial Revolution, due to the increase in industrialization, the large consumption of fossil fuels, the reduction of forest area on a global scale, etc., carbon dioxide emissions have been increasing, resulting in rising global temperatures, melting glaciers, rising sea levels, extreme weather and many other ecological and environmental problems, and the earth on which human beings depend is facing unprecedented threats and challenges.
From 1850 to the present, the United States has emitted more than 509 billion tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for 20.3% of the global total, making it the world's largest cumulative emitter (Figure 1). The continent ranks second, with cumulative carbon dioxide emissions of about 288.4 billion tons, accounting for 11.4% of the world's total. Especially since the beginning of the 21st century, with the rapid development of the mainland economy, carbon dioxide emissions have also increased sharply.
Figure 1 Cumulative carbon dioxide emissions of major countries in the world from 1850 to 2021 (unit: billion tons, data source: Carbon Brief)
Although the cumulative per capita carbon emissions of the mainland are much lower than those of developed countries, the energy consumption and carbon emissions per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) are much higher than those of developed countries, such as the energy consumption per unit of GDP of 3.4 tons of standard coal/10,000 US dollars in 2020, and the carbon emissions per unit of GDP of 6.7 tons of carbon dioxide / 10,000 US dollars, which are much higher than the global average and developed countries such as the United States, Japan, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom (Figure 2).
Figure 2 Energy consumption and CO2 emissions per unit of GDP of major countries in the world in 2020 (Data source: BP Energy)
In order to promote low-carbon energy and green development, in September 2020, the mainland government announced at the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly that China strives to achieve "carbon peak" by 2030 and "carbon neutrality" by 2060. Carbon neutrality here refers to the realization of "zero carbon dioxide emissions" by enterprises, groups or individuals in a certain period of time by offsetting their direct or indirect carbon dioxide emissions through afforestation, energy conservation and emission reduction, technological carbon sequestration, etc. (Figure 3).
Figure 3 Carbon neutrality schematic
At present, more than 130 countries and regions in the world have proposed the time to achieve carbon neutrality, and most countries have proposed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; the average time from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality in countries around the world takes more than 50 years. The mainland announced a 30-year interval from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality, while the EUROPEAN Union has committed a carbon peak to carbon neutral interval of 60 to 70 years, with an interval of more than twice that of the mainland. At present, the mainland is still in the process of industrialization, primary energy consumption is still growing rapidly, and carbon emissions are still in the growth stage. This bodes for continents to work harder, at a faster pace and with greater efficiency, to achieve carbon neutrality.
At present, the total amount of carbon emissions in the energy sector is large and accounts for a high proportion, which is mainly due to the large-scale exploitation and utilization of fossil energy, which has led to a sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions such as carbon dioxide. In order to achieve carbon neutrality, it is urgent to change the way energy is used and adjust the energy structure. On the one hand, it is necessary to change the way fossil energy is used, improve the efficiency of fossil energy conversion, and promote the clean and efficient use of fossil energy, so as to achieve the purpose of energy conservation and emission reduction; on the other hand, the current resource structure of the mainland is "rich in coal, less oil, and lack of gas", and it is urgent to change the energy structure, increase the proportion of new energy and clean energy, and vigorously promote low-carbon energy to replace high-carbon energy and renewable energy to replace fossil energy. In general, the development of new energy, the realization of energy transformation, the reduction of fossil energy consumption, the improvement of energy utilization, energy conservation and emission reduction, and the construction of a green and low-carbon energy system are important measures to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.
BP Energy expects to accelerate the electrification rate in the future, and electric energy based on non-fossil energy will become the main body of primary energy, and will accelerate the application of new technologies such as hydrogen energy, carbon capture, utilization, and storage in the field of non-electric energy. It is expected that by 2060 70% of electricity will be supplied by clean renewables, about 8% will be supported by green hydrogen, and the remaining 22% of fossil energy consumption will be carbon neutral through carbon capture (Figure 4). Since wind energy, solar energy and other renewable energy power generation is affected by the wind speed, wind direction, day and night, cloudy weather in nature, with intermittent and fluctuating nature, in order to ensure the safety, stability and reliable power supply of the power grid, long-term energy storage technology will be the key core to achieve the "double carbon" goal, which must be highly valued. The replacement of fuel vehicles by new energy vehicles is also an important way to effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and will be developed faster in the future.
Figure 4 Prediction of the change in the structure of Primary Energy Consumption in China (Source: BP Energy)
After years of development and accumulation, the level of new energy technology and innovation ability in the mainland has continued to improve, and some fields have reached the international leading level. However, the overall level of science and technology in the industry is not enough to support the demand for energy structure transformation and upgrading, and there is still a gap in some directions compared with developed countries. Especially after the double carbon target is proposed, it is more necessary to innovate theory, technology innovation and system innovation, and to start from the reality of the mainland and seek subversive technological breakthroughs. Therefore, there is still huge room for development to accelerate core technological innovation and promote technological innovation, equipment manufacturing and industrial development in the fields of energy development, conversion, configuration, storage and use.
In the future, the mainland will make greater efforts to promote the advanced power generation technology of new energy, advanced UHV power grid technology, large-scale new energy storage technology, green hydrogen energy technology, carbon capture utilization and storage technology and advanced nuclear energy technology, further promote the innovation of green and efficient coal utilization technology and petrochemical green and low-carbon technology, and promote the innovative integration of digital information technology in the fields of energy saving, energy storage, clean energy utilization and energy Internet (Figure 5). Renewable energy power generation, advanced energy storage technology, hydrogen energy technology, advanced nuclear power, carbon dioxide comprehensive utilization and other new technologies are expected to make a series of major breakthroughs, carbon reduction and decarbonization technology will become the focus of technology research and development and research in the energy field in the coming period.
Figure 5 Key technologies of new energy contribute to the "double carbon" strategy
About the Author
Chen Jun, inorganic chemist, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor, doctoral supervisor, vice president of Nankai University, director of the Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry of the Ministry of Education. Chen Jun is mainly engaged in the research of energy material chemistry and high-energy batteries. A new synthesis method of "room temperature - redox - transcrystalline" is proposed, a series of stable conductive nano spinel composite catalysts are synthesized at room temperature, which replaces the precious metal platinum electrode and is applied to rechargeable metal lithium and zinc air batteries; the idea that electrode micro-nanoization can improve the reactivity and structural stability of multi-electron electrodes is proposed, and micro-nano multi-stage structure electrodes that can be recharged with lithium, sodium and magnesium batteries are prepared through a large number of experiments, which improves the safety of batteries; a series of high specific energy organic electrode materials and composite solid electrolytes have been developed. The research results provide new ideas for reducing the cost of battery electrode materials, improving battery energy density and solving the hidden dangers of battery combustion and explosion. Chen Jun is the first author of "Energy Chemistry" and "Chemical Power Supply: Principles, Technologies and Applications", and teaches courses such as Energy Chemistry, Introduction to New Energy Science and Engineering, and Introduction to Chemistry. He was selected into the National Teaching Team, the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, the Ministry of Education's Excellent Video Open Class, and won the First Prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award (2009, the eighth completer), and the Baosteel Outstanding Teacher Special Prize Nomination Award (2013). The "Research on the Training System of Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talents in New Energy Science and Engineering" was selected as the first batch of "New Engineering" research and practice projects announced by the Ministry of Education in 2018, and organized the compilation of the "New Energy Science and Engineering Teaching Series".
—— New Energy Science and Engineering Teaching Series ——
References (Tentative)