Electrification: One of the Finest Approaches to Alleviating Green House Emission
The process of switching to energy-using devices that use electricity instead of fossil fuels (coal, oil, and natural gas) is called electrification. Electrification may be able to lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from the construction, industrial, and transportation sectors, which account for 65% of total US greenhouse gas emissions. However, this depends on the resources needed to produce power. It is essential to address emissions from these sectors to decarbonize the economy and, eventually, lessen the effects of climate change. This explanation discusses how electrification might lower emissions, the opportunities, potential drawbacks of electrification in the construction, industrial, and transportation sectors, and governmental solutions for promoting electrification.
What is Electrification?
The electrification of delivery fleets has become a significant possibility to lessen the environmental effect of the transportation sector, especially in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. However, the possibility for reduction depends on when, where, and how vehicles are charged. In addition to the grid's carbon intensity varying over time and space, battery degradation rates are also influenced by charging decisions, which can lead to more or less frequent battery replacement. Here, we suggest a model that uses marginal emission factors to account for spatial and temporal variations in charging emissions and a semi-empirical degradation model to account for variations in production emissions brought on by deterioration.
A baseline charging scenario, in which a vehicle is fully charged immediately upon returning to a central depot, results in the highest emissions, while using other charging methods can lower emissions by 8-37%, according to four distinct charging strategies that were observed. We demonstrate how the timing, location, and method of battery charging also affect the total cost of ownership. The lowest cost deployment location for electric delivery vehicles might not be in the same place that maximizes environmental advantages, even though the lowest cost and lowest emitting charging procedures frequently overlap.
How Does Electrification Eliminate Emission?
Other communal advantages for cities of building electrification include enhanced public health. Burning fossil fuels causes one in five deaths globally, making air pollution the biggest environmental risk factor for early death. Buildings have a significant role in this public health concern, especially in urban areas with dense populations. According to a study published in 2020, homes and businesses are the main contributors to PM 2.5 (tiny pollution particles) and ground-level ozone mortality in America. Building pollution disproportionately impacts communities of color and is ranked higher in greenhouse gas emissions than the transportation industry.
Asthma in children and other respiratory issues can be made more likely by the toxins that gas equipment like stoves bring into our homes. Children who live in homes with gas stoves have a 42% higher chance of developing asthma. Changing to pollution-free housing and using renewable energy for electricity can enhance both interior and outdoor air quality.
Heat pumps are ductless and even have the ability to filter indoor air. High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters can be added to contemporary heat pump systems to enhance indoor air quality, which is especially beneficial in areas where wildfire danger is on the rise due to climate change.
What Can One Expect Ahead in the Future?
First, electrification will change the way we generally consume energy, replacing the demand for local fuels like gasoline, oil, and natural gas with a need for electricity. This implies that while the total demand for power will rise, our country's need for fossil fuels will decline.
Second, if done correctly, electrification can significantly reduce the nation's carbon emissions. When converting from one type of fossil fuel to a slightly cleaner one, known as "fuel switching," there is a limit to how much emissions may be reduced and offset (like from diesel to natural gas). However, we can reduce carbon emissions even more if the nation transitions from using fossil fuels to operating processes on clean electricity produced by renewable energy sources.
Finally, electrification results in energy freedom and independence for individual houses and companies. By installing solar, you may now generate your electricity to power your electrical processes rather than relying on fossil fuels mined somewhere in the world that you must buy at unstable, constantly changing prices.
